Empyrion [Paperback]

Orion Treet is our main interface to Empyrion. A historian and a writer, he is able to maintain some emotional distance from what is happening around him; his friends are not so fortunate. Yarden, a sympath, is traumatized by her stay in Dome . She is able to sense a malevolent presence that the others cannot. Pizzle, a genius, had a backbreaking, filthy job in the lowest caste and couldn't wait to leave. Crocker was severely injured at first contact, comatose for most of his stay, but even still there is a hole in his memory during which something sinister happened...

Part Two: the companions have somehow made it across the wasteland to the smaller human settlement. This is Fierra, a true utopia and a foretaste of Heaven in this life. Fierrans have relied on the Infinite (God) for guidance and wisdom for over a millennium, ever since the atomic Holocaust. The results were not only a beautiful city in harmony with nature but a beautiful people in harmony with each other. Their vow of non-aggression may now backfire on them as Dome turns a paranoid eye toward Fierra once again...

Empyrion was not perfectly plotted and written. The first half drags in areas, has a generally unsatisfying feel to it which I believe is because author Stephen Lawhead offers a hasty sketch of the main characters and then neglects them to explore the wonders of the alien world; their inner lives are largely unexplored until the second half. A pet peeve of mine surfaces in the form of a romantic subplot between Treet and not one but three knockout females, but don't get excited - I don't think I'm spoiling much by revealing that they come to nothing and serve no real purpose in the plot. Worse, the reader is left wondering what they saw in him to begin with; Treet seems to have the EQ of a jackrabbit. Finally, Lawhead resorts to some generic descriptions of what is by all accounts supposed to be an exotic and interesting world. He could have spent a few more imaginative words revealing the physical Empyrion to us.

All these flaws drop away from memory when the magic of this alien place becomes apparent in random moments of storytelling brilliance. I recall vividly the sensory weirdness Lawhead evoked with a narrative about a nameless disease that cocooned its victims in shells of their own flesh. The haunting loneliness of the desert wastelands and the quiet green crunch of the forests crept into my soul as I read. Lawhead chronicles the spiritual journeys of the travellers through sensitive inner dialogs. And finally, nobody does war strategy and battle sequences like this author. For such gratifying passages I am willing to forgive much.

So perhaps Empyrion was not a complete five stars in every respect. Since the whole added up to more than the sum of its parts, however, it may be read by sci fi fans without reservation.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

And his science fiction is no different. Once again, the books begin slightly boring and have a few moments within them that are a little bit too lengthy for me--but the reasoning in those passages I feel could not really have been omitted from the books. They are brilliant and take science fiction to a whole new level. Instead of simply being a quest, these books are a commentary. They show the developement of religion, civilization and it's downfall in a world far from us, and somehow strike a familier chord.

Definately up there on the favorites list!