Although they often go unnoticed, the quotes that open a novel often hold the keys to what awaits us in its pages.
In 'Animales difíciles', by Rosa Montero (Madrid, 1951), the last installment of the series starring detective Bruna Husky, we find two quotes that could not be more significant. The first, the iconic beginning of 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens: It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.
The second, a warning from the philosopher and expert in artificial intelligence Nick Bostrom: Creating something smarter than you is a basic evolutionary error. Fortunately, in the case of books, being smarter than us is not a threat, but a gift.
