Last year, I reviewed Stephen R. Lawhead’s book, The Skin Map — the first book in his new Bright Empires series. You can read my review of that book here, but in short, I really liked it. It took me a while to get into it, but once I was in, I was completely absorbed.

So it didn’t take much thought for me to decide that I wanted to read the second book in the series, The Bone House. Though I initially received a free electronic version of the book through NetGalley, I liked it enough that I ultimately purchased the hardcover so I can read and re-read the book as desired, as well as loan it out to others.

Because this is the second book in a series, I hesitate to discuss too much of the plot. I’m reluctant to inadvertently reveal any spoilers of the first book.

In essence, The Bone House continues to follow Kit Livingstone and his cohorts as they travel through space and time (on things called ley lines), and seek to avoid or thwart bad guys while searching for pieces of the skin map — something that absolutely, positively must not fall into the wrong hands.

Here are some things I particularly liked about The Bone House:

• The author included a recap of the first book right at the beginning. It was perfect — just enough information to remind of what I had read the prior year, re-whet my thirst for more, and get me running full speed in The Bone House.
• Lawhead does a masterful job jumping between characters and situations with each chapter. There’s a lot going on in these books, and every time I thought, “Okay, after this chapter, I’m going to close the book and go to sleep”…well, it was not to be, because I would notice that the next chapter was about one particular person or situation that I’d really been wondering about. So I’d have to read on… Some authors drive me crazy with too much jumping, but in my opinion, it was perfect in The Bone House.
• The author also did a good job at answering some questions for us, while presenting enough new questions, characters, and plot lines to keep me intrigued.
• The Bone House is a page-turner. And I love page-turners. This was the book that kept me up way too late this fall, reading long past my bedtime. And when I passed it on to my husband, it did the same to him. Good stuff.