I’ve got a long-overdue review to share with you, and a giveaway!
Title: The Fatal Tree (Bright Empires, #5)
Author: Stephen R. Lawhead
- Date read: May 18, 2017
- Rating: 5 stars
- Genre: Historical Fiction / Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Time / Christian / Contemporary
- Age: YA and up
- Year pub: 2014
- Pages: 340 (hardcover)
- Series: The Bright Empires, #5 (final one!)
- Fave character: All of them. â¤
- Source: Amazon
- Notes: Definitely be sure to start with book 1, The Skin Map.
- Links: Goodreads ⢠Amazon ⢠Barnes & Noble ⢠Author’s Website
Review of The Fatal Tree
In the immortal words of Bilbo Baggins (at least in a certain film), âIâve put this off for far too long.â
I was waiting for the right words, but Iâve realized that thereâs simply no way to do justice to this book in a review, and so instead of waiting for a time that will never come, Iâm simply going to say something about it, even if itâs not enough.
You see, the Bright Empire series (of which The Fatal Tree is the fifth and final book) meant so much to me that I canât quite put it into words.
I enjoyed it, loved it, and it had a profound influence and effect on me. The series worked its way into a deep part of me that makes it hard to get at to explain. Iâm not sure if youâve had this experience, but sometimes you read something that becomes a part of you. It changes you. And so you canât really talk about itânot really, not in a way that could explain to anyone why it happened to reach you at that soul level, because if it didnât do the same for them, then they just wonât understand. And thatâs all right, because every book affects people differently, if at all. It just makes it difficult to explain.
So itâs seems silly to attempt it, and I wonât try, but I will say that this series is a part of me, like several other book milestones along the way through my younger lifeâI wonât go through those here. Itâs enough a part of me that I donât really think about it, but it is and itâs there.
So here are a few things about the series that made it something special, at least for this literary traveler.
For one thing, thereâs Mina. She was the first female role-model Iâd met in a book since I was very young. I want to be her. (More on that in My Tower of Fantasy.) Heroines never interest me in fiction much; I donât know why, but Iâm usually more drawn to the heroes. So Mina was something new and different. She showed me it was possible to do oh-so-many things. Sheâs the bravest character Iâve ever read about, but she started as a stressed, tired young woman from our modern days. Literally plucked out of her life and thrust into another one, she refuses to give in and transforms her situation into something incredible. She is clever and heroic and rather more brave than I think Iâd ever be, but she is so incredibly loving and steady too, and she shines. She makes a way in the world, and is loyal to her friends, and capable, and an entrepreneur, ready to try new things whether in a bakery or fearlessly treading the roads between worlds, but sheâs still human and shows that itâs okay to wish you could be home taking a hot shower to avoid the world at times. And, I mean, who wouldnât want to go visit her and Etzelâs joint Kaffeehaus in 1600s Prague? Itâs the most amazing place! I think what Iâm trying to say is that I didnât really have role-models in fiction, and that we need those. Iâve had plenty of fictional heroes, and I needed those too, and I had Eilonwy and Princess Irene and Eowyn and others, but I hadnât met a modern heroine I could look up to, and I think in a rush to write ârealisticâ characters (read: dull and flawed, or fake and artificially âstrongâ), people just donât write truly heroic characters anymore. Not the ones who can actually be looked up to, and show a blueprint of what might be, and meet me where I am and inspire me and show me that I can be something more and do things. I wonât ramble on about her more than that, but Mina is one of the best things that ever happened to me.
The series also firmly embedded into my mind that whole âthere are no coincidencesâ thing, which as much as I always knew in theory I didnât really believe if you know what I mean, until reading this fascinating series. If thereâs one thing I took away from these books, it was that, and I adore it.
O’er earth we see Thee, and Thy footsteps trace / Through the Bright Empires of unbounded Space
Then thereâs how Iâll run across things in life, or in other literature, or in a song, or history, and Iâll see it echoing back to this seriesâwhether itâs a name, or a place, or something elseâand Iâll go âAha! Itâs like Bright Empires!â and Iâll do a little dance of intrigued joy. (For example, I stumbled across a translation of a Welsh song called Adra (Home) by Gwyneth Glyn and it so strongly fit this series I thought âWhat a coincidence! Oh, that canât be right . . .â ;)) Aside from simply being great fun to find things in life that remind me of a beloved series, it opened up a whole new world to meâand how could it not, with such a broad canvas of times, places, people, and thoughts painted together with such intricacy and skill?
