Perdido Street Station

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

When Mae West said, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful," she could have been talking about China Miéville's Perdido Street Station. The novel's publication met with a burst of extravagant praise from Big Name Authors and was almost instantly a multiaward finalist. You expect hyperbole in blurbs; and sometimes unworthy books win awards, so nominations don't necessarily mean much. But Perdido Street Station deserves the acclaim. It's ambitious and brilliant and--rarity of rarities--sui generis. Its clearest influences are Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy and M. John Harrison's Viriconium books, but it isn't much like them. It's Dickensian in scope, but fast-paced and modern. It's a love song for cities, and it packs a world into its strange, sprawling, steam-punky city of New Crobuzon. It can be read with equal validity as fantasy, science fiction, horror, or slipstream. It's got love, loss, crime, sex, riots, mad scientists, drugs, art, corruption, demons, dreams, obsession, magic, aliens, subversion, torture, dirigibles, romantic outlaws, artificial intelligence, and dangerous cults.

Generous, gaudy, grand, grotesque, gigantic, grim, grimy, and glorious, Perdito Street Station is a bloody fascinating book. It's also so massive that you may begin to feel you're getting too much of a good thing; just slow down and enjoy.

Yes, but what is Perdido Street Station about? To oversimplify: the eccentric scientist Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is hired to restore the power of flight to a cruelly de-winged birdman. Isaac's secret lover is Lin, an artist of the khepri, a humano-insectoid race; theirs is a forbidden relationship. Lin is hired (rather against her will) by a mysterious crime boss to capture his horrifying likeness in the unique khepri art form. Isaac's quest for flying things to study leads to verification of his controversial unified theory of the strange sciences of his world. It also brings him an odd, unknown grub stolen from a secret government experiment so perilous it is sold to a ruthless drug lord--the same crime boss who hired Lin. The grub emerges from its cocoon, becomes an extraordinarily dangerous monster, and escapes Isaac's lab to ravage New Crobuzon, even as his discovery becomes known to a hidden, powerful, and sinister intelligence. Lin disappears and Isaac finds himself pursued by the monster, the drug lord, the government and armies of New Crobuzon, and other, more bizarre factions, not all confined to his world. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies New Crobuzon, a squalid city where humans, Re-mades, and arcane races live in perpetual fear of Parliament and its brutal militia. The air and rivers are thick with factory pollutants and the strange effluents of alchemy, and the ghettos contain a vast mix of workers, artists, spies, junkies, and whores. In New Crobuzon, the unsavory deal is stranger to none—not even to Isaac, a brilliant scientist with a penchant for Crisis Theory.

Isaac has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before fathomed. Though the Garuda's request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger.

While Isaac's experiments for the Garuda turn into an obsession, one of his lab specimens demands attention: a brilliantly colored caterpillar that feeds on nothing but a hallucinatory drug and grows larger—and more consuming—by the day. What finally emerges from the silken cocoon will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon—and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it invokes . . .

A magnificent fantasy rife with scientific splendor, magical intrigue, and wonderfully realized characters, told in a storytelling style in which Charles Dickens meets Neal Stephenson, Perdido Street Station offers an eerie, voluptuously crafted world that will plumb the depths of every reader's imagination.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Download Description

Isaac has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before fathomed. Though the Garuda's request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger.

While Isaac's experiments for the Garuda turn into an obsession, one of his lab specimens demands attention: a brilliantly colored caterpillar that feeds on nothing but a hallucinatory drug and grows larger -- and more consuming -- by the day. What finally emerges from the silken cocoon will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon -- and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it invokes...

A magnificent fantasy rife with scientific splendor, magical intrigue, and wonderfully realized characters, told in a storytelling style in which Charles Dickens meets Neal Stephenson, Perdido Street Station offers an eerie, voluptuously crafted world that will plumb the depths of every reader's imagination.

