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Bright Empires #1-5
The Bright Empires Collection: The Skin Map, The Bone House, The Spirit Well, The Shadow Lamp, The Fatal Tree
Stephen R. Lawhead’s acclaimed Bright Empires series—now available in one volume!
The Skin Map
It is the ultimate quest for the ultimate treasure. Chasing a map tattooed on human skin. Across an omniverse of intersecting realities. To unravel the future of the future.
The Bone House
Kit Livingstone met his great-grandfather Cosimo in a rainy alley in London where he discovered the truth about alternate realities. Now he’s on the run—and on a quest—trying to understand the impossible mission he inherited from to restore a map that charts the hidden dimensions of the multiverse. Survival depends on staying one step ahead of the savage Burley Men.
The Spirit Well
The Search for the Map—and the secret behind its cryptic code—intensifies in a quest across time, space, and multiple realities.
The Shadow Lamp
The quest for answers—and ultimate survival—hinges on finding the cosmic link between the Skin Map, the Shadow Lamp, and the Spirit Well.
The Fatal Tree
It started with small, seemingly insignificant wrinkles in A busy bridge suddenly disappears, spilling cars into the sea. A beast from another realm roams modern streets. Napoleon’s army appears in 1930s Damascus ready for battle. But that’s only the beginning as entire realities collide and collapse.
The Skin Map
It is the ultimate quest for the ultimate treasure. Chasing a map tattooed on human skin. Across an omniverse of intersecting realities. To unravel the future of the future.
The Bone House
Kit Livingstone met his great-grandfather Cosimo in a rainy alley in London where he discovered the truth about alternate realities. Now he’s on the run—and on a quest—trying to understand the impossible mission he inherited from to restore a map that charts the hidden dimensions of the multiverse. Survival depends on staying one step ahead of the savage Burley Men.
The Spirit Well
The Search for the Map—and the secret behind its cryptic code—intensifies in a quest across time, space, and multiple realities.
The Shadow Lamp
The quest for answers—and ultimate survival—hinges on finding the cosmic link between the Skin Map, the Shadow Lamp, and the Spirit Well.
The Fatal Tree
It started with small, seemingly insignificant wrinkles in A busy bridge suddenly disappears, spilling cars into the sea. A beast from another realm roams modern streets. Napoleon’s army appears in 1930s Damascus ready for battle. But that’s only the beginning as entire realities collide and collapse.
Kindle Edition
First published January 6, 2015
117 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
About the author
Stephen R. Lawhead
102 books2,752 followersStephen R. Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. His works include Byzantium, Patrick, and the series The Pendragon Cycle, The Celtic Crusades, and The Song of Albion.
Also see his fanpage at Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/stephenlawhead...
Stephen was born in 1950, in Nebraska in the USA. Most of his early life was spent in America where he earned a university degree in Fine Arts and attended theological college for two years. His first professional writing was done at Campus Life magazine in Chicago, where he was an editor and staff writer. During his five years at Campus Life he wrote hundreds of articles and several non-fiction books.
After a brief foray into the music business—as president of his own record company—he began full-time freelance writing in 1981. He moved to England in order to research Celtic legend and history. His first novel, In the Hall of the Dragon King, became the first in a series of three books (The Dragon King Trilogy) and was followed by the two-volume Empyrion saga, Dream Thief and then the Pendragon Cycle, now in five volumes: Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon, and Grail. This was followed by the award-winning Song of Albion series which consists of The Paradise War, The Silver Hand, and The Endless Knot.
He has written nine children's books, many of them originally offered to his two sons, Drake and Ross. He is married to Alice Slaikeu Lawhead, also a writer, with whom he has collaborated on some books and articles. They make their home in Oxford, England.
Stephen's non-fiction, fiction and children's titles have been published in twenty-one foreign languages. All of his novels have remained continuously in print in the United States and Britain since they were first published. He has won numereous industry awards for his novels and children's books, and in 2003 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Nebraska.
also write under the name Steve Lawhead
Also see his fanpage at Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/stephenlawhead...
