I liked these when I read them as a kid. Don't know if I still would. ( )

This doorstep of a book is more commonly split into two. However I have the full 900 page version (with smallish print). As a story it's not so bad. Orion Treet - a historian - is paid handsomely to visit the new colony world of Empyrion, established a few years previously. On arrival though, things are not at all as expected and over the course of many pages it becomes clear that 3000 years of colony history have past, and that very early in the life of the colony there were disasters that almost destroyed them. What is more, there has been a split that saw rival fighting colonies, that throw the new visitors into a war.

This book failed to grip me though. It is to my knowledge Lawhead's only foray into science fiction. There are some nods to other works in the story - particularly to Dune by Frank Herbert, when Treet et al. are crossing a desert. In some ways this book is like Dune - but not, I am sorry to say, in depth of vision. Rather it is long winded with a tendency to get a little boring!

Ultimately the story is a good one, but I think it could have been delivered in a book one third the size of this one - then I would probably have enjoyed it. ( )

This was another "random pull" from a shelf, and it was a pure gem. I've never read anything by Lawhead before, but will now seek out his other works. Empyrion is a 2-in-1 collection of the books "The Search For Fierra" and "The Siege of Dome".

The main character, Orion Treet, is sent on a mission to document the foundation of a new, extra-solar colony, but he must travel through a little-understood wormhole to reach it. The wormhole flings them forward in time and they arrive 3,000 years in the colony's future, after several catastrophes, diseases, dictators, etc ravage the people. They degrade until the corporation that sponsored their journey is only known as a religious figure.

Those left living under the dome are controlled by power-hungry leaders. A splinter group that left thousands of years ago have formed a Utopian society (Fierra). Orion sees that the people of Dome are hell-bent on destroying the Fierri and returns to Dome to stop them from launching an ancient atomic bomb at the Fierri.

The story was well-written, and though it was a 900 page book (in small print, at that), it was difficult to put down. I would really like to have had a third book about their future, but the story ended well enough, I just didn't want it to be over.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy any type of science fiction. ( )

This is the epic journey of a man named Treet to a distant and dark world. Lawhead weaves a fantastic tale of treachery and redemption. In my estimation, the book could have been shortened to one book, but it stil makes for a great read. ( )

http://www.refracted-light.net/empyrion.html ( )