Finished “The Spirit Well’, the third book in the Bright Empires series by Lawhead. I do like Lawhead, but when I read The Skin Map a few years ago, that book seemed unresolved. After the second book, The Bone House, I gave up on the series. But this Christmas, now that he has published all 5 books in the series, I decided to give the series one more try, and I reread both books 1 and 2. Reading in sequence, they do make more sense.One complaint I had before was that there were too many characters with too many sub-plots. This has not gone away; if anything it has gotten worse. The third book introduces more characters. But surprisingly, they are starting to weave together a cohesive narrative.The other complaint was that the story was non-linear, not only moving from one character to another, often leaving the first one for multiple chapters, but moving forwards and backwards in time. This is not unusual in a story that revolves around the multiverse, but was confusing. This time it seems less so, perhaps since some of the time scenes reoccur enough that they are familiar.In any case, where the first two books did not really hook me, I think this book has finally captured my attention. I need to know what happens to Kit and Mina, and the other characters. I intend to blaze on to the very end.Grade: B+ While I have been enjoying this series, Book 3 takes a bit of a confusing turn as the author explains the multidimensional travel they are experiencing is not as simple to understand as mere time travel. I suppose this plot contrivance will be important later on, and it helps solve inherent paradoxes in time travel storytelling, but the notion you can go somewhere and not realize you have/will be there is a bit much to wrap my head around. That having been said, the narrative itself is progressing nicely. I look forward to Book 4.
What do You think about The Spirit Well (2012)?
Interested to see where the series goes (2 more to go). Book 3 didn't tell you much, but it was fun.
—blondie
Book three of series. Interesting story about ley lines, time travel, philosophy, etc.
—bits
I liked it, but I gotta say, this was more preachy than I would've liked.
—rosetip30
