Note, Nov. 30, 2012 --I'm adding this note to correct an error in the review. The Bright Empires series is NOT to be a trilogy; Lawhead is projecting five volumes for it in all. My bad! :-)

In the 1920s, landscape photographer and amateur antiquarian Alfred Watkins became convinced that large numbers of pre-Roman sites in Great Britain (megaliths, mounds, hill forts, wells, causeways, sacred sites, etc.) were deliberately laid out along straight lines, for which he coined the term "ley lines," ru More...

Okay 3.5. I'm to some extent a Lawhead fan. He's written some books I've liked greatly though he's capable (sometimes) of writing some very dry prose. It happens.

I saw this book, read the synopsis and noted it as one I wanted to read some years ago.

And then forgot it.

I saw it mentioned here, a few days ago, said "oh yeah, I remember wanting to read that". It was in audio on the library's web sight so I downloaded it. I must say it's not what I expected from the synopsis I read. It's much more... More...

I have mixed feelings about this book. Though I really liked it, the pacing was off at times with the different storylines. There are several stories to follow: Kit, Mina, Burleigh, Flinders-Petrie & Sir Henry/Cosimo. Not to mention all the tertiary characters these people meet in their travels. At the beginning of the book I found Mina's story to be the msot interesting. Then Flinders-Petrie's story fascinated me. And that's where I was left at the end of the book.

As a main character Kit i More...

Kit is your average Londoner dealing with an average Londoner's complications, more specifically, the metro system. One problem leads to the next and on his way to his girlfriend's, he finds himself in a dark alley, Stane Way, but this dark alley's not as mysterious or treacherous as you may think, Kit ends up finding his great-grandfather for the first time...who's not looking as old as he probably should be.

Thus begins the adventure for the Skin Map, which contains directions through the ley l More...

The story opens on Kit, a 27 year-old professional headed to his girlfriend's place on a pleasant Sunday outing. (Now, I didn't think anything could dampen my enthusiasm for visiting London one day, but Kit's misadventure through England's most notoriously convoluted transit system came uncomfortably close.) Happily, though, the Tube is soon exchanged for ley travel--much bigger and more adventurous, certainly more dangerous, and arguably easier to navigate! Throw in a hot commodity, a nefarious More...

my history with Stephen Lawhead isn’t the best… a long time ago, (when i was but a wee lad) i bought three Lawhead books from a book club… Taliesin, Merlin, and Arthur… i had heard that he was a good author and i guessed based on the titles, that i’d be interested in the books… unfortunately, i could never get into them and i doubt i made it past the first three chapters of the first book, despite trying several times… and, as it turns out, those books are part of a larger series, the Pendragon More...

I should preface this review by saying that parts of the story take place in locations I know, that things like leylines, prehistoric monuments and English mythology have long fascinated me, and that when you mix these things up with a little time and inter-dimensional travel, you’re going to have a book that I’ll at least take a look at in Waterstones.

And the opening line would pretty much make the sale:

'Had he but known that before the day was over he would discover the hidden dimensions of th More...

The Bright Empire Series; Stephen R. Lawhead; Thomas Nelson

The Skin Map; 2010;

I’ve been a Stephen Lawhead fan since I first read his Albion Trilogy (Thomas Nelson) back in the ’90′s, and this sentiment was later reinforced with his Pendragon Cycle. So when I heard he’d come out with another series; one that took a step back away from the historical, and leaned more towards the fantasy, I could hardly wait.

Now keep in mind, even if the author hadn’t been Lawhead, the whole idea of realm travel an More...

My thoughts:
I wasn't sure what to think of this book as I started it. I had not read the jacket of the book or the Amazon blurb listed above and was going into it blind. I was pleasantly surprised.
This is a complex story of multi-dimentional time travel, alternate realities, and magic. The characters are wonderfully ordinary and yet extraordinary at the same time. Each seeming to discover themselves and their strengths by the sheer need to adapt and survive.
I enjoyed the story and the characters More...

I'm very excited upon receipt of this audiobook, the summary and the cover is superb, what more the contents, right?

