Entretenido repaso a algunos de los hitos y personajes más destacados de la traición chilena a la Corona española y posterior independencia. Especialmente destacables los capítulos destinados a la figura de Ramón Freire y Lord Cochrane (a modo de simuladas entrevistas), a la muerte de Manuel Rodríguez y a los "antipatriotas", useasé, los realistas. Notables por los datos, la investigación, la original estructura narrativa y el gusto por la buena escritura. Algo más extraño es el recuento de los últimos días de Mateo de Toro y Zambrano y, decididamente enrevesados y sobreestimados los episodios del "Scorpion" y la aventura bandidesca en Baja California. En todo caso, un buen ejemplo de lo que deberían ser los libros de historia divulgativa: amenos, interesantes, sorprendentes. Tras "Bernardo" (biografía de O'Higgins a la que hincaré el diente más pronto que tarde), Alfredo Sepúlveda amenaza con convertirse en un "must read". Le seguiremos de cerca.

About a decade ago, I wrote an essay at uni comparing the Burton remake to the original 1968 Planet of the Apes. That was a fun essay to write. I already owned this book back then, though I never took the time to read it cover to cover - but look at me now!

This was an alright read.

It reads a lot like a series of magazine interviews, like from SFX or Empire, or like a DVD extra; that's not a bad thing per se, because it reads fine, but it doesn't really elevate the material. It's also a bit dated: my first edition doesn't include the ending, because the crew were so deathly afraid of spoilers that they didn't want to put it in the book. Bit of a letdown.

Another thing that bugged me a bit was just how much this book stroked Tim Burton's ego. He's a creative genius, a visionary, a great director and funny to boot - we get it. They mention it so many times that it starts feeling disgenuine. Maybe he's a great guy, I don't know him. But this book coulda done with a bit more "show don't tell" when it comes to that.

I think my favourite parts of this book were about the ape make-up and the costumes, although I feel they coulda gone a bit more in-depth with the latter. The locations were cool as well, but I would have liked to see more photos. I guess what I really wanted was an artbook, with pre-production sketches and photos showcasing the finished costumes.

This book's going to a secondhand shop. Hopin' someone else gets more out of it than I do.