The Paradise War

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature. As an avid fantasy reader, I was reluctant to try this trilogy because Lawhead is not one of the best known fantasy writers. My husband bought me the book because Lawhead is a Christian and he thought I should try it. I was very pleasantly surprised! The writin......more

This is the first book of a trilogy; and like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books (which he originally didn't want to separate into three volumes --that was the publisher's idea), the Song of Albion books basically form a unit that should be read and considered together. An evangelical, Lawhead displa......more

So what is The Paradise War? Epic then, epic now, it is one of the first things I remember my mother reading to me when I was young, allowing me to visualize the might and magic of this well-woven portal into Celtic adventure and Otherwordly feats. Beleaguered by the shift from Oxford academia and th......more

This book read like a cross between historical fiction and fantasy. There is enough Celtic history to make a case for a historical novel, but historical fiction purists would turn their noses up at the fantasy elements. I found the blend fascinating. It read a bit like an author's time travel fantasy......more

I really liked the first 150 pages or so and thought the last 300 pages were pretty boring. Basically I didn't like the actual portal fantasy section. I think I would enjoy it if Stephen Lawhead wrote a contemporary novel, like a psychological thriller or literary fiction or something along those li......more