The Spirit Well by Stephen R. Lawhead

In this third book in the series, the search for the skin map and its meaning continues. Kit is in a Stone Age setting and has happened upon what he thinks is the Spirit Well. Mina continues her prosperous coffee house in Prague. She also manages to find another traveler, Brother Lazarus, a monk in a Spanish monastery.

And a new character enters the quest. Cass, a palaeontologist in Arizona, accidentally follows a native American worker through a ley travel experience. She later returns and travels again. It appears she will be an essential character in future segments of this series.

This book does not have the action the previous books have. This installment is quite informative, however. Cass comes across a society of ley travelers. Much is explained to her and we readers get in on the information.

We find out that there is a far greater purpose to this quest than just finding the skin map. God has a purpose for his creation. It will all come together in the future, at a time of final consummation.

But there are those opposing the plan of God. Their evil forces are becoming formidable. Time may be getting short.

I was pleased to read the explanation of the quest for the skin map. A Christian theme of good and evil in a battle of cosmic proportions is becoming more evident. While Kit and Mina do not seem to yet have any Christian motivation to their actions (so to speak), there are others who have been a part of this journey for a long time and who do have a distinct Christian understanding of what is going on.

I felt this volume in the series was slow moving. It wasn't until the second half of the book that I thought I was reading something that was actually moving the story forward. But that second half of the book is worth getting to. It is all starting to come together.

Stephen Lawhead is an author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. He and his wife make their home in Oxford, England. Find out more at www.StephenLawhead.com and follow him on his Facebook page.

Thomas Nelson Publishers, 377 pages.
You can buy the book here. 

I am participating in a blog tour of this book. You will find the links below to the reviews of the others on this tour.

Jim Armstrong Julie Bihn Red Bissell Jennifer Bogart Thomas Clayton Booher Thomas Fletcher Booher Beckie Burnham Brenda Castro Jeff Chapman Christine Karri Compton Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Jeremy Harder Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Janeen Ippolito Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Rebekah Loper Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Anna Mittower Lyn Perry Nathan Reimer Chawna Schroeder Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Dona Watson Shane Werlinger Phyllis Wheeler

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.