The Fatal Tree by Stephen Lawhead – CSFF Blog Tour, Day 1

The Fatal Tree, this month’s CSFF Blog Tour feature, brings to a close Stephen Lawhead‘s intriguing Bright Empires series, a science fantasy centered on ley line travel—similar to, but not the same as, time travel.

The series is a cosmic undertaking with cosmic implications. And still, I’m struck by how important character is, especially to my interest in the story.

My favorite character—though not the one I most admire—is Wilhelmina Klug, most often known by her nickname, Mina. In book one of the series, The Skin Map, she started as my least favorite. She seemed mean-spirited, needy, demanding, a bit cynical. As it turned out, she didn’t thrive in her own time period, but given a change of circumstances, her innate abilities began to surface.

As The Fatal Tree opens, Mina is capable, resourceful, take-charge, clever—the definition of a strong heroine. Her change during the four previous books, enforced on her by her circumstances, is believable and even inspiring.

It also raises a question: can someone be born in the wrong era? Of course, I don’t really believe this because that would suggest God made a mistake. He doesn’t. But perhaps our temperament might be better suited to a situation different from the one in which we live.

For example, I think of a young woman named Katie Davis who was living in Tennessee, attending high school and doing typical high school things—she was homecoming queen, went shopping at the mall with her friends on the weekend, had a boyfriend. But when she took a three week mission trip to an orphanage in Uganda, she found her niche.

In the next seven years she moved to Uganda, adopted thirteen girls, and started her own mission organization, Amazima Ministries. Apparently she “belongs” to a different place and time from the one in which she was born.

Mina is like that. In contemporary London, where she was working, where she and Kit Livingstone, the other protagonist of the Bright Empires series, had a serious relationship, she was stifled. Transported to nineteenth century Prague, she thrives.

And still, she’s not the character I most admire. But I’ll save that for another day. Now I suggest you jump over to Meagan @ Blooming with Books’ first tour post to read a wonderful, concise summary of the previous books.

Afterward start the tour! Check out what the other CSFF tour participants have to say about The Fatal Tree and the Bright Empires series. Keep your eyes open for Skin Map-like tattoos which may abound. Stop back here and report any you happen to spot.

√ √ √ Julie Bihn
√ Thomas Clayton Booher
√ Beckie Burnham
√ Jeff Chapman
√ Karri Compton
√ Theresa Dunlap
√ April Erwin
√ Victor Gentile
√ √ √ Timothy Hicks
√ √ Janeen Ippolito
√ √ √ Jason Joyner
√ Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
√ Rebekah Loper
√ √ √ Shannon McDermott
√ √ Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Nissa
√ Jalynn Patterson
√ Writer Rani
√ Nathan Reimer
√ √ Audrey Sauble
√ Jojo Sutis
√ √ √ Rachel Starr Thomson
√ Robert Treskillard
√ √ √ Steve Trower
√ Shane Werlinger
√ Phyllis Wheeler