"[A] phantasmagoric masterpiece... The book left me breathless with admiration."
    BRIAN STABLEFORD

"China Miéville's cool style has conjured up a triumphantly macabre technoslip metropolis with a unique atmosphere of horror and fascination."
    PETER HAMILTON

"It is the best steampunk novel since Gibson and Sterling's."
   JOHN CLUTE

"Ambitious, beautifully written, enormously imaginative, engrossing... A complex fable that blends several genres -- fantasy, horror, gothic, science fiction, and social protest with believable, interesting, and utterly weird, fantastic creature-characters... I could feel my imagination stretched and tweaked by the haunting narrative -- redolent of dreams, nightmares, intuitive whisperings, visions, and tastes of the unconscious.... With its inventive plot, fascinating characters, evocative language, and underlying themes of coexistence among very different beings, economics and politics, crime and punishment, computer consciousness, science and art, Perdido Street Station is in the end both complex and satisfying. And China Miéville is an author to read both for fun and for quite serious amusement."
   THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

"Revolutionary in the sheer bravura range of its invention... This is the point in the review where prefabricated accolades like 'this novel heralds a promising new voice on the fantasy horizon' are usually offered up. To hell with that. Miéville isn't on the horizon, he's roared to the center of the map, kicked ass, taken names, and jumped straight to the top of the heap."
   THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION

"With his new novel, the gargantuan, intricate, and thoroughly grounded Perdido Street Station, China Miéville moves effortlessly into

Customer Reviews:

purchase this pronto, you won't be sorry.......2007-09-28

yeah, just try to categorize this amazing book and world! i picked up perdito street station never having heard anything about it or china mieville (someone pronounce his name for me!) my first thought was boy this boy can write....his writing is deliciously tactile: you smell the smells, you feel the substances, you taste the air. he lovingly creates this world nearly as detailed as God made ours. but i also have to admit to being a bit worried that that was all there was to this, just lots of descriptive ambience. oh how wrong i was! what a story! what characters! they leap off the page each one. i gobbled the thing up and then promptly went and purchased all his other works and enjoyed them thoroughly. he needs to be chained to a computer and made to type non-stop...i want more!

Fabulously rich, inventive, erudite -- godzilla book.......2007-09-27

I have read two novels by this author, Perdido Street Station and The Scar. Mieville is a literate and wildly inventive author who invents dark, flawed, and compellingly interesting characters set in an alternative world with its own history, geography, and mythology that he slowly unfolds for the reader. This novel is an example. However, despite his many talents, and the richness of the book, it is ultimately unsatisfying. Although it seems like more is at stake, story-wise, as you enter the novel, ultimately the whole book is a story of evil monster rampaging the city -- slake moths, here, godzilla elsewhere -- who can't be handled by the authorities -- New Crobuzon here, Metropolis USA there -- who are ultimately vanquished by a rag tag group of anti-heros. The book is worth reading to get a taste of Mielville's style -- some who are in to a fast, stripped down read may not find its baroqueness to their taste -- but its a helpful introduction to a much better novel -- The Scar. Read this first, and if you like the style, then read The Scar which is far superior

Only for true readers.......2007-09-10

This is not a beginners book. This a rich and well thought out fantasy novel. It is not however your typical fantasy, this is something new, something unique. China Mieville's novels caught my eyes with their catching covers and I am thankful for it.
I however will not go into too great a detail, or anymore for that matter other than to say China Mieville is one of my favorite authors with Perdido Street Station and The Scar amongst my favorite books. They are too filling a read to be taken lightly, they are like a homecooked meal that sticks to the ribs. They start off slow but by time I put them down I was disappointed to be doing so. Truly magnificent.