FYI, THE SKIN MAP is my very first audiobook, and probably my last. Don't get me wrong, Simon Bubb, the voice behind it was great, his voice is strong, rich and clear; he could easily change the tone/rhythm according to feelings and the characters, it's easy to lose one's self listening to his voice, transported in the world, Stephen Lawhead created. BUT, audio is still very differ More...

It’s much harder to write a negative review than a positive one. However, I’ve put off writing this one long enough. Thomas Nelson sent me a free copy of the unabridged audio edition of The Skin Map with the understanding that I would write an honest evaluation of it, so here it is…

Issue number one: the plot. The Skin Map begins with both heroes and villains searching for a hidden map of the locations for moving around in time and space. About halfway through the book, Stephen Lawhead decides th More...

Shades of Doctor Who and a classic adventure tale, albeit one that moves a little more slowly. I enjoyed this parallel worlds tale, although I didn't like the characters at first.

Wimpy Kit Livingstone gets lost on his way to meet his mopey girlfriend Wilhemina and walks into a parallel world, where he meets his great-grandfather, Cosimo. When he returns to the "home world," he discovers that what felt like an hour or two to him meant a lapse of more than 8 hours, and Wilhemina is upset he's so More...

The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead (2010) was my very first audiobook and I must say, I will repeat the experience. Simon Bubb, the person chosen to read the book, is an extremely good reader and in changing is voice to interpret different characters and their different state through the story he can make us travel there and almost see what’s happening in front of our eyes.
Now, about the story. When I first read the synopse of this book I was interested in reading it, it appealed to me. The one More...

Kit Livingstone is having trouble negotiating the London Underground subway system. Service in his neighborhood is limited on weekends, and the fare machines aren’t taking his card. As he plods to a connecting station in the rain, he encounters a strange old man who claims to be his great-grandfather, Cosimo–the great-grandfather who disappeared without a trace back in 1893. Kit dismisses him as a drunk or lunatic, but the old man knows things about Kit and his family that nobody outside the fam More...

Stephen Lawhead is an author whose name I was familiar with, but hadn't yet sampled. When I received an offer to listen to his book The Skin Map (A Bright Empires novel) it was the tag line that convinced me to say yes.

"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."

Kit Livingstone is on his way to visit his girlfriend Wilhemina. Somewhere along the way, he takes a short More...

I have become a increasingly tired, or perhaps suspicious of books intended for a series. I guess I feel I have been burnt enough times with either a promising series that ends flat, or like it was with the Skin Map- by Stephen Lawhead, where the author sort of assumes the readers will hang on for the long haul without truly endearing us to the characters, or giving us enough of the story to keep the reader wanting more.
I must say that Lawheads writing is quite good. (I especially love reading More...

Kit Livingstone and his girlfriend (only because he didn’t have the time to find another) Wilhelmina are watching life pass them by. Until one day Kit is in the middle of a day where everything is going wrong, he starts to walk because the transit system is not working and is caught up in a storm. When things settle he runs into a man who says he’s his great-grand father. How could that be? He’d never met this man before. He turns to flee when Cosimo tells him, “I need your help with a project. More...

Kit Livingstone, like so many heroes of so many stories, is living a vaguely dissatisfying life when we first meet him attempting to navigate the London transit system on his way to meet Wilhelmina Klug, described in book blurbs as Kit’s “unpleasant girlfriend.” But it doesn’t take long for the unexpected to charge in, starting when Kit meets the last person he would have expected to meet even if he’d been entertaining expectations of meeting anyone: his great-grandfather Cosimo, who disappeared More...

Kit is an average Londoner who has average problems. He isn't really happy with anything in his life but nothing is horrible either. Then, after a series of very bad luck on the metro system or "tube" he bumps into someone he never expected to see -- his great grandfather. Of course, after doing the math the man should have been over 125 years old. Suddenly, Kit finds himself with his grandfather in another world in another time using the ley lines (dimension and time jumps). Together, they go o More...

This was an entertaining story - about time-travel, dimensions and different worlds. It's funny in places and suspenseful in others. The ending takes a twist that leaves you wondering what happens next. All in all, great for a beach read and fantastic classic escapism. I'm about to download the next one, so wanted to go back and reread a bit of this to review the complicated character web.

