The Fatal Tree

By: Stephen Lawhead

Narrated by: Simon Bubb

Kit stared at his fellow questors. “Is this it . . . the End of Everything?”

It started with small, seemingly insignificant 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.

The questors are spread throughout the universe. Mina is stuck on a plain of solid ice, her only companion an angry cave lion. Tony and Gianni are monitoring the cataclysmic reversal of the cosmic expansion—but coming up short on answers. And Burleigh is languishing in a dreary underground dungeon—his only hope of survival the very man he tried to murder.

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.

In this final volume of the fantastic Bright Empires series, Stephen R. Lawhead brings this multi-stranded tale to a stunning and immensely satisfying conclusion.

“In the sweeping style of George R. R. Martin and J. R. Tolkien, Lawhead has created a diverse universe and rich cast of characters. Multiple story lines weave to form a satisfying ending to this mythological speculative series.” —Library Journal

Been a fan of Lawhead for 25 years!

What made the experience of listening to The Fatal Tree the most enjoyable?

I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It explores ley lines, time travel, apocalyptic possibilities, archeology, science and more, but not in what I would consider a "cheesy" way. Lawhead has pulled his material from many current conversations that can be found on the Internet in alternative news sources about all of these subjects, and then some. Through his fictional story, he explores what life might be like if "all that" were true. I found the character development, the plot development, the historical aspects of the various settings for the story, etc. to all be very engaging.

outstanding resolution to a mondboggling race

although I loved the performance the production was sub par other than that. an outstanding piece of literature. for those who enjoy thrill of a chase, mystery, crime, time and space travel its a hit. start with the skin map and trust ne when I say this is one of those series that keeps getting better!

Excellent as always

Stephen Lawhead has delivered on every book of his I have read... And I have read them all.

powerful

This is a powerful conclusion to a beautiful story. I appreciate Lawhead's portrayal of grace in the face of great difficulty. I also appreciated the theme of God's providence. God is good and does work all things out for the good!

nice story, too many words

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story moved very slowly. There was too much repetition and the dialogue was sometimes irritatingly redundant. I liked the overall story line and ideas--it just needed more editing. It seemed to be more an issue in the later books in the series. I didn't notice it so much in the first couple.

Could you see The Fatal Tree being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It could be quite amazing visually. The story line is very sound, and a critical rewrite might be just what it needs.

could have been good.

Disappointing end to this series. It got worse with each book. the religious overtones were just too much. I can handle some subtle religious content, but it was way overdone and cheesy.

So much potential, so little delivery

On it's surface, this storyline and series should have been a stellar hit. Stephen Lawhead has written some fantastic stories that I've throughly enjoyed, including his "Song of Albion" series, "the Pendragon Cycle", and the "Dragon King" trilogy. All were excellent.

And this book has some fantastic science fiction ideas and some very creative ways of bringing all these concepts into a cohesive and compelling storyline: multiverse and alternate dimensions, dark matter, universal expansion, quantum mechanics, lines of power (leylines), ancient civilizations and time travel. This really should have been an exciting story given all of these interesting components.

However, the story just seemed to drag on. The author created characters that I was only mildly interested in, that seemed boorish and immature. The plot of this series meandered wildly. Since the story was telling a multi-dimensional and multi time-period narrative, some of that is to be expected. But most of the time you did not have a very clear indication at all of what was really trying to be accomplished by whom and why. A tattooed man who passed away a long time ago holds the secret to... something. We don't know what for a long time, by we are going to get 5 books to try and figure it out.

Characters are introduced at random almost, they disappear and then re-appear at random (though it gets all tied together later I suppose). One character's storyline goes on for 4 books only to have him die at the beginning of the 5th book in a very disconnected and odd way, having accomplished nothing and pretty much resulting in a compete waste of time knowing his story at all. Indeed, the author goes on to explain that he really shouldn't have existed except by another character's mistake.

Also, the book has an almost "G" level rating in terms of action and drama. It's very "British" in it's prudence and the characters sense of propriety, and the "danger" posed to the protagonists feel veiled and benign. Occasionally, one stumbles through a leyline into a tricky situation, but very rarely do you get a sense of danger. And when someone is killed, it is always more by circumstance and carelessness that an act of aggression against them. (I am still confounded why the author chose to kill off one of the characters in particular at "the fatal tree"- perhaps to give the book it's name?)

Fantastically creative concepts for the book, but the actual story told was VERY sub-par and boring. I nearly dropped the series after the 3rd book, but after some encouragement from a friend, picked it back up again for book 4 (which got my hopes up for the story actually becoming interesting) only to completely dash it to smithereens in this final book. There are MUCH more interesting works of Lawhead to explore.

Pass on this one unless you're already 4 books into the series- juts don't expect a good finish.

The fatal tree had me hooked

The Fatal Tree has me hooked. I have truly enjoyed Stephen R Lawheads books and finished this series in the road today. I will be looking for more like this as the adventures continue as the miles pass by.

Ever feel like....

Ever feel like after reading 4 EXCELLENT books that you get to last one and scratch your head?

I think Stephen Lawhead is one of the best authors I follow. I have read every single book and series that he has written for over 35 years. I feel like after reading the other books in the series that this "finale" has left me thinking "did I miss a book?". I'm conflicted because I really highly recommend this series and don't know want anyone to read this review and miss out.

So if you have read the other books, please know the all the loose threads are tied together. There are some surprises. It is definitely worth your time to finish the series. Don't attempt to read these out of order or as stand alone novels.

I highly recommend this series and look forward to reading Stephen Lawhead's next books.

BUMMER

I LOVE all Lawhead books! I couldn't wait for the ending book to this series - but what a disappointment. It was almost like he was rushed for a deadline and couldn't figure out a way to end the series. BUMMER