The Fatal Tree by Stephen R. Lawhead (book review)

The Fatal Tree (A Bright Empires Novel, Book 5)

by Stephen R. Lawhead

(I received this book for review purposes.)

Genre- Fiction / Fantasy / General

Publisher- Thomas Nelson

Copyrighted- 2014

Number of Pages- 356

Age Group- Adult

Description of Book- Hardback, $26.99, ISBN: 978-1-59554-808-5

The Fatal Tree, by Stephen R. Lawhead, is the final book in The Bright Empires Series.  There are some weird wrinkles in time all over the earth, that nobody can ignore.  Kit, Cass, and Mina are trying to come together to solve the problem at the Spirit Well.  They are having a hard time getting to the right time and place.  They are unable to get to the Spirit Well, because there is a very dangerous yew tree growing over the portal. 

Will they be able to save the world?  Will their nemesis, Lord Burleigh be able to help them?

About the Author- Stephen R. Lawhead currently lives in England with his wife.  He is the author of The King Raven Trilogy, The Song of Albion Trilogy, and The Dragon King Trilogy.

My Thoughts- The end of a series.  I have enjoyed reading the Bright Empires Series.  The fourth book, The Shadow Lamp, was very interesting and this one, The Fatal Tree, was excellent.

I really enjoyed having the list of characters and their descriptions.  It would have helped me if the people had been organized by their relationships or importance in the series.  I would have liked a complete table of contents, because there were a couple of chapters titles I could not read.  I also wanted to know what the titles were, because I wanted to go back and look some information up, I had to flip through the book to find it.

Now that I got all of the technical items out of the way, I can discuss my favorite parts.  My favorite character in this book was Lord Burleigh.  He was the antagonist throughout the series, but he changed thanks to the effort of Engelbert Stiffelbeam, the man he assaulted.  It was while Burleigh was in jail that Etzel, Engelbert, visited him once a week to bring him food.  Etzel was being a wonderful Christian, he was drawing people to Christ through his actions, not his words or lack there of.  I personally feel that is one of the best ways to draw people to Christ.  I thought all of the other characters were well developed, but they did not come close to Lord Burleigh and Etzel.

Since I had read the other books in the series, I knew the plot, what the ley lines were, and who the characters were, but I do not think this book would be hard to follow if you were new to the series.  You may want to start at the beginning though to get the whole story. 

This is an excellent book and I recommend it to all.  The book, Hood, from the King Raven series, looks interesting.  I was able to read a short excerpt in the back of The Fatal Tree.  I will be reading it soon.

Informational and Purchasing Links-

The Fatal Tree - http://www.amazon.com/The-Fatal-Tree-Bright-Empires/dp/1595548084/

Author Website - http://www.stephenlawhead.com/

Author Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-R-Lawhead/84503526872

My review for The Shadow Lamp- http://www.christsbridge.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-shadow-lamp-by-stephen-r-lawhead.html

Participants’ links:

• Julie Bihn
• Thomas Clayton Booher
• Beckie Burnham
• Jeff Chapman
• Karri Compton
• April Erwin
• Victor Gentile
• Jason Joyner
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• Carol Keen
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• Meagan @ Blooming with Books
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• Nathan Reimer
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• Jojo Sutis
• Rachel Starr Thomson
• Robert Treskillard
• Steve Trower
• Shane Werlinger
• Phyllis Wheeler

Disclosure of Material Connection- I received a free copy of The Fatal Tree, by Stephen R. Lawhead to review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.  I am part of CSFF Blog Tour.  All links were current when posted.