Stephen was born in 1950, in Nebraska in the USA. Most of his early life was spent in America where he earned a university degree in Fine Arts and attended theological college for two years. His first professional writing was done at Campus Life magazine in Chicago, where he was an editor and staff writer. During his five years at Campus Life he wrote hundreds of articles and several non-fiction books.
After a brief foray into the music business—as president of his own record company—he began full-time freelance writing in 1981. He moved to England in order to research Celtic legend and history. His first novel, In the Hall of the Dragon King, became the first in a series of three books (The Dragon King Trilogy) and was followed by the two-volume Empyrion saga, Dream Thief and then the Pendragon Cycle, now in five volumes: Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon, and Grail. This was followed by the award-winning Song of Albion series which consists of The Paradise War, The Silver Hand, and The Endless Knot.
He has written nine children's books, many of them originally offered to his two sons, Drake and Ross. He is married to Alice Slaikeu Lawhead, also a writer, with whom he has collaborated on some books and articles. They make their home in Oxford, England.
Stephen's non-fiction, fiction and children's titles have been published in twenty-one foreign languages. All of his novels have remained continuously in print in the United States and Britain since they were first published. He has won numereous industry awards for his novels and children's books, and in 2003 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Nebraska.
also write under the name Steve Lawhead
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 6, 2019
This five volume fantasy encompasses folklore (ley lines), history, geography, philosophy, religion and quantum physics in a multi-strand adventure in which the protagonists are searching for an elusive skin map which purportedly holds the secrets of the universe. It was quite an undertaking and at times was hard to see how it all comes together but it does in the end. The concept that we live in a multiverse (that there are parallel universes) is an intriguing idea to contemplate.
August 8, 2020
5 book, 1 theme, a singular variety of topics
A young man with a boring job and a somewhat boring girlfriend , takes a shortcut while on an errand in London, after which he is to atrend to said girlfriend on a shopping trip. Suddenly, an older man accosts him, claiming to be his GGF. The only thing Kit, the young man, knows about this personage is that he left his home to run am errand and was never heard from again, leaving jis family destitute. He isn't much inclined to view thos ancestor credibly, bit then, somehow, he finds himself no longer in.a Lond9n alley, but in a seashore town complete woth sailing ships & people dressedn8n 19th century clothing. After he throws up and gets settled, he tries to convince himself this is one of those tourist traps where people re-enact how folk lived in an earlier time. His GGF tells him he is actually in the 19th century on an alternate dimension. Kit finds himself getting a crash course in ley lines, which his grandfather claims they traveled to get to the village. He then sees his GGS home to the alley in modern day London. Kit gors straight to his girlfriend's house. She is angry because he is 8 hours late. He tells her what happened but of course, she doesn't believe him. Since, when he amd his GGF traveled, they could see the town in the distance before they entered it, he takes her to the same alley, trying to show her, but the pull of the ley line is stronger so he is oulled bacl to the village, but since she wasn't in contact with him, she was thrown into 17th century Bavaria. A baker, laden with the tools of his trade, picks her up. It turns out this young woman spoke German in her childhood, with her grandmother, as they baked together; the young man is a younger son of a baker but there is no way for him to make it on his own unless he tries to set up in a new place. The young woman, Mina, works at a bakery back in London. She surprises the reader and the baker with unexpected skills in bargaining & marketing, including sending Etzel, the baker, on a trip to find coffee beans to start a coffeehouse in Prague, where they have their shop. Despite her finding herself seemingly abandoned 4 centuries oit of her time, the whole enterprise feels right to her and she blossoms. Meanwhile, Kit has gone to find his GGF to try to locate Mina.