A work of flawed brilliance that nonetheless must be read.......2007-08-13

First of all let me say that there is no way I can do this book justice in attempting to describe it. Mieville is, without question, one of the most truly masterful writers of our time, not only in the field of speculative fiction, but of the English language itself. His prose conjures the most vivid and compelling imagery I've read in years, using every sense to its utmost. You don't merely read about New Crobuzon, the setting of the novel; you see it, taste it, smell its pungency, hear it all about you, and feel it under your feet and fingertips in fine detail. He takes you into his world and keeps you there from beginning to end. As a very small example, take the opening image from chapter one:

"A window burst open high above the market. A basket flew from it and arced towards the oblivious crowd. It spasmed in mid-air, then spun and continued earthwards at a slower, uneven pace. Dancing precariously as it descended, its wire-mesh caught and skittered on the building's rough hide. It scrabbled at the wall, sending paint and concrete dust plummeting before it."

And he populates his world with equally vivid creations that will stay in your mind long after the novel is over: the Weaver, the Construct Council, the embassy of Hell, the slaker moths, Mister Motley, Jack Half-a-Prayer, and other things too numerous to mention. The city itself is a brilliant creation in its own right, alive with its social life, its divisions, districts, and institutions, its artists, criminals and bureaucrats. You _feel_ it in ways you feel the life of your own city walking through it. It is _alive_.

The only reason I did not give this five stars instead of four was partly due to Mieville's occasional lapses into explanation, and partly due to some personal dissatisfaction with how things were tied up at the end. Some things should only be shown, not explained (mitochlorians, anyone?), and brilliant novels should have equally brilliant endings. I will give Mieville credit for what he puts his characters through to resolve the crises they find themselves in; he makes nothing easy and no one gets out unscathed. But I just felt that parts of the ending came as almost an afterthought, like the author needed a quick tie-up and settled for less than he demanded in the rest of the novel.

But still, this book is a must read. It defies categorization, more than just science fiction, fantasy or horror. Mieville binds you with the spell of his words as well as the originality and sheer scale of his imagination. What you read here will stay with you for years to come. If you want to be dazzled, mesmerized, totally drawn in and led through a fascinating (and at times terrifying) place, then this book will take you there.

Gritty, dark, entertaining, thought provoking.......2007-08-05

I was introduced to China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station" by a friend of mine who claimed that it was a much more worthwhile read. I have always been a huge fan of Tolkien, and never have I been one to object to Tolkien cliches, so I took his words with a grain of salt. Now that I've read PSS, I can't say I like it better than Tolkien. In fact, I find it a bit odd that anyone would bother to compare the two very different books from eachother, anyway. The book has it's good points, as well as the bad, but over all there's more good than bad.

The book is dark and gritty! The story takes place in a disgusting trashy city, and it starts off being about this scientist who gets hired by a wingless garuda (sentient bird creature from the desert) to create some new way for it to fly. From there, the story explores several differnt avenues- underground criminal organizations, giant monsters, sentient AIs, god computers, and so on. As one can probably tell, there is plenty here to appease both readers of Sci-fi and fantasy.

Now, onto the more questionable elements of the book. For one, this book is not for the faint of heart or those with weak stomachs. Mieville is more often most descritive when describe something disgusting, like pissy water, garbage, and physical wounds. The book is a bit self-indulgent, as well, with the author sometimes falling into poetic devices like alliteration. This makes the writing better, sometimes. But after awhile it seems a bit forced. Finally, it's just a damn gritty book. Plenty of curses, interspecies sex (the first chapter opens up with a human railing his bug headed insectile girlfriend), and drugs abound.

I didn't find PSS to be a better read than LOTR. They were two completely different stories, each with their own virtues and vices. I did find PSS to be a completely worthwhile book, however, and much better than anything else you could find in the fantasy section at Borders written in this millenium.

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Perdido Y Econtrado
Oliver Jeffers
Manufacturer: Fondo de Cultura Economica USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9681677595

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Los pasos perdidos
No se puede dejar de leer!
una obra muy musical acerca del reencuentro con sus raices
Un texto clave para la novelística latinoamericana

Los pasos perdidos
Alejo Carpentier
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140261931

Customer Reviews:

Los pasos perdidos.......2000-09-25

La prosa y la erudicion de Carpentier son increibles. No se olviden que el fue el creador del genero real-maravilloso en la literatura latinoamericana y lo considero el maximo exponente. Recomiendo todos sus libros y ensayos. Carpentier is an incredible writer and intellectual. He created the "real-imaginary" genre in the Latin American Literature. I recommend all his books and essays.