That is my biggest complaint in the book - there are a lot of characters and keeping them straight is diffi More...

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the review copy. This book is the first in a new series by the prolific author Stephen Lawhead. The concept is a relatively intriguing one: London-resident Kit Livingstone sumbles on a "Ley line," an invisible portal between different universes of our multiverse. He is apparently possessive of some faculty that allows him to do this. And things get immediately stranger when he meets his great-grandfather, who helps him understand this new ability and this trans-univer More...

Stephen Lawhead starts off his new Bright Empires series with this book, The Skin Map. The title refers to a grisly artifact: a parchment made from the skin of a man. This man was an experienced time/space traveler across alternate universes who had his torso tatooed with markings that served as a map in case he would get lost. (I was put off by the grisly part, but decided to forge ahead anyway, and I am very glad I did. There was nothing gory about this book.)

An alternate universe, by the way, More...

In The Skin Map, the first installment of a new series, Stephen R. Lawhead introduces the reader to a world of time travel that's not just plain fantasy or science fiction, but a sort of Celtic historical fiction at its core.
After Kit meets a man, who claims to be his great-grandfather, he soon finds himself traveling through the centuries not only to find the legendary skin map, but also to search for his girlfriend Mina who got lost in transit, so to say, after he tried to show her how he trav More...

The Skin Map
By: Stephen R. Lawhead

I requested this book because it looked like an interesting read. I looked forward to reading it. I started reading this book and it was a little different than I had imagined. Even though I was looking forward to something a little different I was not disappointed. The Skin Map is full of mystery and very sci-fi. The twists and turns through out this book will take you on an adventure of a lifetime. You will not want to put this book down. The main character, K More...

Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead
(4 Star Review for Amazon, Goodreads, Librarything.com)

Time Leaping Along the Ley Lines

Stephen Lawhead’s new book Skin Map, the first in an upcoming series called Bright Empires, is a bit of a deviation from his usual style of fiction. I think it’s important to up front, not compare it to his other works and normal literary style, in order to not get disappointed. This is a light, fun, sci-fi adventure story, not a lot of deep substance or description. Once in that fra More...

Description:

Enter the ultimate treasure hunt–with a map made of skin, a playing field of alternate realities, and a prize that is the greatest mystery of all.

Kit Livingstone’s great-grandfather has re-appeared with an unbelievable story–the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legends but truly are pathways to other worlds. So few people know how to use them, though, that doing so is fraught with danger.

But one explorer knew more than most. Because of his fear of being una More...

This book was a fantastic journey that was hard to put down. It combines science, history, mystery, and alternate realities. The first sentence of the first chapter draws you in:

"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."

The day that Kit meets his great-grandfather, his world is turned upside down. Or inside out. Or maybe sideways. Lawhead is able to weav More...

When I heard Stephen Lawhead was writing a new book, I was thrilled. When I learned the title of the new book was The Skin Map, I was confused. It didn’t sound very ... well... Lawhead-y. However, as I began reading this beginning to a brand new series, I swiftly became engrossed in the story.

Filled with descriptions that beguile all five senses and all the beauty and charm of the language I have come to expect from Lawhead, this book is a fascinating blend of fantasy and sci-fi. In the world of More...

The Skin Map is the first novel in the Bright Empires fantasy series. Stephen R Lawhead is widely known for many of his other series; including the Pendragon series, the Celtic Crusades, and the Song of Albion. While the novel's underlying messages are serious in terms of discovering the secret of life, saving numerous lives, and finding true paradise, the novel reads very light, fun, and is incredibly engaging!

Kit is down on his luck in present-day London, when out of the blue he is visited by More...

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this is an interesting mix of Lawhead's other books - time travel, historical fiction, etc. Kit, who accidentally "jumps" through time upon meeting his great-grandfather, attempts to show his girlfriend Wilhelmina what happened and ends up losing her. They are now in parallel worlds, in different time periods, with an endless amount of worlds in the "omniverse" in which to try to find each other. While Kit tried to find Mina and learn about his talent for " More...