And also with beloved characters and humor and enjoyment, because thatâs the important bit that makes the rest stick in your mind. Because thereâs the thing: you can have the most interesting or enlightening book in the world, but if itâs not fun, itâs not going to stick with youâor with me, at any rate. And you can have an enjoyable story, but how much more enjoyable is it if, amidst the fun, it stretches your mind far afield and shows you a whole new world and makes you think? I love how this series did all of those things for me, and all in a mind-bending, genre-defying, completely new sort of way.
But arenât you going to talk about this book, not just the series, then? you ask.
Oh, very well.
I see the series as a whole and so I donât have terribly much to say specifically about the final book, other than as the end of a saga. (Especially not without massive spoilers, which nobody wants because you must discover them on your own when you read the books; and you ARE GOING TO, right? *stern but loving look*) But there are a few things, so Iâll mention them.
I donât know how I feel about a few things that happened, and at least at one point I wished that some of the characters could have come in at the end with the others and they didnâtâbut then I realized that they were perfect where they are. Several pairs of people are THE MOST ADORABLE THING. (Iâm sorry, Iâm a romantic. XD)
Familiar places (like Black Mixen Tump) swirl back into the story, and continue to be fascinating. Desert sand in Egypt to frozen ice and the Stone Age, with Prague and Constantinople and all the rest in between. I love the richness of all the different countries and times we get to visit in this series, and how vivid they are (even if some can get downright frightening!), and especially the good hearts of many of the people we meet. Everythingâs so genuine, laced with a thread of nobleness and light.
I still adore all of the characters, fiercely. Mina, Kit, Etzel, Cass, Giles, Tony, Haven, Gianni, the members of the Zetetic Society, and all the rest. Theyâre my friends now. ^_^ I was so delighted to get to finally complete their story in this book, and I absolutely love how all of their tales intertwine and fit into the book so neatly but with threads trailing afterward to the future. And I love all of their interactions SO MUCH. They make the book. đ
Even the villains are interesting, and far from straightforward. Burleighâs plotline is one of the two most skillful ones of its kind Iâve read in my life.
And, of course, thereâs a time-related thing or two that finally happen in this book, which Iâve been waiting for since the first one. One in particular made me SO HAPPY. (Looking at you, chapter 11.) Speaking of timey-wimey things, that sort of thing always makes my head spin (in a good way) and I think I filled a couple of pieces of paper with diagrams of different peopleâs timelines and where and when they crossed and it was still dreadfully confusing and I love it so much. XD Someday Iâm going to carve out the time to read the whole series again, and Iâm looking forward to that with relish. (And maybe then Iâll finally fully understand the ending, which tied my mind in knots. :D)
Then thereâs that whole having-to-save-the-world thing, what with the whole universe about to end and everything, which is as serious as it sounds and just as excitingâand there may or may not be some death in there, and Iâm not saying I totally understood how everything turned out (I like a good goes-slightly-over-my-head-and-requires-a-rereading endingâjust look at Diana Wynne Jones), especially with science-y things going over my head, but everything came together from the previous books and on the whole I was terribly pleased with how The Fatal Tree wrapped up the series. (Iâm also so glad we got a what-happens-next bit at the end too! *collapses*)
It was an experience, and one itâs taken me nearly two years to get around to finally externalizing and typing up in the form of a âreviewâ (or shall we call it an essay?), but I can safely say that the Bright Empires is one of the most delightful series Iâve had the pleasure of reading. Even if only as an enjoyable adventure, I recommend them highly to anyone who cares to try their luck. Or, since there is no such thing as coincidence, letâs say that luck is the wrong word and leave it at that. đ
Iâm deeply indebted to Mr. Lawhead for penning such aâwell, brilliant is the only word for it, in so many waysâseries, and I look forward to delving into more of his books very soon.
(Also . . . THE SPOON. :O WHAT. DOES. IT. MEAN. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.)
Read my reviews for the previous books in the series:
GIVEAWAY!
I happen to have a spare paperback copy of the first book in the series, The Skin Map, and I want to share the love!
Visit the Rafflecopter HERE for a chance to win it!
(USA addresses only. Runs 4/11/19 through 4/17/19. Winner will be contacted by email and announced here shortly after.)
[Edit: Giveaway is closed! The winner is Grace T! Thanks for entering, everyone! :)]
Have you read any of these? And do you have a favorite Lawhead book? Thanks for reading! đ
 
The secret lies with the Heart.
Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic. 
