Under the Radar

~ Cheryl

OK, so I’m not writing book reviews any more. But every so often I read one that makes me wish I was, because it is a really good book that is getting ignored. One such book is Auralia’s Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet. The author is well known film reviewer whose work appears in places like Christianity Today. He can find his web site here. The novel is not obviously Christian, though I guess later volumes in what I believe is to be a 4-book series might be. If it is Christian, then it is so in the way that The Lord of the Rings is Christian, not in the way that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is Christian. But Auralia’s Colors has come out from a Christian publisher and, save for a rave review in Publishers Weekly, has been pretty much ignored by genre reviewers. This is a shame, because it is a really good book. If you don’t believe me, try Graeme Flory.

3 thoughts on “Under the Radar”

  1. Thanks for the link Cheryl! I really believe there should be a lot more fuss being made about this book than there is right now. Maybe the ‘Christian thing’ is putting people off? It would be a shame if this is the case because, apart from one sentence in the acknowledgments, the book doesn’t come across as preachy at all.
    I’m glad I read it.

  2. Graeme, I think a lot of it is simply that Waterbrook didn’t have a clue how to market the book. They may not even know that Locus exists.

  3. So here I am, dizzy and exhausted from a holiday weekend spent editing and revising the sequel to “Auralia’s Colors”… and I come across this!

    Thanks for the enthusiasm, both of you.

    And I must say, I’ve been grateful that WaterBrook embraced this project when I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever have a story published. I love love love my editor there.

    But I really do appreciate your excitement about the book, and I’m grateful anytime you bring it to other people’s attention. I hope you enjoy the three sequels on the way. There’s a great deal more to the story of Cal-raven, the ale boy, and all of Auralia’s colorful work.

    And no, whatever anybody might say, it isn’t an allegory.

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