No se puede dejar de leer!.......2000-07-26

No hay palabras para expresar lo genial de esta novela donde lo real-imaginario, narrado en un contexto de telurismo latino americano, es tan rico y profundo.

una obra muy musical acerca del reencuentro con sus raices.......2000-06-16

silencio es palabra de mi vocabulario, habiendo trabajado la musica, la he usado mas que los hombres de otros oficios.Se como puede especularse con el silencio;como se le mide y encuadra.Pero ahora, sentado en esta piedra vivo el silencio;un silencio venido de tan lejos, espeso de tantos silencios, que en el cobraria la palabra un fragor de creacion.Si yo dijera algo, si yo hablaraa solas, como a menudo hago, me asustaria a mi mismo. p 108

esta obra tan hermosa, llena de tanta musica, de tanta poesia, de tanto lirismo, narra esa busqueda de las raices, que pudiese ser la busqueda interna de cualquira de nosotros y nos muestra una america latina viva bajo las selvas, llena de historias y vivencias. de ritos que tienen mas sentido que los de una sociedad que ha perdido la razon y que atada a un horario vive en perpetuo desenfreno atada a un reloj horario, como un preso atado a grilletes. esa libertad de nuestro narrador no nombrado pudiese ser la nuestra si nos decidiesemos a renunciar a nustras ataduras y a vivir plenamente la busqueda de nuestros objetivos sin miedos. en fin un libro exquisito por un gran escritor. muy recomendado. LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do

Un texto clave para la novelística latinoamericana.......1998-05-26

La novela Los Pasos Perdidos propone una novedad tanto en lo formal como en su planteo temático. La búsqueda de Alejo Carpentier se extiende a la de cualquier poeta que, al igual que Homero, necesite plasmar sus raíces más hondas con una voz que lo identifique. Precisamente en las voces que resuenan a lo largo del relato, vamos encontrando todas las posibilidades de expresión narrativa contemporánea. Y en la vivencia de nuestro narrador innombrado, se cruzan las vivencias de una tierra que encuentra su expresión en la música más primitiva. Creo que Carpentier logra con arte y sensibilidad decir todas las posibilidades que ofrece América, no sólo como tierra mestiza sino con una palabra en la que los antepasados indígenas y africanos se unen a la cultura europea para potenciar una música que la haga sonar.

El nino perdido: Un pequeno en busqueda del amor de una familia

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El nino perdido: Un pequeno en busqueda del amor de una familia
Dave Pelzer
Manufacturer: HCI Espanol
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ASIN: 0757301673

Book Description

â El niÃ±o perdido destaca como el libro mÃ¡s importante sobre la dedicaciÃ³n y el afecto Ãºnicos que los servicios sociales y las familias de acogida proporcionan a nuestros niÃ±os en peligro. Dave Pelzer es ciertamente un testamento vivo de persistencia, de responsabilidad personal y del triunfo del espÃritu humanoâ.
âJohn Bradshaw
autor de los Ã©xitos editorials, Bradshaw On: The Family, Homecoming y Family Secrets

ImagÃnese un muchacho que nunca ha tenido un hogar. Sus Ãºnicas posesiones son las viejas y gastadas prendas de vestir que lleva en una bolsa de papel. Su Ãºnico mundo es el aislamiento y el miedo. Aunque este muchacho ha sido rescatado de su madre alcohÃ³lica, el verdadero calvario acaba de comenzar para Ã©l: no tiene un lugar al que pueda llamar hogar.

