The Bone House by Stephen R. Lawhead
The Bone House is a difficult book to review. It is the second installment of the Bright Empires trilogy, following “The Skin Map.” That book had a strange ending in that there was no ending. It just stopped. No closure. And end, but no ending. It was interesting to the point of being a page turner, but the ending was odd.
The Bone House continues the pattern. There is a small section of introduction to bring the reader up to speed on the characters – and that is very helpful. But, as The Skin Map ends, so begins The Bone House – and continues. The plot of the series is the quest for a “parchment” of human skin which has been divided into sections and hidden in various places. The places are in different times and dimensions which are reached via portals called “ley lines.”
I would recommend this book on the condition the reader first read The Skin Map and plan to read The Spirit Well – the final installment due out in September 2012. The whole story of time/space/dimension travel is immensely intriguing and I want to find out what happens to all these folks. The good guys, the bad guys, and the ones I haven’t quite figured out as of yet.
Until then, I guess we’ll just have to hold on for the finish.
Thomas Nelson provides a free copy of these books for review through their “Booksneeze” Program www.booksneeze.com ; however, I am not required to give a positive review of the book.
