Stephen Lawhead: The Skin Map

After a very frustrating morning, culminating in his getting lost, Kit meets Cosimo Livingstone, his great-grandfather. Cosimo tells Kit of a great quest that he wants him to be involved in. Kit is sceptical, but willing to learn more. Cosimo proceeds to tell Kit more about the quest which involves travel between different worlds and dimensions using ley lines. The quest is to find the Skin Map – a map of these ley lines and portals, preserved by tattoos onto the skin of a man who has long since died. The map is essential to safe travel in time and dimensions. Unfortunately they are not the only ones seeking it. The Burley men seem even more experienced in this method of travel and yet it is paramount that they do not lay hands on the map.

This is the first book I’ve read by Stephen Lawhead, and was an intriguing read. The idea of a skin map was quite unusual and appealing. The different eras were described in much detail and the suspense was enough to keep my interest. I felt the twists and turns of the plot went in unexpected ways. This is always a sign of a good book for me. Who wants to read something that is entirely predictable?

I found the chapters a little disjointed and even unrelated in some instances. At first I was quite disappointed by this. It seemed to ruin the storyline by switching to what appeared to be unrelated eras and characters, as well as leaving me without any sense of completion. Wanting to find out more about the book, I went to Stephen Lawhead’s website and there discovered that the book is the first in a five part series called Bright Empires. The disjointed aspect of the book began to make sense in the light of this. The loose ends, the parts which didn’t seem to fit will all make more sense as they are joined together in the progression of the series. I must say I was rather relieved!
 
Not sure you want to read it? The first three chapters are available free here.

This book was obtained free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program.