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The Fatal Tree

(Bright Empires #5)

Stephen R. Lawhead

3.91 · Rating details · 1,099 ratings · 106 reviews

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 ...more

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Hardcover, 356 pages

Published October 28th 2014 by Thomas Nelson

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Nov 10, 2014 Werner rated it liked it

Recommends it for: Fans of science fiction that deals with quantum physics

This fifth and final volume of the Bright Empires series is much of a piece with the four volumes that went before, in terms of content, style, and quality. Reader's reactions to the first four would probably be predictive of their reaction to this one. (And the first four should definitely be read, in order, before tackling this one!) As readers of the Shadow Lamp already know, and as the cover copy (which also serves as the Goodreads description) states, our major characters are now caught up This fifth and final volume of the Bright Empires series is much of a piece with the four volumes that went before, in terms of content, style, and quality. Reader's reactions to the first four would probably be predictive of their reaction to this one. (And the first four should definitely be read, in order, before tackling this one!) As readers of the Shadow Lamp already know, and as the cover copy (which also serves as the Goodreads description) states, our major characters are now caught up in the climactic effort to respond to, and hopefully prevent, the End of Everything: a reversal of the universe/multiverse's expansion in a rapid contraction that will annihilate everything that exists.

Both the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of the series continue to be in evidence. For perhaps the first two-thirds of the book, the plot actually seemed to me to be somewhat more aimless than in the preceding books, with our "questors" seeming to act in a relatively random fashion in the face of the emergency. On the plus side, Lawhead delivers a couple of surprises in his plotting that I did not see coming; but character development continues to be believable. Multiple plot strands are juggled probably about as well as they can be, with so many. And the author creates an impressive vision of the cosmic scope of a meaningful multiverse, suffused with an explicitly theistic perspective and expressed in majestic and beautiful prose, which didn't fail to impress this reader. We even have some clean romance, presented tastefully and intelligently, as is Lawhead's wont.

A major point that for me cost this volume, and the series in general, stars is the heavy reliance on quantum physics, which I don't fully understand (and am not unreservedly convinced is valid anyway), and which tends to be only vaguely explained here. Also, the internal logic of the premise seems weak to me. It isn't a spoiler (since the preceding books state it) to mention that the contraction of space-time is happening because Arthur Flinders-Petrie misused the Spirit Well to restore the dead Xian Li to life. But that raises other questions that don't get answers. How does the Spirit Well do this in the first place? What is its relation to the multiverse? If it can be misused in this fashion and can thus threaten the End of Everything, why wouldn't the Creator whom Lawhead posits take measures to prevent this in the first place? Why would one action that wasn't "meant to be" cause the contraction of the universe? (How do we know what's "meant to be," in this sense?) Why does the contraction wait three generations to start happening? Inquiring minds want to know!

Related to this, the logic behind the ending is unsatisfactory, IMO. (view spoiler) Arguably, this whole scenario is not really well thought out, and just operates the way that Lawhead wants it to independently of internal logic.

In summation, I liked the series moderately well, and liked several of the characters. But generally speaking, I don't regard it as Lawhead's best work. Personally, I'd recommend the King Raven trilogy as a better introduction to his corpus. ...more

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May 18, 2017 Deborah O'Carroll rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, fantasy, faves, own, muskets, to-reread, ya, epic-character-i-love, sci-fi, christian

(First posted here.)

In the immortal words of Bilbo Baggins (at least in a certain film), “I’ve put this off for far too long.”

I was waiting for the right words, but I’ve realized that there’s simply no way to do justice to this book in a review, and so instead of waiting for a time that will never come, I’m simply going to say something about it, even if it’s not enough.

You see, the Bright Empire series (of which The Fatal Tree is the fifth and final book) meant so much to me that I can’t quite ...more

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Jul 10, 2017 Madeline Rose rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Madeline by: Deborah O'Carroll

Shelves: favorites, christian, fantasy, ya, sci-fi, reviewed-books

Initial Response
HOW DO I FIND WORDS HELP.

