Rachel Burke/The Falcon Working on staff as a communications specialist for University Communications at SPU, Jeffrey Overstreet published his first Novel, Auralia's Colors.

Take a look at the fantasy and science fiction shelves at your local bookstore, and you'll notice a population of riveting adventures with titles that sound like "Dragon Flight: Path of Dawn," "Flight of Dawn: Path of Dragon," and the ever-popular, "Dawn of Dragon: Flying the Path: The Sequel."

The number of truly original flights of fantasy could be counted by Frodo with only one hand -- the one that's missing a couple of fingers.

Last month, a newcomer by the name of Auralia arrived on the shelves, and unlike her clichéd cousins, she breathed new life into the bookstores rather than sucking it away.

"Auralia's Colors" tells the story of a mysterious girl who is found abandoned in a monster's footprint in the great realm of Abascar, a kingdom wherein all colors have been outlawed and delegated solely to royalty. As she grows up, Auralia discovers that she has a gift for seeing and weaving colors unlike anybody else's, a gift that is destined to reshape the very landscape of her magical world.

This is the first novel from Jeffrey Overstreet, author or "Through a Screen Darkly," contributing editor for SPU's "Response" magazine and film critic for "Christianity Today." He hits the ground running in this ambitious and ultimately lovely book that grabs the reader and doesn't let go.

The novel's greatest triumph is its rich and fantastical prose. One can tell Overstreet has learned from the greats of both literature and film, from fantasy master J.R.R. Tolkien, to the quiet and contemplative filmmaker Terrence Malick and the two wizards of blockbuster popcorn movies George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

photo courtesy of WaterBrook Press Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

His writing is beautiful, each page a sumptuous feast of words. The average readers could probably get through the book in a few hours, but each word is so rich that they'll want to slow down to savor it.

Overstreet takes his time with each literary passage, dwelling on every section as if it were his own child. Like a doting parent, though, he sometimes spoils his child, telling readers too much without just showing them.

He also tends to get carried away with the names that he gives the animals of Abascar. The best creations are "vawns," velociraptor-like steeds, but with other animals carrying names like "cliffhawk," "nightbird," and "groundbelly," it feels that Overstreet is describing simply what they do rather than creating something entirely new.

It's a contrast to the naming of the characters, who are wonderfully drawn and have an abundance of life all their own.

The entire cast springs up from the page with startling reality. The words that they speak are perfectly chosen to suit their characters.

A dozen or so more characters populate the cast and, great or small, they all entrance the reader with how vivid they are, from the insatiably curious and fiery Auralia, to the hollowed out shell-of-a-king Cal-Marcus and the ambitious captain of the guard Ark-Robin. Even the villains are given great depth and complexity, and brilliantly intriguing motivations.

Occasionally, Overstreet may get carried away with a character. Sometimes Auralia seems so perfect that the reader will have a hard time believing she could be a real person, but it is not too distracting in the long run.

Fantasy is often marketed toward younger readers, but Overstreet's novel is too intricate to fall into that category. His writing shows maturity in the way he weaves several different storylines and the many facets of each character together throughout the story.

This is not the next "Harry Potter" or "Lord of the Rings." It's not some cheaply designed knock-off made to profit from the fantasy fervor that our culture is going through right now. It is a fantastic and beautiful story all its own, similar to the fantasy we have seen before while presenting readers with something fresh.

In "Auralia's Colors," Overstreet creates a world that will leave readers eager to explore it more when a scheduled sequel hits stores next year.

This isn't just an amazing debut novel. It's an amazing novel, period. Heroes, villains, monsters, wonders, majesties, and horrors populate Abascar, and its tale of heroism, death, beauty, evil, and good is the stuff of legends.