New Review...."The Skin Map" by Stephen R. Lawhead

The back cover blurb:

“Kit Livingstone’s great-grandfather appears to him in a deserted alley during a tumultuous storm. He reveals an unbelievable story: that the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legend or the weekend hobby of deluded cranks, but pathways to other worlds. To those who know how to use them, they grant the ability to travel the multi-layered universe of which we ordinarily inhabit only a tiny part.

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 roadmap of symbols, that he tattooed onto his own body. This Skin Map has since been lost in time. Now the race is on to recover all the pieces and discover its secrets.

But the Skin Map itself is not the ultimate goal. It is merely the beginning of a vast and marvelous quest for a prize beyond imagining.

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This is a very fast paced book. You are jumping from character to character, dimension to dimension, time period to time period. Kind of leaves your head spinning sometimes. With that said, I really liked this book! I think Mr. Lawhead did a good job of helping us get to know the characters. I especially enjoyed Wilhelmina, Kit‘s girlfriend, and her journey back in time. I can’t imagine what I would do if I was suddenly thrust into another place and time!

Poor Kit leads such a boring life that you almost clap when he is whisked away for an adventure! Along with Kit and his great-grandfather, the good people, there are some really bad people looking for this map, also.

This is my first time to read anything my Stephen Lawhead. He does very well with describing the places you visit. I could visualize each place and even smell the wonderful bakery smells with Mina in Prague. I did feel the end was too abrupt. I guess it will continue on in the sequel which is quite a ways off. Something that bothered me is that there was no connection to faith or Christianity in this book. I kept waiting for it but it didn’t happen. When I read a Christian fiction book, I really hope to see some reference to Jesus and how our lives can be changed by our relationship to Him.

All in all, I did like the book and would recommend it. I was provided a copy of the book through BookSneeze for my honest review.

 
 
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