High Lights
- THE WHOLE THING.
- Okay, more specifically, THE CHARACTERS! Kit is still great, Mina is still plain AWESOME, and Cass is so sweet!
- I really enjoyed Tony's character, though, every time I pictured him, all that came to mind was Tony STARK. XD It was amusing, to say the least.
- The description and imagery, as always, TRANSPORTS me into the story. I feel like I'm watching a movie, it's so vivid and REAL!
- The stakes just about killed me. (vi ...more

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Dec 01, 2014 Kristjan rated it liked it

The bar was raised a little bit by the back cover promising an "immensely satisfying conclusion" to the Bright Empires series. Substitute "somewhat" for "immensely" and that's much closer to the truth for me.

The author did bring the overall story to a conclusion and that is a positive after a lot of meandering through the ages. A major change in the person of one of the major characters is plausible to me, perhaps because it is nuanced. I did enjoy reading this series overall.

And now to the nega ...more

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Aug 08, 2017 Tracey Dyck rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, favorites, 2017-reads

So much rides on the conclusion of a series--for the characters yes, but also for the reader. Expectations and suspense have been built up for hundreds of pages, and we wonder how it all will end. The Fatal Tree ended...differently than I expected, but it was still really, really good. I can say very little without plunging straight into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that:

a) I love the crew, especially Kit, Cass, Mina, Etzel (dear, dear Etzel!), and Gianni.
b) I am endlessly fascinated ...more

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May 23, 2017 Stargazer R. L. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, high-fantasy, happy-ending, 100-favorites, 5-best-ever, full-medieval-fantasy, christian, action-lots-of-it, inspiring-christian, actually-read

I have a new top favorite series. In other news: a re-read of all five books is called for ASAP!

P.S. Please go grab Book 1 THE SKIN MAP at your local library, bookstore, or online someplace. Because these books are epic on so many levels.

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Nov 25, 2015 Andrew Leon rated it it was ok

As I think I've mentioned before, Stephen Lawhead is one of my favorite (living) authors. He's one of the few authors whose books I will just pick up automatically when they're released. The problem with Lawhead, though, is that he frequesntly has a problem with endings, especially endings of series. The Fatal Tree proves to be one of those ending failures, and it's unfortunate that such a strong story had to end with a face plant.

The first problem with the book is, as it turns out, the conflict As I think I've mentioned before, Stephen Lawhead is one of my favorite (living) authors. He's one of the few authors whose books I will just pick up automatically when they're released. The problem with Lawhead, though, is that he frequesntly has a problem with endings, especially endings of series. The Fatal Tree proves to be one of those ending failures, and it's unfortunate that such a strong story had to end with a face plant.

The first problem with the book is, as it turns out, the conflict is "cosmic" in nature. As revealed at the end of the previous book, The Shadow Lamp, the end of the universe is coming. As I mentioned in my review of The Shadow Lamp, this is an issue because it changes the focus of the series. We believe during the first three books and most of the way through the fourth that conflict is with Burleigh, but, suddenly, no, although Burleigh is a bad guy, he is not the bad guy. He is not the antagonist.

In fact, there is no real antagonist, not at that point, just an event that previously happened that, now, needs to be prevented. Remember the part in one of my previous reviews where I said this isn't a time travel story? Well, it's still not, but they still have to figure out a way to prevent something from happening that already happened. Except they don't really know that.

Actually, the major issue with this book is that the catastrophic event that was only discovered as a possibility at the end of book four is just suddenly happening. It's like if you were making tea: You put your water in your tea kettle, you turn on the burner on the stove, you set the kettle on the burner... You expect to need to have to wait for the water to heat up before you can make your tea, right? But not in this book. Instead, as soon as you set the kettle down, not only does the water start to boil, it explodes into steam. The sudden shift from trying to find the skin map to the universe could be in danger to THE UNIVERSE IS IMPLODING RIGHT NOW! was unenjoyable to say the least.

And, then, what do you do about the universe imploding? Absolutely nothing, that's what. It's kind of like standing in front of a tsunami and trying to stop it by holding up your hands. But Kit and his gang (because Kit has somehow become the leader) decide they're going to stop it. So they spend a lot of time talking about it and doing not much and never figure anything out.

The other issue, from a plot stand point, is the tree. The fatal tree. The fatal tree that, really, has nothing to do with anything. It's just there. There's a whole book, basically, devoted to this tree, and it doesn't really mean anything or have to do with anything. That was annoying.

Then there's Burleigh...

