by Jeffrey Overstreet
WaterBrook Press, $13.99, 400 pages
Raven’s Ladder is the third book of The Auralia Thread series. While a quality book in its own right, coming into the series at the third book is like entering a classroom and being asked to solve the math problem on the board when you thought you were in English Lit. Fortunately, the author provides a helpful “who’s who” in the back.
In this third installment, the king and his people have fled the fall of their kingdom and are hunted by a mysterious presence that comes out of the earth itself. While they flee to safety yet again, the king has had a vision and is busy chasing shadows. Hope lies in queen’s daughters and ale boys as the king’s journey takes him to the pinnacle, testing his faith to its limit.
Jeffrey Overstreet is an entertaining storyteller who brings elaborate prose and imagination to this Christian fantasy. Those who enjoy a large cast of characters and complex action and setting without a lot of comic relief will enjoy this book. It’s a weighty book compared to other recent releases in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, not a light summer beach read.
Reviewed by Axie Barclay