May 6, 2010

The second part of Auralia's Aptly-named Thread, Cyndere's Midnight picks up a new thread (ok, ok, 'Strand') in the Expanse. While occasionally checking in with the remnant of Abascar, Overstreet pulls in new characters and plots. Some of the most interesting bits of the prequel, Auralia's Colors, were when the author alluded to a richer world, full of history and other nations. In this book, we learn a bit more about the other Houses of the Expanse.

Overstreet's handling of the beastman character Jordam is great, especially for such a challenging character. Imagine this writing assignment: draw us a character who has reverted to animal instincts and can literally think only of food and murder. No prepositions or transitive verbs allowed, and please introduce a verbal tic anytime the character speaks. Overstreet masters this, and even the simplified language others use to speak to Jordam can be sweet.

May 6, 2010

The best part about this series so far is The Keeper - a mysterious monster that haunts the dreams of children, and sometimes adults. We get a few more glancing encounters with the Keeper in this installment, and Overstreet does this beautifully. It's never described, only sensed: characters get impressions of unfathomable depth, wings unfolding from wings, or someone calling their name - their true name, not the one their mother called them. It's like the author plumbed Scripture for all the allusions about God that thrill my heartstrings, and layers them in the mystery of the Keeper.