The Fatal Tree (Bright Empires)

by Stephen Lawhead

Paperback, 2015

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Series

Bright Empires (5)

Genres

Publication

Thomas Nelson (2015), Edition: Reprint, 400 pages

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Science Fiction. HTML: 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." �??Libra… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member vintagebeckie

The Fatal Tree by Stephen Lawhead is the fifth and final book in the Bright Empires series. You MUST read books 1-4 before embarking on this final journey. Each book expands on the previous book, and I would have been hopelessly lost if I had not read them sequentially. That being said, the series

for me has been a bit uneven. I loved books 1 and 3; books 2 and 4 were ok — I had a bit of difficulty getting into the flow of those books. However, I feel that this last book is the one I have been looking for. I enjoyed it, and if you enjoy epic fantasy with a big dose of inter-dimensional travel, I think you will too.

The Fatal Tree finds our ley travelers (think moving between realities rather than time periods) facing The End of Everything. Strange things are occurring: people and things are appearing and disappearing causing all kinds of havoc. The universe also seems to be slowing down and is in danger of reversing and causing the ultimate destruction. The travelers are scattered around and have trouble meeting up because of the disturbances. So they all race against time and space and place to head off imminent disaster.

There are a number of things I liked about The Fatal Tree. The writing is, of course, wonderful. Lawhead has a way of making his scenes come alive in the reader’s imagination. And while I confess I skip over the science parts, I was engaged from the very first page. Of course the characters, both those I loved and those I loved to hate, are back in all their complexity. But it is the overt faith message that I responded to. God is front and center in this book, something that Lawhead did not do in the previous books in the series. We see the characters acknowledging He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, that He has plans and purposes that are perfect, even if we don’t understand them, and that actions always have consequences. Even a most despicable character is confronted by his need for redemption.

So all in all, I would recommend all 5 books in the Bright Empires series. Complex plots and characters and A LOT to think about are sure to appeal to fans of this genre.

Recommended.

Audience: older teens and adults.

(I received a review copy in conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

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LibraryThing member impactwriter

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 that we readers find out that Providence may have caused them to enter into the adventure in the first place. Up until this book, the storyline didn't seem to have a point except that there were several people who inadvertently entered into a string-theory maze of events that introduced a lot of chaos into their lives. It would have been better to have some foreshadowing through the first four books that pointed to God's hand being involved to bring about a specific end. Did the author even have a specific end in mind when he began the series? It almost seemed as though he'd come up with his story's conclusion only after writing book 4.

Then there were the personal comments of the author at the end of book 4. As one who holds to a literal interpretation of the Genesis account of creation, they were rather insulting, to the point that I nearly didn't buy the fifth book. I would have respected his stance on the issue if he hadn't deliberately mocked young-earth creationists.

Oh well, at least I can read The Pendragon Cycle and Byzantium again.

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