So, look, Lawhead writes Christian-themed books. I get that. As a Christian, I appreciate his general subtle application of Christianity into his stories. But not this time. Because Burleigh, as it turns out, isn't really our bad guy, he needs to have a conversion experience, which would be fine, except... Except that Lawhead spends chapters and chapters dealing with Burleigh and his descent into self-loathing so that he can finally come to understand that he's powerless on his own and does, yes, need God. This is all handled more like someone with an addiction needing to hit bottom to know that he needs help rather than someone coming to understand that it's grace that is needed. Also, it goes on way too long. In detail. It's tiring.

Basically, I was very dissatisfied with the book and how it ended the series. Too many things happen for no real reason other than that the author needed them to happen so he made them happen. There's no explanation or rational or anything. I'm sorry, but you don't write a whole book about a tree that just happened to be there and has no other purpose than that it happened to be there. Also, you don't have the "heroes" essentially save the universe on accident, even if that's what they wanted to do. I can't say the series, overall, was a waste of time (because books two, three and four were really very good), but I might have been more satisfied if I had never read this one and just wondered what happened. ...more

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Feb 21, 2015 Ian Carmichael rated it it was ok

Disappointing from a writer of quality. The structure seemed stilted, characters largely uninteresting, plot and devices were imprecise mumbo-jumbo. That's what I wrote for #1 of the series, I kept going until I finished. I don't have the level of OCD required to comment on #2, #3 and #4. And I shouldn't have kept going through #5.
Unfortunately, I did. It was almost a "Mandrake gestures hypnotically" resolution to the story. Brief, vague and unsatsifying. In 5 volumes (~1500 pages!) I'd have tho ...more

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Jan 03, 2020 Emilie Butler rated it it was amazing

A beautiful conclusion to what is perhaps my favorite book series of all time.

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Jul 02, 2019 Bernie Anderson rated it liked it

Well like most Lawhead series, this was a fun romp. I loved the characters. The story was well plotted, well researched, and well written. And I recommend any Lawhead fan to read this series.

However, this is not my favorite of Lawhead’s work. There’s a little more X position in this series than what I think is necessary. It seems to have elongated it somehow. Also, while I understand that Thomas Nelson is a Christian publishing house, (and I also am of the Christian faith) I did feel that there ...more

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Nov 18, 2017 Christa Kinde rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: _bought-ebook, setting-alternate-histories, christian-speculative

Culmination! In this final installment of the Bright Empires series, I especially appreciated Lawhead's references and parallels to famous moments (and teachings) in the Bible. While this series isn't overtly Christian, the underpinnings of truth ring through the finale. A satisfying conclusion to a complex tale. I look forward to reading more of Lawhead's work. ...more

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Jul 06, 2018 Matt rated it liked it

Shelves: christian-fiction

I wonder if I would have enjoyed this more if I wouldn’t have taken so long between books. I had a hard time remembering who what when and where for a lot of this book.

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May 16, 2019 Crystal Schlueter rated it it was amazing

This series was EXCELLENT! Great writing and imaginative alternate universe!

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Dec 25, 2014 Janeen Ippolito rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The Fatal Tree was an absorbing read. I blasted through most of it in the space of a five day break because I couldn’t put it down. From start to finish, Lawhead delivers a great ending that makes the entire series a worthwhile read. The pacing is swift and the plot engaging, with very few moments where I felt disconnected from the story. I was overall satisfied with where all the characters ended up, and found few things to quibble about this time around.

The Fatal Tree sheds some of the subtlet The Fatal Tree was an absorbing read. I blasted through most of it in the space of a five day break because I couldn’t put it down. From start to finish, Lawhead delivers a great ending that makes the entire series a worthwhile read. The pacing is swift and the plot engaging, with very few moments where I felt disconnected from the story. I was overall satisfied with where all the characters ended up, and found few things to quibble about this time around.

The Fatal Tree sheds some of the subtlety of previous books and dives right into concepts of God, the universe, and everything. The faith elements are mainly expressed by a scientist/monk, who ends up in quite a few philosophical conversations with an atheistic physicist with an equal passion for making sense of the cosmos. These two have a fantastic dynamic, and given Lawhead’s personal essay at the end of The Shadow Lamp, they seem to be voicing his own tensions between scientific exploration and Christian faith.