Thus begins a series of 5 books that has a villainous and very wealthy enemy, and includes trips to the Etruscan kingdom (now Tuscany), Macau, ancient Egypt, the steppes of Eastern Europe, Constantinople, the stone age, Arizona & New Mexico, Oxford, Damascus on the 1930s, and more, as other characters accidentally discover ley travel. Kit visits the Well of Souls inadvertently, the place which an explorer called Arthur Flinders-Petrie (sort of the father of ley line travel, he has a map tattooed to his torso in Macau (so it can't be lost), in an odd code, and he adds to the map regularly; when he dies, his son asks for a copy of the map and because of a linguistic misunderstanding, ends up with his father's skin instead). This man encoded on his body the location of this well of souls but the code is so obscure that no one can decipher it.
Then things start going wrong. The expanding universe has stopped expanding and is contracting at an ever increasing, alarming rate. As each dimension destabilizes, the rush is on to find out what might have triggered the reversal and how it might be stopped, as different teams of ley line travelers have to travel through ever more umstable ley lines to try and stop the damage. Throughout this, they have to deal with the villain - until he goes too far and he and his hemchmen end up rotting in jail. The baker, whom the villain attacked & injured severely, ends up feeding the prisoners - something done by friends and family but not by the jail, forgiving then because Jesus forgave him. The henchmen are soon separated from the villain since they have come around to rethinking their lives due to the baker's kindness, but it takes the villain quite a long time to come around. Once he does, he still shows a lack of understanding & has to be stopped by the others be d ire he does more harm in trying to fix things best left to Jesus.
Although the Creator is mentioned by that title soecifically throughout the book, it is mostly in the background, though you do see priests and church people from time to time. The only mention of Jesus is in the last book in the compendium, as the faith soecifically of one man. The rest of the mentions are more philosophically oriented and always as an individual choice, not a thing to be forced.
The author brings in elements of hisotry, language (17th century English, for example, is difficult to understand by even Kit's Victorian GGF, and Kit has difficulty understanding both Victorian and 17th century English becaus words don't mean the same thing to speakers in amvarious eras, plus German, French, Latin, & others. He also brings in a lot of science, starting with the 13th century's scientists on.
A young man with a boring job and a somewhat boring girlfriend , takes a shortcut while on an errand in London, after which he is to atrend to said girlfriend on a shopping trip. Suddenly, an older man accosts him, claiming to be his GGF. The only thing Kit, the young man, knows about this personage is that he left his home to run am errand and was never heard from again, leaving jis family destitute. He isn't much inclined to view thos ancestor credibly, bit then, somehow, he finds himself no longer in.a Lond9n alley, but in a seashore town complete woth sailing ships & people dressedn8n 19th century clothing. After he throws up and gets settled, he tries to convince himself this is one of those tourist traps where people re-enact how folk lived in an earlier time. His GGF tells him he is actually in the 19th century on an alternate dimension. Kit finds himself getting a crash course in ley lines, which his grandfather claims they traveled to get to the village. He then sees his GGS home to the alley in modern day London. Kit gors straight to his girlfriend's house. She is angry because he is 8 hours late. He tells her what happened but of course, she doesn't believe him. Since, when he amd his GGF traveled, they could see the town in the distance before they entered it, he takes her to the same alley, trying to show her, but the pull of the ley line is stronger so he is oulled bacl to the village, but since she wasn't in contact with him, she was thrown into 17th century Bavaria. A baker, laden with the tools of his trade, picks her up. It turns out this young woman spoke German in her childhood, with her grandmother, as they baked together; the young man is a younger son of a baker but there is no way for him to make it on his own unless he tries to set up in a new place. The young woman, Mina, works at a bakery back in London. She surprises the reader and the baker with unexpected skills in bargaining & marketing, including sending Etzel, the baker, on a trip to find coffee beans to start a coffeehouse in Prague, where they have their shop. Despite her finding herself seemingly abandoned 4 centuries oit of her time, the whole enterprise feels right to her and she blossoms. Meanwhile, Kit has gone to find his GGF to try to locate Mina.
