It's really hard to review a book when you know the author of said book is
looking over your shoulder. Not that Mr. Overstreet wasn't nice about it, but if you aren't 100% in love with the book, it can be... awkward.
Anyway, to the review.
Auralia's Colors, published by Waterbrook Press, is the first fantasy released by a specifically Christian publisher that I have read in quite some time. However, I kept hearing good things about it, so when I came across it accidentally while browsing through Chapters with
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megancrewe a couple of months ago, I decided to pick it up.
When I started reading the book I could tell right off the bat, even if I hadn't heard rumors of this already, that author Jeffrey Overstreet shares some of my own favorite books and influences -- specifically Patricia A. McKillip and Mervyn Peake's
Gormenghast books. The rich, lyrical tone of the language Overstreet uses is definitely McKillipesque, and the world he creates blends the transcendent, the mysterious, the humble and the grotesque in a way that's reminiscent of Peake. Still, even if the influences are evident I was pleased to note that the setup of Overstreet's fantasy world didn't strike me as overly derivative of other classic fantasy works -- Overstreet does have his own fertile imagination and his book reflects that.
( A few more thoughts... )Oh, and one last thing in the books' favor: the covers are utterly gorgeous. And they're trade paperbacks, so not that expensive if you feel like giving them a try.
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