The Ale Boy's Feast: A Novel (The Auralia Thread) [Paperback]

Jeffrey Overstreet (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 15, 2011 | Series: The Auralia Thread

Book 4 of the Auralia Thread series

The king is missing.
His people are trapped as the woods turn deadly.
Underground, the boy called Rescue has found an escape.

Hopes are failing across The Expanse. The forests, once beautiful, are now haunted and bloodthirsty. House Abascar's persecuted people risk their lives to journey through those predatory trees. They seek a mythic city - Abascar's last, best hope for refuge - where they might find the source of Auralia's colors.
 
They journey without their king. During a calamitous attempt to rescue some of his subjects from slavery, Cal-raven vanished.

But his helper, the ale boy, falling through a crack in the earth, has discovered a slender thread of hope in the dark. He will dare to lead a desperate company up the secret river.

Meanwhile, with a dragon's help, the wandering mage Scharr ben Fray is uncovering history's biggest lie - a deception that only a miracle can repair.

Time is running out for all those entangled in The Auralia Thread. But hope and miracles flicker wherever Auralia’s colors are found.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Auralia Thread

“Overstreet’s writing is precise and beautiful, and the story is masterfully told.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“The rich details, well-developed characters, and complex story will make this a new favorite among fantasy readers.”
—LIBRARY JOURNAL

“With a skillful pen, Overstreet shows a world that exists in another dimension. A true treat to fantasy fans.”
—AUTHOR’S CHOICE REVIEWS

“The Ale Boy’s Feast is a great, sprawling poem. Its rich language moves and breathes and awakens every sense. Jeffrey Overstreet has made something beautiful here. His story reminds us that beauty is an agent of grace.”
—JONATHAN ROGERS, author of The Charlatan’s Boy

“Jeffrey Overstreet’s imagination is peopled with mysteries and wonders. Reading Raven’s Ladder is like staring at a richly imagined world through a kaleidoscope: complex, intriguing, and habit-forming.”
—KATHY TYERS, author of Shivering World and the Firebird series

“Jeffrey Overstreet writes like Van Gogh painted. He is a literary impressionist, and his understated yet vivid narrative style overwhelms the imagination. The Ale Boy’s Feast does more than just tell the end of a story; it invites the reader into the world of the Expanse with a cast of beautifully complex characters to join them in pursuit of the mystery that calls us all.”
—LINDSAY STALLONES, evangelicaloutpost.com

“Through word, image, and color, Jeffrey Overstreet has crafted a work of art. From first to final page, this original fantasy is sure to draw readers in.”
—JANET LEE CAREY, award-winning author of The Dragons of Noor

“It’s entering a beautiful dream you don’t want to leave, with exhilarating tension that takes you beyond story and into deep truths.”
—SIGMUND BROUWER, author of Broken Angel and Flight of Shadows

“A darkly complex world populated by a rich and diverse cast of characters, in which glimpses of haunting beauty shine through. Sometimes perplexing but always thought-provoking, Raven’s Ladder is the work of a fertile and striking creative imagination.”
—R. J. ANDERSON, author of Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter

About the Author

Jeffrey Overstreet is the author of three previous books in The Auralia Thread fantasy series. Publisher’s Weekly called Auralia’s Colors a story “precise and beautiful… masterfully told,” and it was a dual finalist for a Christy Award. An award-winning film reviewer, he has written a moviegoer’s memoir, Through a Screen Darkly, and contributes regularly to Image and other journals. He lives in Shoreline, Washington and works at Seattle Pacific University.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press (March 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400074681
• ISBN-13: 978-1400074686
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #845,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeffrey Overstreet is the author of The Auralia Thread, a four-volume fantasy series that includes "Auralia's Colors," "Cyndere's Midnight," "Raven's Ladder," and "The Ale Boy's Feast." He also writes about art and culture at LookingCloser.org, and his "memoir of dangerous moviegoing" is a book called "Through a Screen Darkly." Jeffrey's film reviews are published at ImageJournal.org twice monthly, and at Filmwell.org. In the past, he has written for Paste, Christianity Today, and various other periodicals. He regularly lectures at universities and conferences around the country, on many subjects including Storytelling, Fantasy, Play, and Film Interpretation. He lives in Shoreline, Washington, and works as the contributing editor for Seattle Pacific University's magazine Response.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Human--A Moving and Fitting (and Powerful) Conclusion April 21, 2011

By Matthew Dickerson

Format:Paperback

This book was worth the wait. Overstreet creates remarkably real and human characters in the midst of an engaging "fantasy" world -- a world whose land and cultures and people are described vividly, beautifully, and poetically.

