About the Book:
A DEADLY MENACE IS BREAKING THROUGH THE GROUND. THE PEOPLE OF ABASCAR MUST ABANDON THEIR STONE REFUGE AND FLEE INTO VULNERABILITY IN THE FOREST. BUT THEIR KING HAS HAD A VISION…
Following the beacon of Auralia’s colors and the footsteps of a mysterious dream-creature, King Cal-raven has discovered a destination for his weary crowd of refugees. It’s a city only imagined in legendary tales. And it gives him hope to establish New Abascar.
But when Cal-raven is waylaid by fortune hunters, his people become vulnerable to a danger more powerful than the prowling beastmen––House Bel Amica. In this oceanside kingdom of wealth, enchantment, and beauty, deceitful Seers are all too eager to ensnare House Abascar’s wandering throng.
Even worse, the Bel Amicans have discovered Auralia’s colors, and are twisting a language of faith into a lie of corruption and control.
If there is any hope for the people of Abascar, it lies in the courage of Cyndere, daughter of Bel Amica’s queen; the strength of Jordam the beastman; and the fiery gifts of the ale boy, who is devising a rescue for prisoners of the savage Cent Regus beastmen.
As his faith suffers one devastating blow after another, Cal-raven’s journey is a perilous climb from despair to a faint gleam of hope––the vision he sees in Auralia’s colors.
My Review:
This one took me a little while to get into it. In the beginning of the story I was lost as to who the characters were and what exactly was going on. (Little did I know when I started this that it was the third in a series, I think I should have read the other two first.) There is a "glossary" of characters in the back, and through the first few chapters I referred to that quite a bit.
The story began to get pretty interesting around chapter 9. Before that there were a few good moments, but I think the meat of the story began around that chapter.
The writing was pretty good. The imagination of Overstreet is great. The descriptions of some of the creatures is good enough to give you a image of them even though they are imaginary.
The story deals greatly with faith, and a struggle between two different faiths. I think the subject of faith is difficult to write about as a story of mystical fiction, I've read a few books of the same type that were way off the mark, but Overstreet did a pretty good job with it.
I didn't love the book, but it was intriguing enough (after the first few chapters) to keep me reading. I would liked to have read the first two in the series before hand, maybe I wouldn't have been so lost in the beginning, but I think that even without the previous books there was still something to be gained from this one.
To learn more about Raven's Ladder or to find where to purchase a copy please visit Random House's website.