One quibble was characters. The Bright Empires series is a sprawling epic that crosses over time, history, and many universes, with an equally large cast of characters. Over the course of the books, it was sometimes hard to cling to individual characters among the greater whole. One issue I found was that Lawhead’s descriptions of the characters physically was hit or miss. This is a long series, and by the end, I only had vague notions of what the characters looked like, which was unsettling considering how precise his descriptions were of places.

Overall? I enjoyed following this broad ensemble cast through their various adventures, and I will miss them all. Also, happy endings abounded in this book. He knows how to win over a reader who’s a closet romantic!

Final Verdict: a worthy finale to the Bright Empires series. If you’re into mature, epic science-fiction that is heavy on deep description, historical accuracy, and high concepts, then this is the story for you. Plus, the covers are gorgeous! ...more

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May 31, 2019 Manethraen rated it it was ok

Shelves: via-audio-book

*religion intensifies to peak*

I think I have the same problem with this book as some of the issues I have with L.E. Modessit Junior.

The first books in this series were subtle and felt well paced and balanced, containing a mix of strong male and female leads. They were an interesting, well thought out premise with pacing which I enjoyed.

That all changed somewhere in book 4, and I was left with a sour taste in my mouth for the following things:

******minor spoilers below******

* the strong female c *religion intensifies to peak*

I think I have the same problem with this book as some of the issues I have with L.E. Modessit Junior.

The first books in this series were subtle and felt well paced and balanced, containing a mix of strong male and female leads. They were an interesting, well thought out premise with pacing which I enjoyed.

That all changed somewhere in book 4, and I was left with a sour taste in my mouth for the following things:

******minor spoilers below******

* the strong female characters dissolve and disappear for the most part behind the men - all of whom look reverently up to their elders. One of the most headstrong is only happy when she marries and looks after kids - it's a bit one dimensional and the implication that everyone should be happy in their place is at best dated.
Where L.E. Modessit's Imager series feels like the author rewriting the world in his image and getting revenge on his school bullies, this last book feels like it's written to be inspiration on how to leave a proper god fearing life and know thy place.
* it's clear the message here is believe in god = good, atheist = bad guy only redeemable through religion - and to top it all off it's stated there can be no moral compass without religion. Burley is no Inspector Javier.
* the premise of the end of the world is an interesting one, but it's undermined by appearing so late in the narrative arc and upsetting the pacing. In the same vein the purported logic which leads the characters to their summation of the problems the world is facing are at times far fetched and feel a bit forced. It does to an extent reflect what is happening to the universe in the story but doesn't quite hit the mark - it feels like this was just a wrap up in places.
* there are more people basking in holy love per page and marveling at the wonder of "His Plan" per page than the bible.

In summary - it wraps up a series which I enjoyed - that bit gets 4 stars but is dragged down by the author seemingly having found god in the last couple of books.

...more

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Feb 19, 2015 Barbara Sheppard rated it really liked it

The Fatal Tree is the final book in the Bright Empires Series that spans 5 books. I cannot remember how I first heard of these books but I am glad I found them. I am hooked on anything that has to do with time or inter-dimensional travel. It is a continuous story/journey through the 5 books that keeps revisiting the plight of the various characters that you have come to know and love. This final book brings everything to a close and luckily it was a happy close as the universe was preparing to c ...more

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Feb 18, 2016 Carol Brandon rated it it was ok

- I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t so ticked at the last one.
Disappointed in the evolutionary viewpoint, rather than a creationist perspective. I wasn't so fond of the last one: The Shadow Lamp, due to that. There was even an essay in the back by him about how creationists were wrong. I went back and reread it and it was a bit more balanced than I’d thought.
- This book wasn’t so blatantly evolutionary; it got into multi-universes.
- SPOILER:
I liked that Burleigh became a Christi ...more

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Dec 20, 2014 Brad Steele rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have been enjoying Lawhead's books for quite a while now. I think I began reading him with Hood. Once I picked that book up, I was hooked. This last installment in his bright empires series did not disappoint. Good characters, great story, and novel concepts are what drew me in and kept me reading. Thanks, Stephen, for this lovely book. I can't wait to read what you come up with next. ...more

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Nov 17, 2014 Curt Hopkins Hopkins rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, time-travel, american-history

Really like this writer (especially his intepretation of Robin Hood) and I like this series as well - really weird use of "leylines" to build the world. But for whatever reason, I just wasn't as excited by this one. Seemed like a way to get the characters from the last novel to the next. ...more

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Oct 04, 2014 Glenn rated it it was ok

Yes, the book was good to close the story, but looking back over the series I don't think that it was up there with his best. ...more

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Jun 26, 2015 David rated it really liked it

This book is a good wrap-up of this series that deals with ley-lines, alternate realities, and time travel. The series is populated with very interesting characters and multiple story lines.

