Book Review: The Ale Boy’s Feast

My daughter, Turtlegirl, is a huge fantasy fiction fan.  When I saw The Ale Boy’s Feast by  Jeffrey Overstreet, I knew she would enjoy it.  I requested the book so that I could read and share it with her.  Fantasy is not my first choice when I reach for a fiction book to read but the genre is growing on me.  This novel is book 4 in this series.  I requested it with some trepidation about reading the final novel first.  I took the plunge and requested the review. 

From the Publisher:
Book 4 of the Auralia Thread series

The king is missing.His people are trapped as the woods turn deadly. Underground, the boy called Rescue has found an escape.

Hopes are failing across The Expanse. The forests, once beautiful, are now haunted and bloodthirsty. House Abascar's persecuted people risk their lives to journey through those predatory trees. They seek a mythic city - Abascar's last, best hope for refuge - where they might find the source of Auralia's colors.

They journey without their king. During a calamitous attempt to rescue some of his subjects from slavery, Cal-raven vanished.

But his helper, the ale boy, falling through a crack in the earth, has discovered a slender thread of hope in the dark. He will dare to lead a desperate company up the secret river.

Meanwhile, with a dragon's help, the wandering mage Scharr ben Fray is uncovering history's biggest lie - a deception that only a miracle can repair.

Time is running out for all those entangled in The Auralia Thread. But hope and miracles flicker wherever Auralia’s colors are found.

 My Take:  I have struggled with writing this review because I wish I had read the first three books before reading this final fourth novel in the thread. This was a difficult book for me to get into.  I’m not sure if it was because I don’t regularly read fantasy fiction or if it was the fact that it was book four in the series.  I felt like I was slogging through the prologue and first couple of chapters. By the 4th chapter, though,  I was intrigued by this world that Mr. Overstreet had created. 

I found it difficult to keep up with the characters and locations since each chapter seemed to focus on a different person in a different part the Expanse.  Perhaps, it would have been easier to follow the jumps from place to place if I had read the first three books.  It did get easier as I progressed through the book and got to know the characters.

I did enjoy Mr. Overstreet’s writing style.  He uses vivid adjectives and strong verbs creating mental images that brought his world to life for me.  His writing style demonstrates a love of and a command of the English language that made reading the book enjoyable despite my struggles.  I think I would have loved the book instead of merely enjoying the story and appreciating the writing style if I had read books 1-3 first.

My recommendation?  Read the first three books and then be sure and read this one.  My daughter and I will be reading the first three books and then re-reading The Ale Boy’s Feast.

You can read an excerpt from the book here.

I would truly appreciate you for "ranking" my review with the link above.  Thank you!

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this review.