Esta es la muy esperada continuaciÃ³n de El niÃ±o sin nombre de Dave Pelzer. Sus nuevas aventuras, y las respuestas que encontrÃ³, son reveladas en esta conmovedora historia de su vida como adolescente. Discriminado ahora como âniÃ±o acogidoâ, el joven David experimenta la inestabilidad de pasar por cinco hogares de acogida diferentes. Aquellos que consideran que todos los niÃ±os acogidos son buscapleitos ây que no merecen ser amados sÃ³lo por no ser parte de una familia realâ resienten su presencia y le hacen sufrir vergÃ¼enza. LÃ¡grimas y risas, devastaciÃ³n y esperanza van forjando la vida de este niÃ±o perdido que busca desesperadamente el amor de una familia.

Aunque muchos en nuestra sociedad ridiculizan el sistema de hogares de acogida y el campo de los servicios sociales, Dave Pelzer es un ejemplo vivo de la necesidad de su existencia. Sea usted un admirador del autor o un lector que toma un libro suyo por primera vez, El niÃ±o perdido es una historia que le conmoverÃ¡ y que sobresale como brillante inspiraciÃ³n para todos.

Dave Pelzer viaja por todo el paÃs dando charlas sobre inspiraciÃ³n y fuerza moral interior. Sus logros Ãºnicos le gan ganado alabanzas de los presidentes Reagan, Bush padre y Clinton. En 1994 fue el Ãºnico estadounidense premiado entre los JÃ³venes MÃ¡s Destacados del Mundo. Dave tambiÃ©n fue portador de la Antorcha OlÃmpica del Centenario.

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AHHH!

El Viaje Perdido
Lisa Ray Turner , and Blaine Ray
Manufacturer: Command Performance
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0929724593

Customer Reviews:

AHHH!.......2003-06-06

el viaje perdido is sooo horrible! Its a book made to help 3rd year spanish students learn the langauge, but the book is so ... and lousey that it's really a big waste of time. nothing happens in the book! these two idiots are on a cruise in puerto rico, they miss the boat and their money is stolen. They meet up with this prissy ugly woman that they met on the cruise, and for some reason one guy has to pretend that he's married to her, while the other guy has to work in the grandma's farmacy... but the grandma is a fat ugly witch doctor that ends up finding out about the pretend marriage through her "phsycic powers" and kicks the two guys out of her house, and then they go home the end.

El Evangelio Perdido: La Busqueda para el Evangelio de Judas Iscariote

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El Evangelio Perdido: La Busqueda para el Evangelio de Judas Iscariote
Herbert Krosney
Manufacturer: National Geographic
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ASIN: 1426200617
Release Date: 2006-06-28

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MAL DOCUMENTADO, IRRESPONSABLE, TAL VEZ INCLUSO DESHONESTO
PASADO PRECOLOMBINO Y PRESENTE BIEN NARRADO
¡Qué fácil es criticar!
a nice historical review
el origen perdido: no se moleste en buscarlo

El Origen Perdido
Matilde Asensi
Manufacturer: Planeta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 840804866X

Customer Reviews:

MAL DOCUMENTADO, IRRESPONSABLE, TAL VEZ INCLUSO DESHONESTO.......2006-09-13

Lei este libro recomendado por amigos a los que les había apasionado. Me temo que el libro no responde a las expectativas, ni mucho menos.

Puntos positivos:

- Me gusta bastante el tema, mezcla informática, misterios arqueológicos y aventura. Me gusta también el contraste entre el mundo tecnológico de la primera parte del libro y las aventuras en la selva de la segunda mitad.

- Los personajes, sin profundizar demasiado, están bien descritos, son creibles, y llegan a ser simpáticos. Muchos informáticos se sentirán representados por el personaje principal.

- Aunque es un punto menor, me gusta la descripción de la familia, la abuela, el niño, el hermano, la madre. Esto es algo que se echa de menos en otros libros norteamericanos de este mismo estilo y le da un toque español.

- La novela es entretenida y se lee bien, pero no puedo decir que me apasionara. Tiene una estructura absolutamente lineal, pero supongo que esto es aceptable en libros de aventuras de este estilo. Si acaso, es demasiado predecible en toda la segunda mitad del libro. Uno espera llegar al final para encontrar una sorpresa que nunca llega. También hay algunos "fallos de guión" y es que nunca queda claro para que rayos se han molestado los Yatiris en dejar tantas pistas, visto el desenlace de la trama.

