A Review - Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29. 2007 and is filed under Posts by Rebecca Luella Miller,Fantasy,Reviews.

Some book reviews are harder than others. This is such a one: Auralia's Colors, first in the Auralia's Thread series by Jeffrey Overstreet (WaterBrook). Mind you, the book has many merits and has received numbers of complimentary reviews. In fact, the CSFF Blog Tour will be featuring it in January. So my difficulty in reviewing Auralia's Colors is not because I think it lacks merit. The truth is, I admire the book ... but I don't love it. I wanted to. I wish I did. But perhaps others of you will.

The Place. The story is set in a location known as The Expanse. The area was divided into four houses, each with it's own set of governing customs and rules. One of the houses, Cent Regus, was poisoned when its people meddled with magic. Now they have devolved into beastmen who attack and raid citizens of the other houses. In the particular House our story is concerned with, those caught committing a crime, if not imprisoned or executed, are condemned to become gatherers living in camps outside the protective walls—and therefore vulnerable to attack. Because of a ruling made by the Queen of the House, it is now against the law for average citizens to own anything colorful.

The Story. Two thieves going about their duties as gatherers discover an abandoned baby girl. They take her into their camp where she grows up. Eventually she tells them her name is Auralia, though she doesn't know how she knows this or where she came from.

Soon she displays remarkable independence, going off into the forest on her own where she finds colors. From the things she finds in nature, she weaves colorful hats, scarves, and the like.

When these items are discovered by the king's men, trouble is afoot.

That's the bare bones of the central action, though there is much more going on, especially revolving around the young Prince Cal-raven, Queen Jaralaine, the beastmen, an ale boy, Captain Ark-robin, the stonecrafter Sharr ben Fray, and the shadowy Keeper, present in all children's dreams but outgrown by most adults.

Strengths. There's much to love in this book. There is some beautiful writing, for example. Here's a short sample that gives you a taste of the style:

The child became twigs and burnt autumn leaves, thin and fisty fingers clutching acorns and seeds as though they were stolen jewels. Her hair hung in tangles, silver and brown like the bark of apple trees. Her smile sealed off secrets. Each day she made a hurried journey to see as much of the world as she could bear and to harvest a small gallery of souvenirs.

The "faith elements" are embedded in the story through types and suggestion. I have to admit, this is my favored way for a writer to display his Christian worldview, because it allows the reader to mine the story for meaning. I find it to be much more enjoyable than having the meaning handed to me.

The plot is not predictable. Yes, there are some events that one can foresee, but rarely do they play out as you might expect.

So why didn't I love it?

Weakness. Pure and simply, I did not love any of the characters. I was interested in some, and that kept me reading, but in the end, I didn't feel invested in what happened to various ones. Perhaps this was because of the omniscient point of view. I have begun to suspect that the omniscient narrator voice keeps readers at arm's distance, and I'm used to being wrapped inside a character.

There may be something else, however. I honestly couldn't say who the protagonist of the story is. You'd think that, of course, the title character is the protagonist, and I suppose that is true, but I would guess that Auralia is only in about half the book. Yes, she is central to the action, but also, not. It's ... hard to explain.

Recommendation. I absolutely recommend this book. It is not the fast action kind of story that a superhero fantasy offers. In fact, I would even say it leans more toward literary fiction.

It's an important book, I think. It broadens the Christian fantasy genre, since it is neither allegorical nor overt in it's depiction of Christianity. For those who love language, love fantasy, or want to see more Christian fantasy of various types, I highly recommend Auralia's Colors.

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Comments

• Monday, October 29. 2007 Susanne C S Lakin wrote:
  Well, I was happy when I saw this book come out, but haven't read it because others also were not that moved by it. But here's what I wanted to share. I received a rejection from Waterbrook regarding my series of Christian fantasies in the tradition of CS Lewis, and the letter stated that, not because they didn't like my books, but because they have just published a fantasy book, they are not looking for or needing any more.
  
