CSFF Blog Tour Day 3 (post #2 for me): The Shadow Lamp

I said I would give a review, and give one I will, although it will be a bit different than the ones I usually write. I have a lot of random thoughts/feelings about this book, some positive, some not, and I'll try to go over the more important ones here. However, I will have to give a SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL THAT FOLLOWS THIS SENTENCE. I can't discuss the book in detail without spoilers, so please do not read what follows if you haven't read the book yourself.


Pros:

I love that Kit, Mina, Cass, Dr. Clarke, the Zetetic Society, and Gianni, all find themselves together talking about what has caused the deceleration of the expansion of the universe and what may have caused it. When Kit tells Gianni about Arthur bringing his beloved wife back to life in the Spirit Well, we realize that this event is what has changed the course of the future and brought the multiverse into the threat of complete annihilation. I can make a wild guess and say that perhaps Kit will travel back to the Spirit Well in the past and try to prevent Arthur from doing this, therefore saving the world. But I don't know.

I'm not a scientist or physicist, and, even after reading all of these books I hardly understand either time or ley travel, but I loved all the discussions of science and space/time.

This isn't a pro about the book, but one about one of the tour participants who writes some good thoughts HERE about Gianni not really being a Deist and Etzel acting in a Christlike manner towards the incarcerated Burleigh and his men. I never thought of Etzel as that important to the story, but evidently he is.

The book, as the others, was written in a way that made me invest and engage in it, and left me wanting more. That's a good thing. I heartily anticipate the conclusion to the series. No doubt Lawhead will hit it out of the park, bringing the answers we've all been so desperate for in regards to what will happen.

Cons:

I had a slight problem with the fact that the book is called "The Shadow Lamp," though yes, they do try to find out what makes the thing work, but they never do. And if/when they do, is that going to help them go to the Spirit Well and stop the EOE?

I don't like the way all of the characters assume an old earth. I'm letting it go, but being a young earth girl, it peeves me.

I also don't like that it seems somewhat inevitable that the universe/multiverse/world (whatever you want to call it) will collapse into itself and annihilation. That doesn't fit in with the "Omega Point" or with God's bringing forth a New Heaven and New Earth at the end of time as we know it. IMHO, nothing near that would ever have a chance of happening. Anything that happens catastrophically to the earth will be only what happens in Revelation. Whether or not those events change anything but the earth and our galaxy I don't know, but I know we will not all be annihilated. But it is fiction, after all, and for the characters, it's a distinct and scary possibility, even if it isn't for us in real life.


I guess that's it for me. I've enjoyed what others are saying about this book/series. Please go read our other participants' thoughts as I have been doing. I appreciate the way they enlighten me further.

CSFF Blog Tour presents: Stephen R. Lawhead's The Shadow Lamp

So releases Book 4 in the Bright Empires series, a series that reaches beyond one genre and mixes fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction. I'm a big fan of Lawhead and of this series, but I had a hard time writing a review of this one. I'm still thinking on it and will post one tomorrow, but for now, here are links to my reviews of the previous books in the series:

The Skin Map
The Bone House
The Spirit Well

Also, here are the tour links where you can check out/buy the book and see about the author:

Buy The Shadow Lamp on Amazon
Author Website
Author FB Page

Lastly, here are my fellow participants' links. Definitely see what they have to say:
Julie Bihn
Red Bissell
Thomas Clayton Booher
Thomas Fletcher Booher
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
Theresa Dunlap
April Erwin
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Becky Jesse
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Rebekah Loper
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirriam Neal
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Chawna Schroeder
Jojo Sutis
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Rachel Wyant
Phyllis Wheeler
Deborah Wilson

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.