- El nivel literario, sin ser una maravilla, está por encima de otros best-sellers como "El Código Da Vinci". Yo me lo he pasado mejor leyendo esta novela que "El Código".

Puntos negativos:

- Se nota demasiado que la escritora no tiene ni idea de ninguno de los temas de los que habla en la novela (informática, arqueología, biología, ...). En la primera parte del libro, la autora nos inunda con montones de terminología informática, lo que no hace la novela más creíble y te deja un regusto de escritora principianta, porque parece que lo hace precisamente par ser creible, sin conseguirlo. A medida que leía, me imaginaba a Matilde Asensi buscando en el google cosas como CPU, USB, IA, cracker y demás jerizonga informática, y enchufando en el libro lo primero que encontraba sin hacer una labor previa de comprensión y de posterior elaboración literaria. Ni sabe de que habla ni lo cuenta bien. ¡Qué pobre queda esto!

- Lo peor es el recurso que usa la escritora para dar una apariencia de conocimiento, autoridad y certidumbre acerca de los temas sobre los que escribe. Usa citas a pie de página como si se tratara de un artículo científico. En ocasiones llega a citar libros enteros, que dudo mucho que la autora se haya leido. Simplemente habrá encontrado en google que en ese artículo o en ese libro se habla del tema y lo introduce en el libro directamente sin más labor crítica. Esto roza la deshonestidad o al menos irresponsabilidad, especialmente cuando habla de biología y de teoría de la evolución. Por ejemplo, da por buenas "pruebas" que han encontrado los creacionistas en contra de la teoría de la evolución, que hace tiempo que están descartadas por muchos de los propios creacionistas (lo cual ya es decir). Por ejemplo, cita las huellas mezcladas de dinosaurios y humanos encontradas en el rio Paluxi, que hoy todo el mundo admite que son todas de dinosaurios. Ocurre lo mismo con el resto de las citas. Me imaginaba a la autora entrando en la primera página creacionista devuelta por google y copiando tal cual lo que iba encontrando, sin más labor de documentación. Y no sólo eso, desde el punto de vista literario, está mal elaborado, lo cual es lógico, porque la escritora no entiende de lo que está hablando, y lo que no entiendes es complicado contarlo bien.

- Ojo, que a mi no me parece mal que un personaje de una novela haga suyas las opiniones que el autor juzgue convenientes. Una novela es una novela y es ficción y cualquier lector adulto no tiene problemas con eso. Lo que critico es el recurso a las citas en plan literatura científica, y la pésima documentación de la escritora. Vamos, que se ve apresuramiento en acabar rápidamente una novelita muy comercial que le reporte sus buenos dineros a Matilde.

Comparese esto con la labor que hacen buenos escritores como Umberto Eco en El Nombre de la Rosa o El Pendulo de Foucault. Eco es un buen escritor y maneja bien el lenguaje, aunque en ocasiones insorportablemente dificil. En el Péndulo de Foucault se nota que el escritor ha dedicado muchos muchos meses a investigar el tema del que trata la novela (masonería, confabulaciones, historia secreta, etc.). Al leer, se nota que su conocimiento acerca de lo que escribe es soberbio, que lo ha asimilado, y eso le permite contarlo bien, sin recursos fáciles como citas o definir lo que es un puerto USB. En comparación, el tiempo que habrá dedicado Matilde Asensi a documentar su novela no habrá llegado a una semana. Y esto es un poco irresponsable e incluso deshonesto, cuando se intenta dar la apariencia de conocimiento profundo.

- El final de la novela es decepcionante. Yo estaba esperando alguna sorpresa, que nunca llegó, con lo que prácticamente desde que abandonan Tiahuanaco, la novela se desarrolla de manera lineal y predecible.

