Day 353 – 52 Books in 52 Weeks

The Skin Map is Stephen Lawhead’s latest book, the first in a new series entitled Bright Empires, and after finishing book one, I now have to wait until September of 2011 to get my hands on book two. It’s going to be a long wait.

The book is really fascinating. It’s a fantasy novel based on hard science fiction, if that makes sense. We meet Kit and Mina, two unhappy Londoners in today’s world. Kit gets caught in a mess with transportation, ends up in an alley after deciding to walk to Mina’s, and encounters his great-grandfather, Cosimo.

Cosimo leads Kit through the alley and into 1600’s England, and pleads with Kit to carry on his exploration of ley lines. Kit turns him down, returns to modern-day England, eight hours late for his shopping trip with Mina, tries to explain what happened, ends up taking her to the alley to prove he isn’t lying, and suddenly they are transported to different times and places.

Kit ends up back with his great-grandfather in 1666 England; Mina ends up in Prague in 1606, and the adventure begins. Kit, though unhappy in his relationship with Mina, frets over her well-being and knows he has to go and find her.

Cosimo tell him that she could be anywhere, at any time then explains the ley lines to him. This is where the theoretical physics comes into play. He describes it like bubbles in a bubble bath. Where the different bubbles meet are the ley lines where one can crossover to another time and place. It’s sort of a multi-universe, alternate reality theory. Not only can they travel to other “versions” of their realities, but to other time periods as well… so it’s both time travel and other-world travel.

Of course there are bad guys, led by Burleigh, who shows up (or his henchmen) at every leap Kit and his entourage make. Then there’s Arthur, the Map Man, who has figured out how the ley lines are connected, where they go and so on. And in order not to forget or lose his way, he has constructed his own symbols/code for these places and times and has had them tattooed on his own body. Hence the title: The Skin Map.

By the end of the book, everyone and everything converges on Egypt, around the time of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, where undoubtedly book two will start up. Of course, only a couple of things are answered by the end of the book, leaving the reader wanting to know more. And as I said, I’m in for a long wait to find out what happens next. I have a feeling this is going to be a rather intriguing adventure. Definitely a good read.