Thus begins a series of 5 books that has a villainous and very wealthy enemy, and includes trips to the Etruscan kingdom (now Tuscany), Macau, ancient Egypt, the steppes of Eastern Europe, Constantinople, the stone age, Arizona & New Mexico, Oxford, Damascus on the 1930s, and more, as other characters accidentally discover ley travel. Kit visits the Well of Souls inadvertently, the place which an explorer called Arthur Flinders-Petrie (sort of the father of ley line travel, he has a map tattooed to his torso in Macau (so it can't be lost), in an odd code, and he adds to the map regularly; when he dies, his son asks for a copy of the map and because of a linguistic misunderstanding, ends up with his father's skin instead). This man encoded on his body the location of this well of souls but the code is so obscure that no one can decipher it.
Then things start going wrong. The expanding universe has stopped expanding and is contracting at an ever increasing, alarming rate. As each dimension destabilizes, the rush is on to find out what might have triggered the reversal and how it might be stopped, as different teams of ley line travelers have to travel through ever more umstable ley lines to try and stop the damage. Throughout this, they have to deal with the villain - until he goes too far and he and his hemchmen end up rotting in jail. The baker, whom the villain attacked & injured severely, ends up feeding the prisoners - something done by friends and family but not by the jail, forgiving then because Jesus forgave him. The henchmen are soon separated from the villain since they have come around to rethinking their lives due to the baker's kindness, but it takes the villain quite a long time to come around. Once he does, he still shows a lack of understanding & has to be stopped by the others be d ire he does more harm in trying to fix things best left to Jesus.
Although the Creator is mentioned by that title soecifically throughout the book, it is mostly in the background, though you do see priests and church people from time to time. The only mention of Jesus is in the last book in the compendium, as the faith soecifically of one man. The rest of the mentions are more philosophically oriented and always as an individual choice, not a thing to be forced.
The author brings in elements of hisotry, language (17th century English, for example, is difficult to understand by even Kit's Victorian GGF, and Kit has difficulty understanding both Victorian and 17th century English becaus words don't mean the same thing to speakers in amvarious eras, plus German, French, Latin, & others. He also brings in a lot of science, starting with the 13th century's scientists on.
January 29, 2024
Two stars, it was okay, even though the first book started out with so much promise.
***Spoilers***
I have no idea why I became so engrossed in Willamena's coffee shop adventure, but I did. The beginning was so interesting. For all those souls here, which seem to wonder without a real purpose, her ability to take herself from ordinary to extraordinary by rewinding time seemed fascinating. How might we all venture back into time and take our everyday casual lives into the past where average experience becomes borderline genius. Something so simple as the introduction of coffee became a fantastic read.
Then the story attempted to evolve, to become some type of spiritual journey about mysticism and religious destiny. The main characters were no long changing their dimensions past and living interesting happy lives. They were caught in a tornado that calmly turned them around in a circle, it seemed dangerous and intense but when it was over and done with, well, it wasn't much of a ride.
There was a massive dump of characters that seemed to fizzle about, not really having any type of major catastrophe or mind-blowing plot. This was very placid, you can travel through dimensions however you will end up in your original dimension and although you can alter the future it will destabilize so you have to un alter it and viola, nothing really happened. The characters met some friends and lived happily ever after. There were times during this read where I feel that I zoned out, and in most series I have to go back a chapter to continue forwards, but that didn't happen with this book. As I continued to read I felt that nothing important happened and if I had missed something, it probably wasn't anything important anyway.
For me this was one of my mom's Lifetime movies. No action, no real drama or romance. Just a slow moving predictable story.
***Spoilers***
I have no idea why I became so engrossed in Willamena's coffee shop adventure, but I did. The beginning was so interesting. For all those souls here, which seem to wonder without a real purpose, her ability to take herself from ordinary to extraordinary by rewinding time seemed fascinating. How might we all venture back into time and take our everyday casual lives into the past where average experience becomes borderline genius. Something so simple as the introduction of coffee became a fantastic read.