  This is the big problem with CBA and I hope and pray someday this attitude will change. With over 300+ million viewers of the first Narnia movie, and now six more movies to come, I am reading posts from frustrated people who have read Narnia and want more of the same and those books are not out there. I keep telling this to the editors and I feel they don't understand. There is a huge market of people, many unsaved that ONLY read fantasy. I know I am preaching to the choir, but editors do lurk here, so please forgive my repetition of this old saw of mine. Having just one fantasy book released does not a market saturate. What these pubs need to realize is that they should flood the fantasy market with great fantasy books, spend tons of money tying in the Narnia movie releases so that both Christians and non-believers will see there are hope-inspiring, allegorical stories out these. For them to waste this precious opportunity over the next six or so years is unbelievable. So, please all, keep praying for them to see this big picture, the need for Christian fantasy, as CS Lewis said he wrote because it bothered him that the "other side" (non- Christian worldview) was getting their messages out to the world and he wanted to counteract with the Christian worldview (referring to his writing of the sci-fi series). Let's keep storming the gates, folks, and be sure to submit all your books to ABA publishers. The more we can get on those shelves and have good sales, the more likely CBA will join the bandwagon. Susanne
  www.cslakin.com
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  1. Tuesday, October 30. 2007 Nick wrote:
     Susanne, I understand your frustration. But part of the problem is that the readers who buy the Narnia books, do not shop where most CBA books are sold. Right now we're going through a huge market shift. CBA is, in my opinion, becoming less important as a channel of distribution. Don't misunderstand: it's still important....but not quite the way it was 20 years ago. I think the challenge for CBA publishers in future years will be spreading their nets wider to reach fantasy readers where they DO buy books. Right now, that's not happening. And what's really frustrating is that when our sales people present our fantasy titles to the bookbuyers in the large chains, where do you think those books end up? NOT in the fantasy section. They end up in the "religious fiction" section, where they go unseen by true fantasy readers. There are many challenges facing Christian authors of basically genre fiction. Not just fantasy, but suspense as well. We simply can't FORCE customers to buy our books. If the fantasy book WaterBrook is publishing succeeds in finding readers, you be be assured they will want more....as will Harvest House or any other good CBA publisher.
     
     At the ICRS convention last July, our accounts told us THEIR customers are asking for more historical fiction and less contemporary fiction. We do have to respond to what people are reading....AND at the same time, try to anticipate two or three years ahead what they'll be reading next. I hope fantasy is one of the answers, but it will take more blog tours, more hand-selling of good fantasy books, more word of mouth sales, and lots of promotion on the part of the authors.
     
     You just have to keep plugging away.
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• Tuesday, October 30. 2007 Nicole wrote:
  Hey, Becky. Bet you're surprised to see me here, but I was waiting for your review of Jeffrey's novel. I'm not surprised to hear about the writing part of it. Even in his Through the Glass Darkly about film, one can tell he is prone to "literary" expression.
  No, I won't be reading the book, but you and I both feel without characters to truly embrace, a story suffers for us.
  Well done as usual, Becky.
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• Tuesday, October 30. 2007 Merrie Destefano wrote:
  Nick,
  Thanks for behind-the-scenes insight! For me, it's encouraging that so many publishing houses are venturing forward with very good fantasy selections, like Auralia's Colors and Legend of the Firefish. I am an optimist and I see more doors opening than closing right now.
  
  And I agree, blog tours and grassroots promotions could be the key elements that we need.
  
  Keep up the great work, Becky and all fellow fantasy/sci-fi bloggers!
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• Tuesday, October 30. 2007 Karen/SolShine7 wrote:
  I want to be interested in this book but it just doesn't intrigue me. Even so, when I saw in Borders I pointed it out to a friend out of support for what Overstreet is trying to do.
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• Wednesday, October 31. 2007 Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
  Karen, I think that's a great way to go. I KNOW there is an audience for Auralia's Colors. It's too good a book for it to languish. I suspect any number of fantasy fans hovering around college campuses will take to it right away.
  
  That's why this review was so hard. I want to be as up front as I can be. This is definitely a worthy title and I'm glad it's out there.
  
  Becky
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• Wednesday, October 31. 2007 Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
  Nick, thanks for adding to this discussion. I understand that "getting the word out" is the big challenge. It doesn't help, however, that Christian bookstores don't even do a good job shelving Christian fantasy. More times than not, when I buy a fantasy at my local CBA store, I have to ask them to order it.
  
  There are shelves and shelves of certain authors, and of course, these are the ones who end up on the best-seller lists. Wonder of wonders. LOL
  
  First we have to let people know that Christian fantasy exists so they can buy it.
  
  I am looking forward to what will come about after Wayne Batson and Christopher Hopper's Reuters interviews are available!
  
  Becky
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• Wednesday, October 31. 2007 Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
  Susanne, Nicole, Merrie, thanks for your comments.
  
  Like Merrie, I tend to be optimistic. With the fantasy trend in the culture at large, and with the publicity Christian fantasy is beginning to generate outside Christian circles, readers will begin to ask for the titles that are out, and publishers will begin to search for more titles to add.
  
  Nicole, Auralia's Colors, in my opinion, will be more successful with those who enjoy literary fiction than those who are superhero type fantasy lovers. For a sword-and-sorcery fantasy lover like myself, I appreciated it a great deal.
  
  Becky
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• Thursday, November 01. 2007 Kim wrote:
  Hey Becky!
  I found your OTHER site! This is another great learning tool for me!! Thanks....again!!
  
  Kim
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• Thursday, November 01. 2007 Rebecca LuElla Miller wrote:
  Well, Spec Faith is only "my site" on Monday, Kim, but I'm glad you dropped on over. Lots of good discussion here, too.
  
  Becky
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