Engaging, futuristic, cerebral, spiritual: These words describe the first novel in Lawhead's Empyrion series. ( )

After having penned his Christian fantasy series, The Dragon King trilogy, Lawhead decided to venture into the world of Christian science fiction, to, what I imagine, was critical floppery, being that aside from two books, the rest of his bibliography consists of fantasy books with a religious theme.

It's hard to write Christian science fiction! I'll admit it. You have to present a vivid, futuristic world, usually dystopian, and then have some evangelist come in there and make things better through the power of Christ, and such. Or, have some character, who's initially an outcast, get in trouble with the law, die, and then come back to life. Like Mad Max, only more holy.

In Lawhead's book, part one of a two-book series, Orion Treet is forced at gunpoint to get on a spaceship, which hurls him halfway across the universe, to a strange town run by an overbearing government. It seems nice, but, hey, overbearing government. So he and his team of people he just met on the ship, escape into the desert.

Meanwhile, they're looking for this elusive place called Fierra.

One problem I had with this book was the lack of believable dialogue. Granted, I doubt Crossway Books would have published books in which characters dropped various alpha-bombs, I found it laughable that a minor antagonist resorted to the most vile of vile insults: "scum bag!"

I strongly believe that there was a very good reason Lawhead stuck to fantasy: he's much, much better at it in comparison.

This book is campy, but I suppose would appeal to a bookworm whose sheltered from reading real, visceral science fiction in which people say and do things that may be considered "secular." But, for regular sci-fi nuts, this probably won't do much for you. ( )