Bright Empires – serie

Kit Livingstone has been bequeathed by his great grandfather, Cosimo, an apparently impossible task: to piece together a 17th-century map whose fragments are scattered not just throughout this universe but other universes too. One piece of the skin map has been found. Now the race to unravel the future of the future turns deadly. Aided by his girlfriend, Mina, from her outpost in seventeenth-century Prague, Kit begins to make progress but realises that opponents, in the shape of the Burley Men, are equally determined to capture the map, and they have a crucial advantage: the ability to manipulate the will of historical figures for their own ends. Across time and space, through manifest and hidden worlds, those who know how to use ley lines to travel through astral planes have left their own world behind in this, the second quest: to unlock the mystery of The Bone House.

'Anything but ordinary . . . Dynamic settings are mixed with unpredictable adventures [and] parallel worlds.' BookPageIt is the ultimate quest for the ultimate treasure. Chasing a map tattooed on human skin. Across an omniverse of intersecting realities. To unravel the future of the future.Kit Livingstone’s great-grandfather appears to him in a deserted alley during a tumultuous storm. He reveals an unbelievable story: that the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legend or the weekend hobby of deluded cranks, but pathways to other worlds. To those who know how to use them, they grant the ability to travel the multi-layered universe of which we ordinarily inhabit only a tiny part.One explorer knew more than most. Braving every danger, he toured both time and space on voyages of heroic discovery. Ever on his guard and fearful of becoming lost in the cosmos, he developed an intricate code—a roadmap of symbols—that he tattooed onto his own body. This Skin Map has since been lost in time. Now the race is on to recover all the pieces and discover its secrets.But the Skin Map itself is not the ultimate goal. It is merely the beginning of a vast and marvelous quest for a prize beyond imagining.

'Lawhead’s intricately plotted, compelling tale continues to demonstrate his mastery of world building.' Library JournalThe Search for the Map-and the secret behind its cryptic code-intensifies in a quest across time, space, and multiple realities.But what if the true treasure isn’t the map at all . . . what if the map marks something far greater? Something one world cannot contain? Those who desire to unlock that mystery are in a race to possess the secret-for good or evil.Kit Livingstone is mastering the ability to travel across realities using ley lines and has forged a link from the Bone House, a sacred lodge made of animal bones, to the fabled Spirit Well, a place of profound power.His friend Mina is undercover in a Spanish monastery high in the Pyrenees, learning all she can from a monk named Brother Lazarus. Still determined to find Kit, she is beginning to experience a greater destiny than she can fathom.Cassandra Clarke is overseeing an archaeological dig in Arizona when a chance encounter transports her to 1950s Damascus. There, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to the Seekers-the last living remnants of the Zetetic Society who need her help to track down the missing Cosimo Livingstone and his grandson Kit.But there are darker forces at work in the universe whose agents always seem to be one step ahead of the rest-and they’re all desperate to gain the ultimate prize in this treasure hunt where the stakes increase at every turn. At the heart of the mystery lies the Spirit Well.

The quest for answers-and ultimate survival-hinges on finding the cosmic link between the Skin Map, the Shadow Lamp, and the Spirit Well.The search for the map of blue symbols began in a rainy alley in London but has since expanded through space and time and includes more seekers.Kit, Mina, Gianni, Cass, Haven, and Giles have gathered in Mina’s 16th-century coffee house and are united in their determination to find a path back to the Spirit Well. Yet, with their shadow lamps destroyed and key pieces of the map still missing, the journey will be far more difficult than they imagine. And when one of their own disappears with Sir Henry's cryptic Green Book, they no longer know who to trust.At the same time, the Zetetic Society has uncovered a terrifying secret which, if proven, will rock the very foundations of Creation. The quest for answers is no longer limited to recovering an unknown treasure. The fate of the universe depends on unraveling the riddle of the Skin Map.