The Ale Boy’s Feast- by Jeffrey Overstreet

The CSFFBT book for May is “The Ale Boy’s Feast”, by Jeffrey Overstreet.  It’s the 4th and final strand in the Auralia Thread (book 4 in the series).  Books 1 and 2 in the series (Auralia’s Colors, and Cyndere’s Midnight respectively) I have yet to read, and Book 3 (Raven’s Ladder) I read and reviewed here.

I really enjoyed Raven’s Ladder, but the ending didn’t seem to be an actual end of a book so I’ve been looking forward to reading this book.

The book starts out good.  However, I found I had a hard time remembering the significance of people and places in “The Ale Boy’s Feast”.  Then I found I couldn’t remember the names and characters from the last book as detailed as I would like.  Though the book has a good enough beginning to stand on its own, having a 1 year gap between these books leaves me knowing I’m missing out on some things.

So after getting a few chapters into the book I’ve decided to stop reading for now.  I want to go back to the first 2 books and read them in order, before I get into this last book in the series.  Some of the characters, plots and places were not established well enough in my mind from the last book, but I’m hoping that reading the whole series in order will firmly establish what I’m now missing.

For what I’ve read so far, I like the book.  It’s not easy for me to put this aside considering I’m already drawn into the book.  Hopefully I’ll get a copy of the other books soon!

 Get a copy of the book at- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9781400074686
And visit Jeffrey Overstreet’s site at- http://lookingcloser.org/fiction/

Please visit the blogs of other members of the tour for more thoughts on Jeffrey Overstreet’s “The Ale Boy’s Feast”.
Gillian Adams
Red Bissell
Grace Bridges
 Beckie Burnham
 Morgan L. Busse
Valerie Comer
 CSFF Blog Tour
Shane Deal
Chris Deane
Cynthia Dyer
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
 Bruce Hennigan
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Dawn King
 Inae Kyo
Shannon McDermott
 Shannon McNear
 Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
 John W. Otte
Sarah Sawyer
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Rachel Starr Thomson
 Robert Treskillard
 Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free
copy of this book from the publisher.

Review- Raven’s Ladder, by Jeffrey Overstreet

So from the start I was excited about reading this session’s book for the CSFFBT, Raven’s Ladder, mostly because I had seen good reviews around the web.  But I was especially excited because I had seen good reviews of Jeffrey Overstreet’s latest work from authors whom I admire for their own books.

First off, this is a book that truly does give honor God.  As far as I can tell, it supports very well the heart of Christ.  There’s much to gain spiritually from Raven’s Ladder.

The characters in this story are very well done.  The plot lines are solid.  The world in which it is set is awesome, and with that the story behind the story is spectacular.  It fully came to life for me when it was told as a story within the story.  If that sounds confusing, then I will only say that the answer is found… you guessed it… in the story.  You’re more than welcome to dive in and grab ahold of it for yourself!

I had a feeling this was part of a series, but I couldn’t tell right away.  It wasn’t until after I did some looking around that I found out there are 2 previous books in the series… Auralia’s Colors and Cyndere’s Midnight.  Raven’s Ladder stood well as an individual work.  Only the ending let me down in this regard… not because it wasn’t an ending of a book, but because it was also a beginning of the next.  Whether or not it should have been done differently I cannot say, but I can say that I would have been much happier if this book (the 3rd in the series) had also included the 4th book.  It’s not fair beginning a new work without first warning the reader Mr. Overstreet! ;P

 This work is bound together wonderfully, as if all its subplots secretly run along a vein of a precious metal in a dark and deep tunnel.  Nothing seems especially unrelated at any point, but certainly everything becomes very much related and important as the story goes on.  The elements of the story are rich, and, as should be expected from any good book, they were especially rich when woven together.  Let the reader understand, Raven’s Ladder strikes a true and shining chord within us all.

It does seem to me that Jeffrey could do a bit more with the world he has created.  But because I have not yet read the first two books, I wonder if I’m mistaken.  Looks to me like I only have one way to find out just how far Jeffrey pushes the limits throughout his world.

No matter the reader’s age, Raven’s Ladder will provide an engaging adventure that will, if the adventurer allows, bring new colors to their life.  I’m looking forward to seeing even more new colors in the rest of this series.

Here are some direct links for the book and author:

Raven’s Ladder – http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400074673
Author Web site and blog – http://lookingcloser.org/category/journal/

And the following are links to other bloggers participating in the CSFFBT of Raven’s Ladder:
Brandon Barr
Rachel Briard (BooksForLife)
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.