The Bright Empires Series

The Skin Map, The Bone House, The Spirit Well, The Shadow Lamp, The Fatal Tree

By: Stephen Lawhead

Narrated by: Simon Bubb

Length: 54 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The Bright Empires series is a unique blend of epic treasure hunt, ancient history, alternate realities, cutting-edge physics, philosophy, and mystery. The result is a pause-resisting adventure like no other.

The Skin Map

Kit Livingstone’s great-grandfather reveals an unbelievable story: The ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legend or weekend hobby of deluded cranks but pathways to other worlds.

One explorer knew more than most. Braving every danger, he toured both time and space on voyages of heroic discovery. Ever on his guard and fearful of becoming lost in the cosmos, he developed an intricate code - a road map of symbols - that he tattooed on his body. This Skin Map has since been lost in time. And the race is on to discover its secrets.

The Bone House

Kit is on a quest to understand the impossible mission he inherited from Cosimo: to restore a map that charts the hidden dimensions of the multiverse. Survival depends on staying one step ahead of the savage Burley Men.

Those who know how to use the ley lines have left their own world behind to travel across time and space - down avenues of Egyptian sphinxes, to an Etruscan tufa tomb, into a Bohemian coffee shop, and across a Stone Age landscape where universes collide - in this, the second quest to unlock the mystery of The Bone House.

The Spirit Well

Kit is mastering the ability to travel across realities using ley lines and has forged a link from the Bone House, a sacred lodge made of animal bones, to the fabled Spirit Well, a place of profound power.

Cassandra Clarke is overseeing an archaeological dig in Arizona when a chance encounter transports her to 1950s Damascus. There, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to the Seekers - the last living remnants of the Zetetic Society who need her help to track down the missing Cosimo Livingstone and his grandson Kit.

But there are darker forces at work in the universe whose agents always seem to be one step ahead of the rest - and they’re all desperate to gain the ultimate prize in this treasure hunt where the stakes increase at every turn.

The Shadow Lamp

Kit, Mina, Gianni, Cass, Haven, and Giles have gathered in Mina’s 16th-century coffeehouse and are united in their determination to find a path back to the Spirit Well. Yet, with their shadow lamps destroyed and key pieces of the map still missing, the journey will be far more difficult than they imagine. And when one of their own disappears with Sir Henry’s cryptic Green Book, they no longer know who to trust.

The quest for answers is no longer limited to recovering an unknown treasure. The fate of the universe depends on unraveling the riddle of the Skin Map.

The Fatal Tree

It started with small wrinkles in time: 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.

Kit and Cass are back in the Stone Age trying to reach the Spirit Well. But an enormous yew tree has grown over the portal, effectively cutting off any chance of return. Unless someone can find a solution - and fast - all Creation will be destroyed in the universal apocalypse known as The End of Everything.

©2015 Stephen Lawhead (P)2021 Thomas Nelson

What a journey!

Just the right amount of characters for an amazing journey through times, friendships, and the quest for something more.

Interesting story with Christian themes woven in

I enjoyed this story enough that when I wasn't listening to it, I was thinking about the characters and how they relate to life. I like how the spiritual aspect was woven through the story. I love science fiction and to show a story can have that and a spiritual aspect without being cheesey was great! The reader was a bit dry but I think that's the British style. 😜

Compelling story

Even after listening to five books I was still sad to see the story come to an end. This is an engaging and intriguing story with characters I became invested in, especially the unexpected redemption at the end.

All or nothing. These five books are actually one book.

I have read many books and series by Lawhead, and this one was difficult to enjoy as easily as the others because it is really one long book. Each individual book had no real conclusion and each successive book had a first chapter called “Previously”. The number of characters felt excessive and it was difficult to see how some of the characters had earned a place in the story given the lack of contribution overall. Nevertheless, I do not regret reading it but rather consider Lawhead’s other works to be far more worthy of the reader’s time. I especially endorse the trilogy of Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck.

Primarily, my title says it all. This is really a single book and no reader would enjoy it except by reading all.

Terrible sound made it impossible for me to finish

I can't believe nobody else mentioned it, but the recording quality of this is just terrible. It sounds like the narrator is holding his phone and talking into it while standing in a room with no furniture and wood floors. I don't know how any producer would let this get out the door without taking the time to tinker with the audio. Removing room echo is trivial for anyone with even the most basic of training in recording and sound engineering.

Unfortunately, I just can't finish this book.

Engaging start, interesting build up, disappointing conclusion

Lawhead delivers interesting characters and locations under a new premise. Unfortunately, the story never really matures for its audience and the science within the science fiction seems to be not fully grasped by its author.

Perhaps there was potential, but the reader is left wanting.

Right storyline needs better proof reader

There were inconsistencies in the story. so I would give the story itself for stars. I was. However, able to suspend this belief long enough to enjoy the story. they need a better proof reader.

such an interesting and unexpected concept

nothing what so ever, it was amazing and brilliant. perhaps a bit slower at the beginning of each book, yet still compelling. not what I expected when it was recommended after master of war, but I'm thankful I gave it a shot.

First 4 books are great

The first four books have everything a sci-fi reader is looking for but the last book is what I can only call poor. I feel cheated after putting all the time into listening to a very interesting plot line only for it to play out with a fuzzy unsatisfying ending. I was thinking 5 stars all the way through with great narration and interesting story but that ending leaves me extremely disappointed.

I Lived With them and Loved it

It is captivating, compelling and tho fantasy, so well written that it becomes almost plausible.