It is the realness of the characters I am especially drawn too. The heroes are flawed, but not simply cynically dismissed. The villains whom we despise one moment, are shown to be redeemable at another. And yet the very rage and animousity the reader feels for these villains who have betrayed and caused such sorrow gives us insight into how difficult it may be for characters inside the story to forgive (and, of course, how difficult it may be in the real world.)

The previous paragraph might make the book sound more didactic than it is. It is also a very captivating story, with rich drawn detail and description, and poetic language. It was difficult to put down once I started it. I not only cared about the characters, but about the world itself. There was something important at stake.

Keep in mind that this is the fourth (and final) volume of the Auralia's Colors quartet. You should read the previous volumes before reading this one. It successfully brings together several of the twists and turns introduced in the previous two volumes, while introduce some new twists of its own. Most satisfying to me in reading this book as a conclusion to the series was the final revelation of the true story behind this world's great myth--and how various characters react to that story.

I would recommend this book not only to readers of the highest quality fantasy literature, but to any reader who appreciates compelling characters and a captivating story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Satisfying Ending to a Great Series April 15, 2011

By T. Forkner

Format:Paperback

I don't usually read epic fantasy novels. In fact, almost all of my knowledge of epic fantasy comes from movies. I absolutely love epic fantasy films. I could watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy over and over again, but I won't ever read Tolkien. So, it's a little bit strange that I would review Jeffrey Overstreet's latest novel, The Ale Boy's Feast, but here is what I think of the whole series.

1) You need to read the first three novels Auralia's Colors, Cyndere's Midnight, and Raven's Ladder before you read The Ale Boy's Feast. You must read them in order or the final one won't make sense, so just go ahead and buy all four right now. You don't want to miss the connecting threads that are woven through each of the novels. Overstreet has created such an intriguing world that to read The Ale Boy's Feast by itself would deprive you of enjoying the journey that comes to an eloquent end in the final novel.

2) The plot of the series is so compelling that you won't be able to wait to move on to the next book. It is very complex, yet the writing is so good that each scene flows seamlessly together. Each novel leaves you wanting more. Luckily, if you are just finding out about the series, you won't have to wait as long as those of us who started from the beginning when the first book came out.

3) The characters are a lot like real people. They are flawed, yet somehow the least of them are capable of heroic acts that to me make epic fantasy films worth watching. We are all looking for a hero and what's better than to be made to believe, at least within the pages of a novel, that we might find it in ourselves to be heroes, too.

4) I wouldn't begin to try to dissect the many themes of this series in a review, but the one that spoke to me throughout had to do with the practice of art. What happens when art and beauty are suppressed in a culture? Do we forget how to appreciate art as we grow up? Why do we stop seeing its beauty all around us? And especially, what happens when art is introduced to someone who has never experienced its beauty?

5) The last book in the series, The Ale Boy's Feast, was a satisfying ending to the story, and yet it left just enough threads untied to keep my mind thinking about the characters and wishing I could go back and revisit the story to see what else might happen to them.

Read an expanded review over at my blog, Tina Ann Forkner's Random Ramblings, [...]

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ale Boy's Feast April 11, 2011

By Sandra K. Stiles

Format:Paperback

Like the other three books in the series the writing was wonderful. The world created is so wonderfully described the reader could almost step right into it. ONce again an author has created a book full of Christian values without screaming "This is Christian Fiction". The Seers of Bel Amica are still destroying the land using Deathweed. The four books in this series has plot lines that meet and twist together. However, I often felt confused because there were too many things going on at one time. I would definitely read the first three books in the series so that you can get up to speed Although this last book was not my favorite I would recommend the series to all who like fantasy and for those who like an element of Christianity in their fiction. I know the first three books in this series have been checked out since I first put them there. This will indeed be a great addition to my collection for my classroom.