Then the story attempted to evolve, to become some type of spiritual journey about mysticism and religious destiny. The main characters were no long changing their dimensions past and living interesting happy lives. They were caught in a tornado that calmly turned them around in a circle, it seemed dangerous and intense but when it was over and done with, well, it wasn't much of a ride.
There was a massive dump of characters that seemed to fizzle about, not really having any type of major catastrophe or mind-blowing plot. This was very placid, you can travel through dimensions however you will end up in your original dimension and although you can alter the future it will destabilize so you have to un alter it and viola, nothing really happened. The characters met some friends and lived happily ever after. There were times during this read where I feel that I zoned out, and in most series I have to go back a chapter to continue forwards, but that didn't happen with this book. As I continued to read I felt that nothing important happened and if I had missed something, it probably wasn't anything important anyway.
For me this was one of my mom's Lifetime movies. No action, no real drama or romance. Just a slow moving predictable story.
March 10, 2016
Rambling. Repetitive. But highly descriptive. Repetitively descriptive. HIGHLY REPETITIVELY descriptive. Gets all Jesus-y and religiously moralistic by the end.
There are too many rambling loose ends to go over, but I'll note two things: 1) the coffeehouse story in book 1 is the most interesting thing in the whole series; 2) the whole series revolves around the BIG HUGE mystery and quest for the Skin Map and symbols, which *SPOILER* turns out ARE NEVER USED BY ANYONE. "The Man Who Is Map" might as well have been "The Man Who is Joe Schmoe".
So maybe the slippery loose plot just reflects normal life, and it's all about character development. Well, in cast of maybe 30 main characters, there are only two that really develop, and our initial main character, Kit, is not one of them (other than developing 6-pack abs).
While the author does note in his ending essays that he is not a scientist, the science in here is poop. People who see science and religion as interchangeable will love it.
Did I mention it's repetitive? If I never hear a highly detailed description of dust blowing around a row of sphinxes ever again, it will be too soon.
There are too many rambling loose ends to go over, but I'll note two things: 1) the coffeehouse story in book 1 is the most interesting thing in the whole series; 2) the whole series revolves around the BIG HUGE mystery and quest for the Skin Map and symbols, which *SPOILER* turns out ARE NEVER USED BY ANYONE. "The Man Who Is Map" might as well have been "The Man Who is Joe Schmoe".
So maybe the slippery loose plot just reflects normal life, and it's all about character development. Well, in cast of maybe 30 main characters, there are only two that really develop, and our initial main character, Kit, is not one of them (other than developing 6-pack abs).
While the author does note in his ending essays that he is not a scientist, the science in here is poop. People who see science and religion as interchangeable will love it.
Did I mention it's repetitive? If I never hear a highly detailed description of dust blowing around a row of sphinxes ever again, it will be too soon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2018
A most excellent finish
This narrative is a complex labyrinth of characters and takes quite a while to get going. But it really comes together in the 4th and 5th books to a fantastic finish.
Lawhead has done for the Omniverse what he did for Arthurian legend!
This narrative is a complex labyrinth of characters and takes quite a while to get going. But it really comes together in the 4th and 5th books to a fantastic finish.
Lawhead has done for the Omniverse what he did for Arthurian legend!
January 24, 2018
Glad to have wrapped up this series. Got a little deep in the last book, almost like it was time to do the real deep sci-fi dive. I think book 4 was prob my favorite.
August 18, 2019
Good read
Generally good, perhaps not quite on scale with the Arthurian Cycle but still compelling. I would certainly recommend this series.
Generally good, perhaps not quite on scale with the Arthurian Cycle but still compelling. I would certainly recommend this series.
March 29, 2024
Somewhat confusing, and not his best (3 stars)
Stephen Lawhead has produced some outstanding speculative and fantasy fiction, but the Bright Empires series of five books (first published 2012-2015) is not his best work.
