This review originally posted at Christa's Hooked on Books 
 The story is set in London, back in the Victorian age. But this is by no means your typical Victorian tale. This rather large novel is actually a compilation of three, intertwined stories. The thread that connects them? H.G. Wells. It is not long after the release of his insanely popular book, The Time Machine and the idea of time travel has become incredibly popular. Everyone's looking for it to become the answer to all of their problems. Three people in particular, however, think it already may be the answer and enlist H.G. Wells to help them on their respective quests. As a result Wells finds himself knee deep in a number of mysteries including, tracking down Jack the Ripper, nurturing a romance between a young girl and a warrior from the year 2030 and saving future literally classics like Dracula and Turn of the Screw. Not exactly what he had in mind when he wrote his fictional novel. 
 I found these stories to be incredibly well written and woven together in an almost seamless and magical fashion. The characters just amazed me. Andrew Harrington is the very first character you meet in the book and I think he is by far my favourite. His is just such a beautiful story. A young, well off gentlemen, he falls in love is a White Chapel prostitute. If that wasn't bad enough, there is the ever present threat of Jack the Ripper stealing her away from Andrew at any given moment. There's was such a heart-wrenchingly beautiful love story and it was made all the more unique by the presence of H.G. Wells and the use of time travel. 
 For the most part the beautiful writing and magical ideas put forth were consistent throughout the whole book. The only fault I really found was that the pacing was really slow. I don't just mean this in the sense the book is long I mean there were times where nothing was really happening and these moments seemed to drag on forever. I could have done without these sluggish parts but overall the book was still very enjoyable and the rest of the writing was superb. 
 All in all my favourite thing about this novel was that it is literature that draws on other literature. That meant it combined all the best elements of steampunk and fantasy and gave book worms (like I know many of you are) a little something extra to get excited about it. I remember there were a few times while I was reading that the pieces started coming together and I got really excited about the references to some of my favourite books. The Map of Time a beautifully constructed book, filled with amazing adventures and just that little bit extra for book lovers. Definitely one to cozy up with.