Review: It was not so!
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2013
Given the name of the author I wondered if this was a translation and the story got lost in translation.  Actually, I don't know what the story was.  I guess if you did not know the history and poetry of  what is now Spain in the 1400's this would have been eye opening.  It read to me more like a history novel with an attempt at a story woven into the history.  The alchemist, the main character, falls flat.  He reminded me of the "Flashman", another male fantasy that does not disguise itself as anything else, who fell in love at every turn and every woman was gorgeous and fell in love with him.  I disliked it when the history and poetry turned to the character.  The whole idea of ending up in the future also falls flat.  Over 80% of the story was given to history and I began to wonder if this was the first in a series (which would have annoyed me as well.)  The character made it to the future and then inexplicably somehow returned to the past.  The entire story had no plausible or understandable point.  It seemed as if the whole point of the story was to introduce the phrase "kan ma kan" (it was so, it was not so).  It was not so!  And only gets a star because I can't give it a half star.