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ashleygail's review against another edition
4.0
The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead is an interesting book, to be sure. It uses the idea of ley lines. They’re portals, of a sort, that cross different layers of the universe. Kit Livingstone is introduced to this concept of traveling between different timelines in history by his great-grandfather. Kit shows his girlfriend, Wilhelmina, what he has found, but she ends up in a different time and place than Kit. Along with Cosimo (his great-grandfather), he sets out to find the Skin Map in order to figure out where Mina is and bring her home. The Skin Map is literally that –a map, tattooed on the torso of the map who traveled the ley lines before Cosimo, which was preserved after his death. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina is adjusting quite nicely to Prague.
The story itself was good, though at first it seemed almost like Back to The Future meets National Treasure. However, it’s the concept of ley lines that I was wary of. Kit mentions New Agers when Cosimo first begins explaining the ley lines, and that’s also who Stephen Lawhead says he saw looking for ley lines in 1985 at Stonehenge. While in a work of fiction I wouldn’t think twice about time travel or portals, the knowledge that ley lines were mentioned as a New Age theory makes me wonder.
While the content of this book had nothing in it to make me stop reading, what the author had to say in the essay he included was interesting. He says at the end of his essay “Do ley lines exist? […] Or is it all just a bit of hopeful speculation, half-science and New Age nonsense---something to file in the same low drawer as Nessie and Big Foot? Not being a scientist, it is my particular privilege to roam freely in the world of ‘what if’ without having to prove anything. There seems enough empirical evidence to warrant at least some open-minded speculation---and, in light of all that Kit and Cosimo have experienced, who can say absolutely that ley travel is not possible?”
The Skin Map, while not an absolute favorite, had some good qualities. After the first few chapters, I was unsure if I should continue reading, being new to the concept of ley lines, but the book itself turned out just fine. However, it should be remembered that this is a fictional story. I do not personally agree that there is a possibility of ley travel.
The story itself was good, though at first it seemed almost like Back to The Future meets National Treasure. However, it’s the concept of ley lines that I was wary of. Kit mentions New Agers when Cosimo first begins explaining the ley lines, and that’s also who Stephen Lawhead says he saw looking for ley lines in 1985 at Stonehenge. While in a work of fiction I wouldn’t think twice about time travel or portals, the knowledge that ley lines were mentioned as a New Age theory makes me wonder.
While the content of this book had nothing in it to make me stop reading, what the author had to say in the essay he included was interesting. He says at the end of his essay “Do ley lines exist? […] Or is it all just a bit of hopeful speculation, half-science and New Age nonsense---something to file in the same low drawer as Nessie and Big Foot? Not being a scientist, it is my particular privilege to roam freely in the world of ‘what if’ without having to prove anything. There seems enough empirical evidence to warrant at least some open-minded speculation---and, in light of all that Kit and Cosimo have experienced, who can say absolutely that ley travel is not possible?”
The Skin Map, while not an absolute favorite, had some good qualities. After the first few chapters, I was unsure if I should continue reading, being new to the concept of ley lines, but the book itself turned out just fine. However, it should be remembered that this is a fictional story. I do not personally agree that there is a possibility of ley travel.
benmeyer50's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
abigailfaber's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I seriously didn’t like this one. The characters felt flat and the plot seemed uninteresting to me.
chazbot72's review
2.0
I had a hard time rating this book. I love Stephen Lawhead and I've read most of his other books before, but this is the first time I've read anything from this series. While the writing is excellent, this story, for me, was a struggle. It jumped around a lot and...I dunno, some things just didn't make sense. I'm not normally a fan of sci-fi, but I gave this book a shot because it's Lawhead. However, there are four more books in the series! I don't know if I'll make it.
tayler_marie_brooks's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
4.0
Extremely well-written but not really the book for me.
kyliee's review against another edition
I think this is a book I’d prefer to read in a printed format. I just couldn’t focus on the audio
mlou186's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bkeving_74's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting take on time travel
While this doesnt measure up to other books I have read by this author I did find the concept and characters interesting. This was a well-written part mystery, part sci-fi that I look forward to reading the continuing series at some point in the future.
While this doesnt measure up to other books I have read by this author I did find the concept and characters interesting. This was a well-written part mystery, part sci-fi that I look forward to reading the continuing series at some point in the future.
rosannelortz's review against another edition
3.0
Let me get this off my chest before I start: I am not a big fan of time travel novels or novels that jump back and forth between sets of characters in different time periods. With that said, I must acknowledge that I liked Stephen Lawhead’s new book, The Skin Map, more than I thought I would. It was a far cry from his excellent Song of Albion trilogy, but still not an utter waste of time.