- En fin, que "El Origen Perdido" es una novelita que la autora se escribió con la gorra en poco tiempo y que seguramente le haya reportado pingües beneficios. No está mal como entretenimiento, pero habiendo mejor literatura, ¿porqué perder el tiempo con esto?. Uno siente pena al pensar en lo que hubiera podido hacer con este tema una buena escritora. El caso es que no me entran ganas de leerme otras novelas de la autora, aunque por lo que he leido el nivel de esas otras novelas es más alto.

PASADO PRECOLOMBINO Y PRESENTE BIEN NARRADO.......2005-11-18

Coincido con la critica anterior en cuanto a este libro. La forma de narrar de la autora no solo detalla en forma amena un pasado precolombino poco conocido haciendolo parecer aun mas interesante de lo que podria leerse en los libros de historia que menciona (y que son reales y precisos) sino que lleva un hilo conductor de la acción ficticia y personal del protagonista (Arnau) muy creible e interesante. Lo recomiento ampliamente ya que no es nada facil hacer de un hecho historico y tan antiguo algo tan interesante y con ganas de seguir leyendo a pesar de no ser una novela para nada corta. Espero con ansias el proximo libro de la autora.

¡Qué fácil es criticar!.......2005-07-15

No entiendo cómo puede haber personas que, leyendo los libros, no comprendan su contenido. Para empezar, "El origen perdido" es muy original en cuanto a la temática. En Europa y, en general, en el mundo, abundan novelas sobre los templarios y la vida y milagros de Cristo... Al menos, este libro centra su atención en otra cultura milenaria y muy desconocida para la mayoría: la América precolombina. Decir que este libro es un compendio enciclopédico es no haber leído correctamente.
Esta novela es capaz de llevarte desde Barcelona hasta la capital del imperio Inca para, posteriormente, introducirse en el Amazonas. La descripción de los lugares, las fuentes históricas consultadas y verídicas, el ritmo trepidante... todo esto hacen de la novela una obra entretenida que, sin ser la octava maravilla del mundo, responde bien a lo que se espera de una novela histórica tan original como es. Nada que envidiar, por ejemplo, al "Código Da Vinci". Recomiendo, de esta misma autora, "El último catón", que para los amantes de la cultura europea, es más ilustrativo y seguro que del gusto de más público.

a nice historical review.......2004-05-06

I found this book to be a very interesting and a captivating one. Of the kind that is very difficult to put down. In a very nice way and with a beautiful use of the spanish language it describes accurately many historical facts hitherto unknown to me. I checked most of what appeared to be true historical references and was surprised to find that,in light of current knowledge related to the conquest of South America and to the systematic destruction of the native culture by the conquerors, both intentional and unitentional,they were based on factual modern data. The mentioning of the map of South America drawn by the Turkish pirate and explorer Piri Reis was completely new to me.
Such map was drawn before Pizzarro had set foot in the Southern American continent and it describes with amazing accuracy the geographical location of the major Andeans mountain chain and the major South American rivers, including their origen. How could Piri Reis have possible done it when the concept of geographical longitude was unknown then? There are numerous reference in the Internet, from very good sources, in relation to Piri Reis and his maps.
The fiction part of the book is clearly distinct from true historical references and it easy to tell them appart. .
In essence it is a well researched book and a very pleasant one to read.
Good for Ms Asensi. I look forward to read more of her works.

el origen perdido: no se moleste en buscarlo.......2003-12-09

compre este libro por curiosidad, ya que el tema parecia interesante.. y tal vez lo sea, pero de alli no pasa.
la historia esta sencillamente mal contada, extendiendose sin necesidad en situaciones poco interesantes. aun ignorando las mal hechas citas 'tecnicas' (a la autora, por favor asesorese mejor o no escriba sobre cosas que no conoce!!), posiblemente lo que mas me molesto de este libro fue la forma como la historia es previsiblemente 'rematada' al final, dejandola descaradamente abierta con el fin de escribir mas libros sobre el mismo tema. por favor, no mas 'caballo de troya'!!!! si quisiera tener una coleccion de libros, me compro una enciclopedia!!

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