Friday Fiction Fix: "The Skin Map"

The Short:

The Skin Map

Bright Empires, Book 1

By: Stephen R. Lawhead

5/5 Stars

What: An unremarkable young man is sucked into interdimensional time travel by none other than his great-grandfather.

Recommended to those who like: Time travel, interdimensional travel, loosely Christian.

The Long:

I picked up this series mostly because I was intrigued by the cover of the last book, The Fatal Tree. I don't know that I would've picked up the series off of the title and description of The Skin Map, but I'm happy that I did! As usual, Mr. Lawhead brought a rich and poetic tale to his readers.

Kit Livingston is an average Londoner. He has a girlfriend, fights traffic on the subway, and trudges about his life without much enthusiasm--until his great-grandfather appears to him in a back alley.

Suddenly, his life is turned upside down. Following the mysterious ley lines, he is taken on an adventure through both time and space. But what starts out as a merry jaunt quickly turns dangerous--it turns out he and his great-grandfather aren't the only ones who know the secret of the ley lines. And those people will stop at nothing to get the most prized possession of the travelers, the skin map. 

What could've been a simple McGuffin-esque story turned into a multi-layered story that had some characters I truly cared about by the end. Some of those characters take surprising turns in their arcs and choices, which was delightful to read. 

The plot itself was engaging and kept me hanging onto every page. This was aided by rich writing--take it or leave it; the style may be a little extravagant for some tastes. 

I would consider the story loosely Christian in light of some of Lawhead's other works. It'll be interesting to see how (or if) he continues to develop that element throughout the rest of the series. 

The Bottom Line: I'd recommend The Skin Map to fans of weird fiction that goes off the map into time travel and urban legend.