Spain - Natural Consequences - Elia-Barceló
8th October 2025:
Found whilst updating the blog on my book from Catalonia, and debating with myself whether or not to split Catalonia and Spain into separate countries. I did, as this book looks great.
My journey trying to collect and read science fiction books from every country in the world!
Found with a bit of googling and reading this article:
http://www.concatenation.org/europe/spanish_science_fiction.html
and ordered a copy of Typescript of the Second Origin by Manuel de Pedrolo.
Meh, it's an average looking book, nothing to catch the eye, the title is long winded and not that attention grabbing either, its fairly short at only 160 pages, so should be a fairly quick read.
The Story:
Ok so, it's not super sci fi, I'm going to go full spoilers. The sci element is basically aliens kill all the humans apart a tiny amount who where missed because they were underwater. All buildings are partially destroyed. An alien is, presumed, stranded on the planet and killed by the two protagonists. Oh, the final chapter is set seven thousand years after the main story is played out, and discusses the 'typescript' that was found. And it discusses if the protagonists were the Adam and Eve of their civilization, and that are yet to discover the Alien race. So that covers all the science fiction in the book.
The story focuses on a young girl called Alba and a young boy named Dilac who are 15 and 11. They survive the alien invasion, and it's a really heart warming and fairly slow story around their adventures of becoming sustainable, traveling, and dealing with being alone. Thinking back, not much really happens, but I became completely engrossed and invested in their growing relationship and love. It's really well written and flows wonderfully. I can see why this book is required reading in Catalonian schools, and also quite surprised, as the Catalan region is very religious, and this didn't really touch on God's intervention or lack of it.
How Catalonian:
I did a bit of research on the book. And their is a HUGE amount of discussion on this book, which I didn't want to read, as I enjoyed the book for what it was. And didn't need to rethink it all with a whole heap of academic analysis, but it is their if you want it. The book is set in the Catalan region, and the geography and nature of the place is completely embedded into the story, so Si, it is mucho Catalan.
Recommend:
Yes a great story, not very sci fi but thoroughly enjoyable.