Off the Shelf: Raven’s Ladder

Jeffrey Overstreet has done it again.  Raven’s Ladder, the third installment in The Auralia Thread, is another tale full of twists and turns that will keep you delightfully off-balance, but also reflective.  Since fiction is often a more able and accurate mirror of reality, the grittier nature of this volume challenges you on a personal level, while also making astute cultural observations.  As with Auralia’s Colors and Cyndere’s Midnight, Raven’s Ladder has that depth of quality that gives you the sense that there is more to this story than first meets the eye, inviting you to read it again.  In keeping true to form, the tantalizing ending leaves you guessing as to how the threads of this adventure will be woven together at last in the final book, The Ale Boy’s Feast.