The concept is terrific: protagonist Kit Livingstone and the characters around him discover the ability to travel to different times and places by means of "ley lines". The real prize that they are hunting for is the legendary Skin Map, which is a record of all the available pathways, originally tattooed in code to the skin of Arthur Flinders-Petrie. It may even give the secret to finding the Well of Souls, which holds the promise of immortality. But there are also evil henchmen at work, led by the man called Burleigh, that seek to these same treasures in order to use them for nefarious means. And when things start to go wrong, it seems as if the entire world might begin unravelling.
It's a very intriguing premise, maybe even a brilliant one. And this series does showcase Lawhead's Christian theology perhaps more than most of his books. But it's unfortunate this series simply doesn't live up to what it promises. As readers we are only tossed into different times and locations from chapter to chapter. And with an evergrowing cast of characters, the non-linear action becomes incredibly difficult to follow. It's rare that the story keeps going from one chapter to the next, and instead we find ourselves with yet another group of individuals, and everything becomes hard to keep track of. Judging by other reviews I've read, I'm not the only one that feels this way.
Not only does the storyline lack a real sense of forward momentum to keep us sufficiently engaged, but we don't really get to spend enough time with the characters and places along the way to really come to know and enjoy them - Mina's successful coffeeshop business in Prague being a shining exception.
I appreciated the redemptive elements that emerge at the end of the story, and how the heroes have flaws, while the villains are not beyond salvation. But it was a little too late, and didn't rescue this series from being a morass of confusion that I had to force myself to plod through to make it to the finish line.
Stephen Lawhead has produced some outstanding speculative and fantasy fiction, but the Bright Empires series of five books (first published 2012-2015) is not his best work.
The concept is terrific: protagonist Kit Livingstone and the characters around him discover the ability to travel to different times and places by means of "ley lines". The real prize that they are hunting for is the legendary Skin Map, which is a record of all the available pathways, originally tattooed in code to the skin of Arthur Flinders-Petrie. It may even give the secret to finding the Well of Souls, which holds the promise of immortality. But there are also evil henchmen at work, led by the man called Burleigh, that seek to these same treasures in order to use them for nefarious means. And when things start to go wrong, it seems as if the entire world might begin unravelling.
It's a very intriguing premise, maybe even a brilliant one. And this series does showcase Lawhead's Christian theology perhaps more than most of his books. But it's unfortunate this series simply doesn't live up to what it promises. As readers we are only tossed into different times and locations from chapter to chapter. And with an evergrowing cast of characters, the non-linear action becomes incredibly difficult to follow. It's rare that the story keeps going from one chapter to the next, and instead we find ourselves with yet another group of individuals, and everything becomes hard to keep track of. Judging by other reviews I've read, I'm not the only one that feels this way.
Not only does the storyline lack a real sense of forward momentum to keep us sufficiently engaged, but we don't really get to spend enough time with the characters and places along the way to really come to know and enjoy them - Mina's successful coffeeshop business in Prague being a shining exception.
I appreciated the redemptive elements that emerge at the end of the story, and how the heroes have flaws, while the villains are not beyond salvation. But it was a little too late, and didn't rescue this series from being a morass of confusion that I had to force myself to plod through to make it to the finish line.
February 14, 2025
4 Stars
The Bright Empires Collection is a fantastic Box Set that contains all five books in the Bright Empires Series by Stephen R. Lawhead.
The Box Set Contains:
-The Skin Map (Book #1)
-The Bone House (Book #2)
-The Spirit Well (Book #3)
-The Shadow Lamp (Book #4)
-The Fatal Tree (Book #5)
It is an intriguing historical fantasy series with plenty of action, adventure, time travel, alternate realities, interesting characters, wonderful world-building, dramatic developments, and multiple layers ~~ which will keep you avidly reading to discover how everything plays out in the end.
