In Which The End Of Everything Gets Delayed For A Much Needed Recap

The end of the year, and the end of a series.

The CSFF Tour is featuring The Fatal Tree, the 5th and final book in the Bright Empires series by Stephen Lawhead. It’s been a wild ride to get to the End of Everything, which is what The Fatal Tree is about.

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the first four books of the series.

The Skin Map – this starts off the tale with a good place: the beginning. And one of the great lines to start a series.

“Had he but known that before the day was over he would discover the hidden dimensions of the universe, Kit might have been better prepared. At least, he would have brought an umbrella.

Kit Livingstone is an unremarkable Brit with an unremarkable girlfriend, Mina. But when he meets his great-grandfather Cosimo, who happened to be dead, Kit is understandably taken back. Cosimo introduces Kit to ley travel, which allows one to hop dimensions. Unfortunately Kit loses Mina in 16th century Prague and Cosimo finds a permanent home in an Egyptian tomb, thanks to the treacherous Lord Burleigh.

The Bone House – Book two reunites Kit and Mina for a short time, but they must stay ahead of Lord Burleigh, who is trying to track down the Skin Map. Of course, we follow the adventures of Arthur Flinders-Petrie, the owner of the Skin Map, until it somehow is removed from his body at a later time. But that doesn’t happen until Kit is stranded in the Stone Age at the end of the book, growing a great hipster beard in the process.

The Spirit Well – Characters start joining in the quest for the Skin Map, as American paleontologist Cassandra Clarke stumbles upon a ley line in Sedona, Arizona. Arthur makes a fateful visit to the Spirit Well. Mina introduces Kit to Gianni, a well-educated monk. And the Skin Map is ready to take off on its own.

The Shadow Lamp – Finally the fourth book stirs the pot and leaves many people in difficult situations. Lady Haven and Giles the servant end up with Bulgar armies in the Middle Ages. Lord Burleigh lets his temper get the best of him. Douglas Flinders-Petrie, an ancestor of Arthur, also finds himself in a difficult situation. Kit, Mina, and Cass fight to understand and intervene as friends predict the End of Everything.

Confused?

You should be. Lawhead has conceived of this story 15 years prior to when he started writing the Bright Empires series. It is impossible to sum up four books without major spoilers. The solution is simple: order the books for Christmas!

I’ll talk more about the books on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the meantime, Becky Miller always collects the posts for the tour and notes them here. And you can see the various tour mates below to see what the Bright Empires holds.

Julie Bihn
Thomas Clayton Booher
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
Karri Compton
April Erwin
Victor Gentile
Jason Joyner
Janeen Ippolito
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Rebekah Loper
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Jalynn Patterson
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Audrey Sauble
Jojo Sutis
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler