Raven's Ladder: The Gold Strand in the Auralia Threadby Jeffrey Overstreet
Adult Fantasy fiction
This is number three in a series. I accidentally started reading this one, number 3, without reading number 2 first. Oops. I had read Auralia's Colors (number 1) so I was able to catch on to what had happened in number 2 (Cyndere's Midnight). In case you were wondering, this is not the end of a trilogy but number 3 in a quartet/tetralogy/quadrilogy. The note on the author at the end says he is working on number four of this series - the "final volume of The Auralia Thread".
In book one the city-state of Abascar is destroyed in an earthquake, leaving its people without a home. As the story continues, Cal-Raven hopes to lead his people to the Promised Land - a new home in what they will call New Abascar. In the mean time, the kingdom of Bel Amica invites the refugees to join them and find a place in Bel Amica. Some people are glad for a new home and a chance for prosperity, even though it is unlike what they had before. Bel Amica is prosperous and the merchants offer jobs, entertainment, and mood-altering or appearance-enhancing potions and creams. Is Bel Amica all that it seems or is something sinister afoot in this modern, well-off city?
King Cal-Raven urges his people to be ready to leave when it is time. Will they still follow him?
What has happened to Auralia and the beautiful colors she showed Cal-Raven and his people? Is there more to life or should they eat, drink, and be merry?
The author is associated with a Christian college and a Christian publisher, but this book is certainly not evangelistic or theologically weighty. The beauty that Auralia offers is more of a look-for-God-in-nature transcendentalist religion/philosophy. There are obvious comparisons between the beauty and splendor that was Rome and Bel Amica. Are the Abascar people like the Israelites wandering in the desert? One can look for Biblical parallels or this book can be enjoyed as pure fantasy.
---
This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. This is available for purchase at http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/ and many other locations.
