I read The Skin Map, the first book in Stephen Lawhead’s Bright Empires series, in 2010 when it first came out because Mr. Lawhead is one of my favorite authors. I found it confusing and somewhat unsatisfying because it’s one of those “first of a series” books that doesn’t stand alone and ends in an abrupt cliffhanger way.
Still, I was interested enough to request a review copy of the second book in the series, The Bone House. I found it confusing and somewhat unsatisfying because it’s one of those “second of a series” books that doesn’t stand alone and ends in an abrupt cliffhanger way.
THe books remind me of Connie Willis’s Blackout and All Clear, my favorite two-volume book from last year. However, I kept the time travel and the multiple story lines straight (mostly) in the Willis books, and I couldn’t remember who was whom in these books. Nor could I remember what happened to one character in the last chapter about him when his story was separated by several chapters about other characters in other times and places. Yeah, confusing. It didn’t help that I read The Bone House on my Kindle. There are many things I like about my Kindle, but being able to go back and remind myself of something that happened in the earlier part of the book isn’t easy or intuitive for me on the Kindle. In fact, I can’t do it.
So, I think I should read confusing books with multiple stories that change times and places and characters from one chapter to the next . . . in print. And I think I should wait to read series books until the entire series has been published. Of course, that means that I will be the last one to read some really good series of books. But at least I’ll enjoy them. And I can always go back and read classics and all of the book I missed in past years and all of the books on my TBR list while I’m waiting for those series to be completed.
So, maybe I’ll re-read Stephen Lawhead’s Bright Empires series, in print editions if those are still around by then, in a few years when all of the books in the series are available. And if you enjoy and recommend them now, just don’t tell me.
There’s nothing quite like a Real Book:
I really liked The Skin Map, but found The Bone House dissatisfying until the end. And of course at the end we have another abrupt ending. This is a 5 book series! Not sure if I will make it all the way through. I read these 2 in print and I think you are right about that helping.
I’m with you that I need a REAL book in my hands many times. I LOVED Surprised by Oxford but did I first hear of it here and you mentioned reading it on the Kindle? I think so…
I had to go back a few times and reread the beginning of her story. I understood why it was jumbled in the beginning… going from one time of her life to another… but I would have been confused if I couldn’t go back and check.
Once I got past that part of the book, I couldn’t put it down!
I have enough Amazon credit that I’m getting a Kindle in late February just so I can take advantage of some of those free e-book offers from time to time. It can never take the place of REAL books for me.
As Christopher and I always remind each other… Captain Picard read old books on Next Generation so we know they are in the future. 😉
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In 2025- listening to Bright Empire Series on Audible. Stephen Lawhead is one of my favorite authors, I love his big narrative style. I am happy I decided to listen to these books consecutively (54 hours in total) instead of try to read them one by one. I fear I would’ve been confused by so many characters and timelines. However, listening along, different voices for different characters, made it easier to follow along and presumably much easier to understand overall. If you had trouble keeping up with reading, I highly recommend listening!!
The Bone House was a bit slow moving, but the ending chapters, and the development of Whillimina in particular, definitely made it worth it.