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Jan 16, 2018 Rachel rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Please note there might be some spoilers below - I have tried to be as vague as possible with my review and so hope they don’t give too much away.

I personally found this book the most engaging out of the 5 book series... it was more interesting and action packed than most of the others and got me through to the end quicker. Some of the chapters such as those in the observatory I found repetitive and lacking much actual useful information to the story except small paragraphs here or there to con ...more

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Apr 24, 2018 Jeanette rated it really liked it

Shelves: christian, fantasy, fiction, science-fiction

The Fatal Tree concludes Stephen Lawhead's Bright Empires series, so it has a lot hanging on it. I've loved the previous 4 books for the characters, the plot, the lovingly portrayed details, the interplay of science, philosophy and theology and the different themes. And this final book had great doses of these things, but I was still not quite satisfied with the ending.

It felt rushed and almost contrived --- a sudden, drastic scaling of the stakes (though there had been some foreshadowing, it w ...more

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Sep 21, 2017 W. Lattimore rated it it was ok

First, a kudos remark to one of my favorite authors. Stephen Lawhead was able to wrap up a story that had so many rabbit holes that I began to wonder if it could actually coalesce into an ending that would make sense. Thankfully, it did.

The series, as a whole, was pretty good, but certainly it didn't match up to many of his other works. It was a whirlwind adventure that ended with the main characters having made many friends and enemies, some on each side dying. It wasn't until this final book t ...more

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Jun 14, 2020 Claudia rated it really liked it

It's difficult for me to close the final book on a very good series. I became very attached to these characters and will be thinking of them for quite some time to come. This final book was even better than the rest and gave me a great sense of satisfaction at the end. A couple of things confused me, and I know that I will return to this series again one day. These books are too good to let sit on the shelf forever and not open them again!

These books convey, very strongly, that there are consequ ...more

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Jul 26, 2020 Bess rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

I have an unpopular opinion about this one. If you've followed my reviews, this is not news to you.
I found this a very satisfying conclusion to the series. While I was a bit sore that Haven & Giles were not to reunite with the other travelers, I completely understand and am relieved to see they found their own places & time that works for them.
As for the rest, while in the bone house, each presented a future they would pursue once the adventure concluded. As far as I'm concerned, that is exactly ...more

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Jan 31, 2021 Laura rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 28, 2020 Shelley rated it liked it

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Aug 01, 2019 Dave Barnett rated it liked it

There is so much about this series that I really liked - I have been reading Mr. Lawhead for a couple of decades now and greatly enjoy his story telling. My only hesitation in recommending this series is that I feel like you have to be ready to read the whole series - I did not feel like each book really stood well or came to any sort of an adequate conclusion on its own. If I had read the whole series as one book I would have rated it closer to a 5!

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Apr 01, 2020 P.R. Robson rated it it was ok

To say that I was disappointed with the ending of The Bright Empires series is an understatement.
Plotlines felt truncated. Christian kitsch set in without abatement.
There were so many loose ends that left me wondering if Lawhead had a deadline to meet, or simply became bored of the story. His earlier works have a medium to fast pace. The Fatal Tree lagged like a marathon runner taking an extra long drink break.

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About Stephen R. Lawhead

Stephen R. Lawhead

2,240 followers

Stephen 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 Stephen 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 ...more

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Bright Empires (5 books)

Books by Stephen R. Lawhead

The Paradise War (The Song of Albion, #1)

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Quotes from The Fatal Tree

“It has ever been thus. The way is hard and narrow, it is true. But it is a path beaten smooth by the countless others who have gone before us. And good news! We do not have to walk it alone. God Himself is with us and has blessed us with friends for the journey.” — 1 likes

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