Product Description

From the dreaming spires of Oxford, Lewis Gillies drives north to seek a mythical creature in a misty glen in Scotland. Expecting little more than a weekend diversion, Lewis finds himself in a mystical place where two worlds meet, in the time-between-times--and in the heart of a battle between good and evil.

The ancient Celts admitted no separation between this world and the Otherworld: the two were delicately interwoven, each dependent on the other. The Paradise War crosses the thin places between this world and that, as Lewis Gillies comes face-to-face with an ancient mystery--and a cosmic catastrophe in the making.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79534 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Lewis Gillies is pursuing graduate work in Celtic studies at Oxford when his rich roommate, Simon Rawnson, slips through a hole in a cairn to the land of the Tuatha de Danann. With the help of an eccentric professor, Lewis pursues Simon and finds himself playing a major role in some important Celtic myths. In retelling these myths, Lawhead ( Arthur ) allows his characters to become unspecific archetypes who therefore fail to hold the reader's interest. As he is herded from event to event, Lewis, supposedly a Celtic scholar, fails to recognize the import of these occurences. Throughout, Lawhead tells his readers what to feel rather than letting his story move them.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Two Oxford graduate students stumble upon a stone cairn in Scotland and enter a magical "Otherworld" at once removed from and intimately connected to their own reality, becoming embroiled in an ancient battle against an evil that threatens both worlds. Lawhead, whose Pendragon Cycle ( Taliesin , LJ 8/87; Merlin , Crossway Bks., 1988; Arthur , Crossway Bks., 1989) established him as a frontrunner among contemporary Christian fantastists, demonstrates a genuine love for and understanding of Anglo-Celtic mythology in this first volume of a projected series. A worthwhile purchase for most fantasy collections.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Two very different graduate students at Oxford become embroiled in events they never could have predicted when, first, one disappears and then the other seeks to find him, entering a doorway between worlds. Through that door, they enter a long-ago time of the Celts and their warriors. Their reunion isn't as cordial as they would expect, but it sets the stage for intrigue and treachery. Stuart Langston maintains a steady pace throughout. He is particularly adept at handling dialogue, skillfully moving between characters at a lively pace. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Worthy fantasy adventure novel based on Celtic mythology
Lately I've noticed that in the last one hundred years or so, English fiction has certain repeating themes. The Paradise War by Stephen Lawhead begins a series built around one of these "British-isms": ordinary, humble folk from our dreary mundane world stumbling into a magical parallel world quite by accident. Unlike the obvious Chronicles of Narnia-type examples however, this series was written purely for grownup audiences.

Lewis is a graduate student at Oxford; one of those bookish, plain sorts who would never get any female attention if it weren't for his handsome, impulsive roommate Simon. One day they decide to take a road trip north to investigate some paranormal happenings reported in a tabloid. Simon ends up crossing over into the parallel world unwittingly, and a few months later a frantic and confused Lewis follows to "rescue" him. Instead, Lewis finds that Simon has passed four years as a warrior in the fantastic and barbaric Otherworld of Albion and has settled in happily. In order to survive in this savage and beautiful land, Lewis must also undergo an extreme transformation. Meanwhile, the barrier between the worlds is wearing thin and leaking through to England. Disaster for both worlds is inevitable unless Lewis can convince his friend to return with him and find a solution.

Lawhead depicts this alternate realm of Albion as a legendary paradise that is based on a lot of research into Celtic folklore and traditions. I can really respect the labor of love that this kind of world-building represents. The author is also careful to remain true to the harsher realities of survival in a primitive culture; there are battles and grim bloodshed depicted (fans will get their share of this Lawhead staple), almost a surreal counterpoint to the lovely land and peoples he describes. There are also spiritual themes weaving through the plot: the evils of pride and folly, and how these things have far-reaching consequences throughout time and space; providence; and inner transformation being more important than anything physical. Lawhead delivers these messages masterfully and without preaching.

The Song of Albion promises to be a rich, absorbing read if this first book is any example. My reaction to TPW was enthusiastic, even though I do not normally seek out fantasy that involves so much war strategy and action thrills. Despite a few choppy transition passages, the storytelling is solid. I anticipate picking up book two immediately to continue the adventure.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

Maybe I'm missing something...
Perhaps the trickiest part of writing a fantasy novel with a mythical backbone would be simply to render that mythical element on a grand yet believable scale. The writer's challenge is to somehow bestow upon the reader a true sense of rich, pre-existing mythology and legend. I am no writer, and so I could not begin to wonder at how something so subtle might be accomplished ... but I AM a reader, and I do know that it is a testament to the writer's talent that, as a reader, I should somehow come to believe the author's bits of myth as if they had always existed outside of the writer's work, as if they had not in fact been contrived by the author out of literary necessity and used as mere tools with which to fashion his story.

Perhaps, having read the likes of Guy Gavriel Kay's 'The Fionavar Tapestry', Marion Zimmer Bradley's 'The Mists of Avalon' and Juliet Marillier's 'Daughter of the Forest', my expectations were too high, but I didn't feel that Stephen Lawhead really pulled it off in his first installment of the Song of Albion trilogy...

I felt the entire tale was strung along a rather disjointed path. Certain mythical elements just seemed to pop into the story out of the blue, with no sense of a true reason WHY, no sense of foreshadowing, explanation, warning or understanding... And most of Lawhead's attempts at reasoning and explaining fell truly short! I tried to be patient, thinking that perhaps everything would come together at some point, that things would eventually be laid bare to my satisfaction, but many loose ends were never really tied, and many story elements didn't make it full circle... I felt that nothing was making good sense underneath it all, that nothing was really happening for any good reason. I didn't have much of a sense of where the story was coming from, nor where it was headed, and none of the separate elements really seemed to tie in very solidly.

Granted, this book was the first in a trilogy, and I have yet to read the other two books - perhaps the story takes a greater, more solid shape as one reads on... Maybe I'll find out ... maybe not...

The Endless Knot
This is my favorite series. The story held my interest, captured my imagination and made me wish for more. I found it hard to believe that Publishers Weekly was talking about the same book with their rather negative review. I find anything Stephan Lawhead writes to be superior to most other writers.

Dianne