The story starts out with the protagonist, Kit, being accosted in a London alleyway by his great-grandfather Cosimo and dragged through time/space to the seacoast of England in the 1600s. Cosimo tells Kit that they are journeying along “ley lines,” an ancient travel method that has been forgotten by modern man. When Kit returns to London, he tries to show his girlfriend Wilhelmina what happened to him. They take a saunter down the same alleyway, and poof! Kit is back to 1600s England, and Wilhelmina is…somewhere else entirely. Cosimo, angry at Kit for bringing Wilhelmina, declares that she could be anywhere or anywhen and they must find her before she changes the course of history.
As Cosimo decides how best to begin the search for Wilhelmina, Kit begins to familiarize himself with the world of four centuries ago, meeting Sir Henry Fayth, a scientist who is good friends with Cosimo, and Lady Haven Fayth, Sir Henry’s incredibly attractive niece. He also learns of the existence of the “Burley Men,” nefarious characters who are able to jump the time/space continuum and who desperately want Cosimo’s piece of the Skin Map, an important artifact that will guide them in this travel.
Besides following the thread of Kit’s story, the book jumps continuously between three other threads: Wilhelmina’s culinary adventure in 1600s Prague, Lord Burleigh’s evil escapades in feudal Japan and Napoleonic Egypt, and Arthur Flinders-Petrie’s seminal journeys that explain the creation of the skin map itself. As often happens with stories that change focus like this, one of the stories is far more interesting than the others, and you wish the author would just stick to telling that one.
In this case, the most interesting story out of all four, is Wilhelmina’s adventure. Shocked out of her senses at first by the unexpected transportation to a new world, Wilhelmina proves resilient and resourceful. She falls in with a baker named Etzel and, being a baker herself, introduces him to several new, modern recipes. She helps him start the first coffee house in Prague and ends up introducing the tasty, new beverage to the Emperor himself. Ironically, Kit thinks he needs to rescue Wilhelmina, but in the end, it is she who has the wits and wiles to rescue him when the Burley Men turn ugly.
This novel is the first in a projected trilogy called Bright Empires. It ends on a cleverly constructed cliffhanger, Lawhead’s attempts to get the reader to read on when the next installment arrives. If ever a book could be described by the adjective “okay,” this book would be it. The Skin Map was mildly interesting and eminently forgettable. Perhaps books two and three will have a stronger story grip, although my experience with Lawhead says that the first novel in his trilogy is usually the best of the lot.
The story starts out with the protagonist, Kit, being accosted in a London alleyway by his great-grandfather Cosimo and dragged through time/space to the seacoast of England in the 1600s. Cosimo tells Kit that they are journeying along “ley lines,” an ancient travel method that has been forgotten by modern man. When Kit returns to London, he tries to show his girlfriend Wilhelmina what happened to him. They take a saunter down the same alleyway, and poof! Kit is back to 1600s England, and Wilhelmina is…somewhere else entirely. Cosimo, angry at Kit for bringing Wilhelmina, declares that she could be anywhere or anywhen and they must find her before she changes the course of history.
As Cosimo decides how best to begin the search for Wilhelmina, Kit begins to familiarize himself with the world of four centuries ago, meeting Sir Henry Fayth, a scientist who is good friends with Cosimo, and Lady Haven Fayth, Sir Henry’s incredibly attractive niece. He also learns of the existence of the “Burley Men,” nefarious characters who are able to jump the time/space continuum and who desperately want Cosimo’s piece of the Skin Map, an important artifact that will guide them in this travel.
Besides following the thread of Kit’s story, the book jumps continuously between three other threads: Wilhelmina’s culinary adventure in 1600s Prague, Lord Burleigh’s evil escapades in feudal Japan and Napoleonic Egypt, and Arthur Flinders-Petrie’s seminal journeys that explain the creation of the skin map itself. As often happens with stories that change focus like this, one of the stories is far more interesting than the others, and you wish the author would just stick to telling that one.
In this case, the most interesting story out of all four, is Wilhelmina’s adventure. Shocked out of her senses at first by the unexpected transportation to a new world, Wilhelmina proves resilient and resourceful. She falls in with a baker named Etzel and, being a baker herself, introduces him to several new, modern recipes. She helps him start the first coffee house in Prague and ends up introducing the tasty, new beverage to the Emperor himself. Ironically, Kit thinks he needs to rescue Wilhelmina, but in the end, it is she who has the wits and wiles to rescue him when the Burley Men turn ugly.
This novel is the first in a projected trilogy called Bright Empires. It ends on a cleverly constructed cliffhanger, Lawhead’s attempts to get the reader to read on when the next installment arrives. If ever a book could be described by the adjective “okay,” this book would be it. The Skin Map was mildly interesting and eminently forgettable. Perhaps books two and three will have a stronger story grip, although my experience with Lawhead says that the first novel in his trilogy is usually the best of the lot.