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The Ale Boy's Feast (2011)

by Jeffrey Overstreet(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1400074681 (ISBN13: 9781400074686)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

WaterBrook Press

series

The Auralia Thread

review 1: This is one of those books that makes me wish there was a way to give 3.5 stars on GoodReads. It is better than three, but I can't quite find it in my heart to give it four.One of the dangers of reading a series is that you begin to have an investment in the characters and their outcomes. You may also develop preconceived notions of how the series wraps up or feel that the author is foreshadowing certain things - which inevitably means that you will find your hopes fulfilled or dashed against the rocks. In the case of this, the final book in a four-book series, there was some of both.There are a number of things that I think Overstreet gets right. The incursion of the Seers' Keep is excellent. Cesylle's conflicted nature rings true. The final scene with the Ale Boy a... moret the Cent Regus Core is marvelous. Jordam's confession to Cal-Raven and the response are pitch perfect.But other aspects are puzzling and disjointed. Several major characters face fates that seem harsh and even unwarranted, either from a narrative perspective or from a symbolic/emotive perspective. Other characters come and go, with little regard to their final disposition (e.g. What happens to Emeriene's boys? Are they affected at all by what Ryllion did for them?) I felt that Overstreet was trying to wrap up all of his loose threads in a rush; I would have liked it more if he had lingered on some of them more OR simply focused on fewer characters. This is part of what made Cyndere's Midnight the best book in the series: The narrative was tighter and more focused.Overall though, I would recommend the Auralia thread to anyone looking for a new fantasy series that doesn't read like every other epic fantasy ever written. This is highly original work and although it incorporates some familiar elements (e.g. dragons, magic and even a sword in a stone), it will probably be unlike anything you have read before in the genre.
review 2: The Ale Boy’s Feast by Jeffrey Overstreet is the fourth book in the Auralia Thread fantasy series. When I first noticed this, I wondered if I would understand what was going on, but I found that wasn’t the case.There is a lot going on in this book (which was slightly confusing for the first few chapters). There’s the ale boy, called Rescue, who falls through a crack in the earth, and finds himself leading a party of people from both Bel Amica and Abascar, along with a beastman named Jordam. There’s the king of House Abascar, Cal-Raven, who has gone missing. There’s the mage, Scharr ben Fray, who uncovers the lie so many had believed. Auralia, who many are searching for because of the color she brought into their world. And that’s just the beginning of the many characters involved.I was thrilled to find such a great book, and fantasy at that. The author tells a wonderful story, showing skill in weaving so many characters together. As an aspiring writer, I really appreciated how there are so many new things in this book that are different from the world we live in (vawns, Deathweed, mawrn, beastmen). The Ale Boy’s Feast was excellent, and one of the few books that I would read many times over, and recommend to other fans of the fantasy genre.I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. less

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