The Bone House by Stephen R. Lawhead

With one piece of the skin map found, the race to find the other pieces gets all the more serious. With Wilhelmina's suspicious new mastering of ley leaping, Kit gets an extra step ahead. But if there is one thing he is learning in this reality of alternate worlds- you can run, but you can't hide. He must leap through the worlds on a quest to unlock the mystery of a house made all of bones, a place shrouded in mysticism.

Meanwhile Mina has a journey of her own in Prague, and Burleigh and several others plot a way to win their prize in this ultimate race of greed.

Number one, you must read The Skin Map first. No exceptions, the book will not make sense. If you have read The Skin Map, then: The Bright Empires is very unique in several ways. It does not follow the normal structural line of modern novels, it focuses on a group of individuals, each uniquely, and it dives into the present realities for many in different places at different times. All of which makes it very intriguing, though makes it difficult to review. I enjoyed book one in the series, The Skin Map, and I found the more time went on after having read the novel, like an enchantment, the more I realized that I truly loved the story, and the same appears to be happening with this book. The majority of the two books are not intense chase and suspense, no. But they are filled with side stories taking place at various points in history, and each one pulls me in deeply without fail.

That said, I need to for-warn you of something. The Bone House, even more than The Skin Map, is filled with the following: Egypt, England, Egypt, Prague, England, other country, Egypt, England, Egypt, other country, Egypt, England, Egypt. They are a lot of countries, but predominately, England. And even more so, Egypt. If you love the two countries, as I do, than you are in luck. But if you have some sort of distaste (shame on you!), then you may get tired of hearing about the two cultures. Don't be concerned, though. It is called the Bright Empires for a reason, these are peaks of civilizations. Excellent novel, and I am anxiously anticipating the next installment.