CSFF Blog Tour presents: Raven's Ladder, by Jeffrey Overstreet

MY REVIEW:

Displaced King Cal-raven and his people must leave the shelter of Barnasham and head off to the New Abascar Cal-raven has seen in his dreams. But there are many obstacles to re-establishing his people, one of which is House Bel Amica. Their wealth, beauty, bounty, and strange religion all draw Abascar's remnant in and ensnare them, making them want to stay in the seaside city instead of striking off for their new home.

Even Cal-raven gets sidetracked from his original plan (albeit it's a good sort of sidetracked), agreeing to help Cyndere, Jordam, and Ale Boy rescue the prisoners of House Cent Regus.

I liked that the author showed us several characters' points of view, including Jordam, Cyndere, Cal-raven, Tabor Jan, Emereine, Ale Boy, and others. I had hoped that many of the previous books' characters would come into play, and I was not disappointed.

I've loved this series from the beginning. The first two books were incredible. Overstreet certainly has a gift for story-telling and for immersing his readers into the fictive fantasy world. However, this third book in the series made me feel like I was wading through molasses--too slow of a pace. Much of the problem was probably that I didn't realize there would be a fourth book until the very end. That fact made me accept the open-endedness of this book and see it in a little different light. ('Course, I'm the person who hated The Empire Strikes Back because it was too dark, hopeless, and left things hanging, so take my opinion for what it's worth.) I think Overstreet focused more on character development here than packing the action, although there is plenty of that as well.

The positives far outweigh any negatives regarding this story. I have no doubt the last installment will be spectacular, and I look forward to reading it.

The Amazon Book Link
Author Website and Blog

Participant Links:
Brandon Barr
Rachel Briard (BooksForLife)
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Unneeded disclaimer: I did NOT get a free copy of this book from the CSFF tour. However, I did get it free from another website that I review for, but no other compensation, and my words are my own.

Update

No reviews lately, but I have been reading. I just finished James Patterson's new Alex Cross book called Alex Cross' Trial. Extremely absorbing, if you can handle the language. He handled the story with excellence, in my opinion, as difficult as the subject matter was (racism around the turn of the 20th century).

I'm also re-reading The Bride Collector for review and have one or ten other things going on.

For now, I'm excited because I've gotten involved with extreme couponing and am obsessed with saving money. I just got two boxes (yes boxes, not reams) of Hammermill Copy Plus paper from Staples for $5 each! Wanna know how? Go here:

Southern Savers

This is my new favorite website. Jenny finds me all the deals!