Well worth the read.
My full review is still to come.
The Bright Empires Collection is a fantastic Box Set that contains all five books in the Bright Empires Series by Stephen R. Lawhead.
The Box Set Contains:
-The Skin Map (Book #1)
-The Bone House (Book #2)
-The Spirit Well (Book #3)
-The Shadow Lamp (Book #4)
-The Fatal Tree (Book #5)
It is an intriguing historical fantasy series with plenty of action, adventure, time travel, alternate realities, interesting characters, wonderful world-building, dramatic developments, and multiple layers ~~ which will keep you avidly reading to discover how everything plays out in the end.
Well worth the read.
My full review is still to come.
September 24, 2025
The first book is slow and sometimes this series loses me for a bit keeping track of all the characters but overall it's very good! Love the 'travel' aspect and how the characters tangle and untangle time!
June 22, 2019
Amazing books, I love this series. It is my second favorite series I have ever read.
5 Stars.
5 Stars.
February 4, 2020
Amazing as always
As always, Stephen Lawhead has captivated my imagination and has left my soul longing for more. No one will pick up this book and leave disappointed.
As always, Stephen Lawhead has captivated my imagination and has left my soul longing for more. No one will pick up this book and leave disappointed.
February 25, 2025
I've read the first 3 books in this series so far. A unique concept I find intriquing. I'll keep reading through the series!
December 21, 2024
The most brilliant series yet by a brilliant writer!
Worthy of Tolkien! Lawhead's sprawling epic takes you from modern London to ancient Egypt to the Stone Age and the Middle Ages. Part traditional fantasy, part science fiction and time travel story, the tale explores the notion of an intertwined multiverse and the Great Plan that underlies it all, as well as what role humans play in all this. Highly recommended!
Update for reread 2024: Some of Lawhead's writings trouble me in retrospect due to certain elements of Christian nationalism in them and the fact he's sold some movie rights to far right outlets. But this is one series that seems infused with genuine, Christlike Christianity, as well as a fascinating historical fantasy.
Worthy of Tolkien! Lawhead's sprawling epic takes you from modern London to ancient Egypt to the Stone Age and the Middle Ages. Part traditional fantasy, part science fiction and time travel story, the tale explores the notion of an intertwined multiverse and the Great Plan that underlies it all, as well as what role humans play in all this. Highly recommended!
Update for reread 2024: Some of Lawhead's writings trouble me in retrospect due to certain elements of Christian nationalism in them and the fact he's sold some movie rights to far right outlets. But this is one series that seems infused with genuine, Christlike Christianity, as well as a fascinating historical fantasy.
September 2, 2016
I had hoped fervently that this would be a better book than the first few chapters indicated. Sadly, that was not to be. While Lawhead's series make for reasonably entertaining reading, the constant pontificating and less-than-subtle evangelism drag down what could otherwise have been a remarkably gripping story. While the scale and sweep of his ambition are admirable, the execution is clunky, sometimes grating, and often overwrought. Alternative realities and explorations on the nature of the universe are all well and good; and explorers of ley-lines sound like they'd make for fine reading, but this is more epistolary than entertaining.
March 8, 2015
Good story
A good storyteller carries one into the imagined world. Mr. Lawhead is certainly a good storyteller though at times a bit difficult to follow. "The Bright Empires Collection" is most enjoyable.
A good storyteller carries one into the imagined world. Mr. Lawhead is certainly a good storyteller though at times a bit difficult to follow. "The Bright Empires Collection" is most enjoyable.
February 16, 2016
I have always been a fan of Mr Lawhead and I really enjoyed this series. It may well be the best thing he has written yet
September 30, 2016
Loved it and have recommended to others. Have read others of his books and really like him as an author.
March 3, 2019
Enjoyable series
July 21, 2022
Very entertaining with a twisty turny plot! Quite an adventure!
Want to read
February 1, 2018$3.99
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews