The Auralia Thread comes to completion in Jeffrey Overstreet’s The Ale Boy’s Feast, resulting in a beautiful and intricate tapestry of life to be lived now, and life yet longed for. Through a host of characters and rich symbolism, Mr. Overstreet’s fantasy world once again provides greater insight into the world in which we live in a way that only a work of fiction can. There is a sacramental undercurrent to the story that is especially compelling, and a liturgical element that acts as a marker throughout the story, much the same way our lives take on a liturgical shape. While more meaningful in its context of the story, surely this description resonates with the worship experience of faith:
When one sang the Midnight Verse, the rest wove new harmonies. The song, once a simple promise of dawn’s approach, was now infused with an aching dissonance that spoke of weariness and loss, which only made the chords of its hopeful restrain stronger, opening up deep reservoirs of longing.
For the casual fantasy reader The Auralia Thread will not disappoint, and for the connoisseur Mr. Overstreet’s stories will be eagerly revisited to catch yet another glimpse of a world that is and will one day be.