CSFF Blog Tour – Raven’s Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet, Day 2

Raven’s Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet, the second April feature of the CSFF Blog Tour, is a dense book. In some ways the fantasy is dense.

Yesterday I looked at two specific ways authors of fantasy can connect with readers. Mr. Overstreet succeeds in those ways, I believe. But another factor comes into play—the on-going epic story, published over a series of four books. Since I write this type of fantasy too, I’m particularly sensitive to this subject.

In my appraisal, this book works—all except the prologue and the first couple chapters. Because the Auralia Thread story has a full cast of characters and takes place in various parts of the Expanse, because each of the previous books has featured a different character than the ones we are initially introduced to in Raven’s Ladder, I felt a more thorough review of the story at the beginning of this book would have been helpful (there is a short summary, but the emphasis here is short). Better yet might be a what-happened-last section bringing readers once again up-to-date with Cal-raven, the focus of this latest installment of the series.

Be that as it may, the density and accessibility of the novel isn’t my subject today. Rather, I want to address one of the themes (though I don’t think Mr. Overstreet believes in incorporating theme into his stories intentionally).

One aspect of Raven’s Ladder is Cal-raven’s belief in the Keeper, a creature most in the Expanse believe to be mythical, a dream figure children embrace but grow out of. Cal-raven did not grow out of his longing for the Keeper, however, and early in this book, he has a direct encounter with it which cements his belief.

However, midway through the book, in House (country or more accurately, city-state) Bel Amica, Cal-raven stumbles upon a group of people claiming to also believe in the Keeper. In fact, one, who used to lead the rebellious faction known as the Grudgers, claims he has seen the Keeper and can describe him. He proceeds to do so, but the creature he paints is nothing like the one Cal-raven encountered. In essence, the two men digress to a “this one said, that one said” disagreement, proving nothing.

This segment of the story made me aware once again of the importance of authoritative, absolute truth. For anyone to put faith in moon spirits or the Keeper or even in himself, he is vulnerable to the next guy who comes along saying, no, the moon spirits, the Keeper, or a regular person does or does not have the qualities, attributes, abilities, or what have you that the first individual professed. In other words, all views are equally valid because none are independently verifiable. As a result, truth is relative.

Interestingly, much of the Auralia Thread series revolves around the idea of beauty. The world of the Expanse is dark and deadly, but none of the characters seems to disagree that Beauty exists, that the colors, the music, the light, the water with restorative powers is real. None fails to recognize beauty either, though some want to use, hoard, or ban it.

Beauty in this story, then, seems like the one universal, the one absolute. People’s response? Clearly that’s another matter.

So the point that comes to my mind is this: God has made it clear that He can be seen in what He created (in essence, in the beauty of our world), but He went further because He knew beauty by itself wasn’t enough. Therefore, He revealed Himself in the flesh and in the written word. He wants to be known. He is no mystery, except to those whose eyes are veiled, whose sight is blind, whose ears are stopped.

My review of Raven’s Ladder tomorrow, as God wills.

Today, take a look at what others on the tour think. You’ll find the list with appropriate links to the various articles at the end of yesterday’s post

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of Raven’s Ladder from WaterBrook Press..