Apparently there's a previous book called something like "The Map of
Time" which might have clarified a few odd bits, but I don't think
that's important.
This is another book for those who skim, or who have infinite time and
patience. I guess the florid descriptions and the Victorian-
gentlemen's-conversation has some interest, but after a while, I
noticed that it was more talk less action.
The real problem I had was with a bit of backstory that was supposed
to explain the present story. Actually, not explain, but give some
kind of long-winded additional story, as it went on for a few
chapters. This is the backstory of how some explorers may have spotted
the flying saucer, in Antarctica, years and years ago, which Wells
sees with Serviss.Well, after a few chapters describing how the ship
was trapped in ice, &c. &c., we are suddenly shunted to a *further*
flashback which explains how the explorer who arranged the Antarctic
expedition came to believe that the Earth was hollow, and access was
through the south pole.
At that point, I didn't quite hurl the book across the room; after all
it was a library book and as far as I could tell I was the first
person to read it.
Needless to say, it went back to the library for some other reader, a
more Patient Reader than I.
By the way, a while back I tried reading Serviss' 'Edison's Conquest
of Mars', and it was too dire for me to make it more than a few dozen
pages.
