Customer Reviews

Empyrion II: The Siege of Dome

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Stephen Lawhead has always been a favorite author of mine, so I was please when I heard that he had some science fiction novels out as well. I was even more pleased when I had the chance to read the first in the search for Fierra series, called siege of dome. The characters were realistic and easy to relate to. The imaginary battle between those in the dome and those of the outside world was well told and properly addressed. Stephen Lawheads explanation of the wormhole theory was especially interesting. If you like Science fiction that's a cut above the rest, read this book.

Lawhead achieves an all-too-rare accomplishment in fiction...a sequel that's as good as the original.

The Siege of Dome picks up right where '..Fierra' left off. Our hero, having found the legendary Fierrans, is compelled to save them from the evils of Dome. Fascinating adventure.

It's categorized as sci-fi, but I'm more willing to call it fantasy. The characters are transported to an unknown land...where, in true fantasy form, they encounter all sorts of unknown dangers.

This is book 2 of 2 in the Empyrion series, a delightful "classic" sci-fi adventure for teens and adults (not for children). This volume picks up exactly where book 1 ended. While book 1 was focused very much on adventure, this book fleshes out the characters more: Yarden pursues training as an artist among the Fieri, and Pizzle pursues a girl while they all travel to the Bay of Talking Fish for a special event. Meanwhile, Treet endures capture and torture in Dome and is once again rescued by rebels who aided him before. A civil war begins in Dome as the new Supreme Director seeks to destroy any who threaten his power.

While Lawhead does write for a Christian audience, there is no presentation of the Gospel in either of these books. Yes, there is an "Infinite Father" who promotes peace and a personal relationship, but that's about all you'll find.... more of a simple good vs evil approach. I have loved this Empyrion series for nearly 20 years now, and I re-read them every few years.

Is how I felt after reading this. The Siege of Dome was so rich with Truth. With Allegory, the highest form of Truth. It is Science Fiction as Devotional. Siege of Dome, like Search for Fierra, starts out slowly, but makes up for it in the engrossing later chapters. Through most of the story the two protagonists are in separate spheres- Orion Treet in the evil Dome, and Yarden with the beautiful Fierri. Fierra is a vision of Heaven- although the Fierri are quick to point out it is only a poor imitation of the real thing. Usually the description of a life of a truly good people is rather boring; but Lawhead pulls it off by juxtaposing their lives with the situation of Orion in Dome. Lawhead uses the Fierri to describe- not teach in a preachy style, but show- what a life completely devoted to God can be like. It is a natural search for the Joy present in the Infinite. It is going to a concert and leaving without applauding, because the true joy for the artists was simply performing and expressing their gift in pure worship to the Father. It is searching one's soul to give control to the Creator to finally gain control.

In contrast Dome is a place of rage, anger, and forced control. All that is evil has been pent up there for millennia, breeding upon itself, not allowing real air in. Indeed, when Dome-dwellers or Earthlings first breath real air they initially experience great pain, for the goodness of purity is painful for those who have known only death and decay. The pain is a death we must all go through.

The main negatives: I loved that the Fierri had a firm commitment to harm no living thing, but I found parts confusing when it appears that they do. I think Lawhead could have done more without resorting to killing to have the protagonists win. And Lawhead throughout alludes to a great evil force controlling the religious beliefs and atmosphere of Dome, yet never resolves the battle with this force.

The scariest part: Dome reminded me a lot of Earth.

The most wonderful part: Fierra looked very achievable, if one begins with oneself, one individual at a time. For the good of the many is the good of every individual.

Empyrion: The Search for Fierra and The Siege of Dome

This sequel to "Search for Fierra," had everything I thought was missing the first book. The characters were well developed, and so was Empyrion itself. I think that this book tells the whole story in itself, and it would be better to just skip the first book. The only thing I didn't like was the end of the story, it seemed to end abuptly and seemed contrived, as if the author was tired of writing it.

I have this book in print, but it's been re-read enough times it is falling apart. So I was thrilled that it was offered for Kindle on sale. Except... the only reason I could read this book was that I had read it in print so much. I can usually read right past typos, but this was extreme. It looked like Amazon put Lawhead's hand-written copy through character recognition software. Which would be fine if they at least ran it through a spell check and grammar check afterwords. That would have caught all the many words with numbers inserted instead of letters, the words missing letters, and the words run together. Then there were the stray apostrophe marks everywhere. But even that I might get past, except that the punctuation made the middle of the story virtually unreadable. I literally would not have understood much of the story if I did not know it so well. Even so, I still had to reread and reread and reread certain passages until I could figure out where the punctuation was supposed to be. Run-on sentences and sentence fragments were rampant, and I know that is not how the print version was published. Amazon will be hearing from me regarding fixing this or refunding my money. I am only glad I hadn't recycled the print book yet.

This company delivered the said title in great condition. This is an exciting book that really makes you think about our society and where it is heading.

In the second book of the Empyrion Series, Stephen Lawhead brings the story toward its inevitable conclusion. The strong points of the series, including its well thought-out storyline, continue in this book. Yet certain aspects of the story are drawn out too long and the ending seems rushed. With the brilliant conclusion written by Lawhead, it seems a shame that it was rushed.

As Orion Treet leaves Fierra in an attempt to broker peace, new plot lines develop. Relationships between the travelers and locals of Fierra occupy too much of the focus of the middle chapters. The explorations of Fierra were quite interesting, including the fish that bring to mind stories of Francis of Assisi preaching to fish.

The villain Jamrog spirals further out of control and borders on absurdity during the war. His character brings to mind a less intelligent version of the Emperor from Star Wars. It is through his fatal flaw that the Christian theme really begins to take form.

The whole premise of this book is built around war. Yet very little of the book is spent in the war. Though it was not on a war on the scale of a "world war", the deficit of action was disappointing. The strategies discussed exhibited an intelligence which paralleled some minor twists in the resolution.

Lawhead's writing is often narrowly classified as Christian fiction or in this case Christian science fiction. However, the writing is never overly preachy and can be enjoyed by non-Christians. Empyrion is an intelligent, well designed series.

As both a author and reader of fiction I was impressed with the Siege of Dome. The characters seemed real and the story line was believable. I guess that I just like books that can hold my interest and make me think at the same time. I recommend this book. Time keeps me from writing a longer review but I wanted to get something posted for I enjoyed this book.
Tommy Taylor

However good Isaac Asimov may be - Stephen Lawhead isn't far behind him.My advice for Asimov is; Look over your shoulder. Even though Empyrion I: The Search for Fierra is an old book by the time I write this review, it is a stunning story - that's made of the stuff that makes you riveted to the chair, or the bed.Stephen; Please write more like this.