Auralia’s Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet is a book with many familiar elements, but they’re arranged in a way you probably haven’t seen before. From the author’s website:
The name Jeffrey Overstreet is a probably a familiar one to regular Faith & Geekery readers, but this time we’re referencing his recent works of fiction instead of his views on film and culture. As you know, our purpose here at FG is to attempt to talk intelligently about movies, books, music, and whatever else that would appeal to those of us who answer to the term “geek” — especially if those movies, books, music, and so forth tie into our faith.
Auralia’s Colors is an example of both
First, it’s on the hook for geekery as a fantasy novel. However, to assume that Auralia’s Colors doesn’t have widespread appeal simply because geeks have earned a stereotypical association with the fantasy genre would be to do the book a disservice. Ignoring for the moment the fact that fantasy has in recent years shaken loose the shackles of unfair connotations and moved into the realm of more widespread popularity, Auralia’s Colors is on its own an accessible work that leaves behind the standard “sword and sorcery” setup that most people associate with the genre.
Second, Auralia’s Colors is full of rich metaphors for things like God, faith, death, and sacrifice, each presented in a way that is a little different from how we’ve seen them in the past. The allegories are usually subtle, and the reader who isn’t paying attention may even miss some of their more delicate elements. Having read my fair share of “Christian fiction,” in which some metaphors may as well appear as they would in editorial cartoons — grossly out of proportion to everything else and with a large label plastered across them to identify what they are — I appreciated Overstreet’s gentler and much more artistic approach. In fact, as I was part of the way into the book before I even started to recognize glimpses of familiar threads woven throughout the whole, their appearance was unpredictable, and a pleasant surprise!
Auralia’s Colors is a treat not just for those who enjoy a good story, but for those who appreciate how the story is told. Overstreet’s prose is well-crafted, and each word is chosen for a purpose. He uses it to conjure some incredible imagery, with unexpected similes and phrases that sometimes borders on poetry. He has a unique way of writing about the world he has created that is both familiar and different. As a reader, I felt I was walking through a kingdom as recognizable as my backyard, yet I was frequently reminded that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore, Toto. No word is wasted, and the result is an immersive experience that provided just enough descriptive detail to help me paint the world in my mind, but never so much that I felt like someone else was wholly controlling the brushstrokes.
As a refreshingly different entry into a genre that has earned many of the popularly-held stereotypes about it, Auralia’s Colors is worth reading, and not only if you’re a fan of fantasy. This is an excellent fable that manages to be epic in scope and yet retain the feel of a favorite bedtime story. It’s the first in the Auralia Thread series, and it lays a strong foundation for what comes next. I’m already deep into the second book in the series, Cyndere’s Midnight, and I’m enjoying seeing how it all unfolds.
- You can read the first chapter of Auralia’s Colors online here!
- Jeffrey Overstreet has seen our review…see?
I’ve read all but the last few chapters and I concur – this is really good! Now I need to get a hold of the second book, I saw it sitting in a prime spot at B&N the other week so I should take advantage of a few gift cards soon….