Arena

Karen Hancock truly hits the daily double with Arena, her first novel. Not only is it a fantastic story of exciting science fiction, it is also a powerful allegory for the Christian experience. I would urge prospective readers not to dismiss this book out of hand just because of its spiritual dimension, however - Arena tells a wonderful, exciting, and gripping story that any lover of good fantasy will greatly enjoy. The novel's allegorical depth is rich and complex, but it is by no means overpowering. You needn't fear that Karen Hancock will be pushing Christianity down your throat. You don't even have to judge the main character's incredible growth in a Christian sense; it's certainly there, but you can enjoy this story for its own sake and still take a seed of something very powerful away from it. The book's protagonist, Callie, is a young woman in her mid-twenties who has yet to find her place in life. She has a low-paying job but yearns to be a painter, and her family is all in the business of trying to find her a man. She is trapped, frustrated, and floundering. In need of money, she accompanies her friend to a psychology experiment promising to help her get more out of life. Unable to back out at the last minute, she finds herself transported to the Arena, a whole world that cannot yet does exist - the mother of all obstacle courses. About all she has to guide her is a suggestion to stay on the white road and a manual, most of which is gibberish to her. She gets off to a bad start, quickly discovering just how dangerous a place the Arena can be. Exotic plant life and hideous animal creatures are a danger to life and limb, malevolent beings called the Watchers turn up all over the place to tempt and dishearten her, and the fellow human beings she eventually meets up with pose the biggest danger of all. Luckily, Callie first encounters a guy named Pierce, who saves her life and takes her into the confines of a small community. Some of these people have been in the Arena for years, searching for the exit that is supposedly easy to find. The answers are all in the manual, but the manual is soon ignored or forgotten. Callie thus finds herself in a fight for survival in an alien world. Friction among her compatriots leads to dissension and separation, as everyone seems to have their own ideas for getting out; many eventually fall prey to the seductive dangers of the Arena. You really get an exciting adventure story in these pages, full of ambushes, encounters with wild creatures of malevolent power, and a mental struggle to keep going when everything seems to be lost. Callie has to conquer her many fears if she is to survive, and every step is a struggle. As time goes on, Callie gets an understanding of the place and the purpose behind it, and it is the link she establishes with the master of the Arena that sustains her. The closer she gets to the final exit, the more dangerous the journey becomes, and the more she has to de

My friend Phyllis encouraged me to read "Arena." I had been disappointed with Christian speculative fiction in the past. "This Present Darkness" is a great read, but it's hard to get to know the characters. I had gotten tired of the "Left Behind" series. Since Phyllis had read several books I raved about, I figured I owed her. So I picked up "Arena" expecting a hokey Christian novel.Surprise. This book was a blast to read. Hancock created characters I cared about. "Arena" has an excellent balance of romance, action, and suspense. The author paced the story in such a way that I couldn't wait to discover what happened to the characters. By the end of the first chapter the protagonist is already in deep trouble. A few times I wondered "where did that come from?" (like the armor of the characters, for example). I may have just missed some things since I read the book quickly. It didn't mess up the story, however. Sometime in the future, I will have to reread "Arena," and see if I just skimmed over some of these introductions too quickly.Hancock's "Arena" reminds me of something Connie Willis would write. To be honest, with all the action and fighting in this novel, any thirteen-year-old aethist science-fiction geek would devour "Arena" with relish. The allegory to a Christian lifestyle is there, but not over done.I would love to see this book turned into a movie or mini-series on the sci-fi channel. People would probably enjoy it as much as "The Matrix" and, trust me, the ending is much better.

I loved this book. I hardly ever read fiction because I sometimes feel furthering my relationsihp with God is not going to happen by reading fictional stories. However, Arena has changed my mind! This book has made me see how much I was holding back from God, and gave me a big reality check. I came away from this book desiring deeper intimacy with God. I think it was the relationship that Callie had with Elhanue, and the way Hancock portrayed him as a friend and constant companion that made me see how I have been ignoring it. I am a Christian, and quite a strong one, but it has been awhile since I have been unsatisfied with the level of intimacy I have with God. I also thought the love story between Callie and Pierce was captivating. It was so well-written, and I love the fact that Callie only started to become attracted to Pierce after she got to know him. So many novels start with love at first sight. Their romance actually caught me by surprise (okay not entirely, but it was not obvious at the beginning that they would fall in love). I also thought Hancock did a great job of showing that Callie and Pierce struggled with passion and attraction to each other. People aren't perfect, even born-again spirit-filled Christians. I thought it made them seem human, and I was able to relate to them! All I have to say is, this book has changed me and the way I see God. I highly recommend it!

Arena is an unforgettable ride into the marvelous and frighteningly symbolic realm of fantasy. For a first novel, like a uniquely exotic painting, Karen Hancock has proven she possess an ability to write with such clarity her words can vividly be seen. Her story telling is tightly composed of poetic prose and is abundantly littered with flamboyant images. Arena is jam packed full with originality, heart-pounding scenes and amazing characters. For a chance to earn a few extra bucks, two friends, Callie and Meg, agree to take part in an experiment. What they don't realize is the experience will effect them for the rest of their lives. Alex is an employee in place to inform the women about the rules of the test. After separating the women, he provides them each with a knapsack and a survivor's manual (perhaps symbolic to the Bible). They are then suddenly transported from earth to another world. The experiment is nothing like what the women and many, many others bargained for. A simple rule applies. Stay on the white road and keep moving. Subjects are safe on the white roads. Though the concept sounds easy enough, it immediately proves a much more difficult rule to follow. The weird world is filled with threatening creatures and dangerous mutants. And the arena is populated with seemingly hundreds of people who veered off the road and have spent endless years wandering, looking for some kind of salvation, or an exit.Pierce is a man who has spent more than five years wandering. He has been captured and tortured by beasts. He is shaky and unconfident and one of the most unlikely leaders. However, it is believed by some it will be he who shall lead the chosen out of the Arena and back to their lives on earth. Pierce first saved Callie when she arrived. Through the time spent together, searching for a way home, the two have bonded more than either would have considered possible. Together, along with a handful of other believers, their seemingly impossible voyage only gets more and more impossible each day. Faith may be the only thing to save them and to deliver them safely out of the Arena.Karen Hancock is a powerful storyteller. She knows how to be subtle. She knows how to build suspense and write white-knuckle action scenes. Arena is one of the best-drawn fantasy novels I have ever read. I am in eager anticipation for Hancock's next novel.--Phillip Tomasso III, author of Johnny Blade & Third Ring

There are stories that are realistic in tone, but not at all true. And there are stories that are clearly fantasies, yet are filled with truth. _Arena_, like other literary classics such as _Lord of the Rings_ and the _Narnia_ books, falls in the latter category.The book's cover has several quotes from other authors referring to _Arena_ as "allegory", but I don't think it really fits that description. Certainly it's not the sort of story in which a character named Faith wanders through the Desert of Despair in search of the Oasis of Hope. Hancock respects her readers' intelligence enough to write a story chock filled with deeper meaning without having to hit them over the head with a clue stick. Back in my day, they didn't call this sort of writing allegory. They called it good literature. If you must call it something else, call it an extended metaphor. Or perhaps a novel-length parable. But whatever you choose to call it, this isn't just another tired rip-off of _Pilgrim's Progress_.You will find as many overt references to "God" or "Christ" in this CBA-published book as there are in the LOTR Trilogy or the Biblical book of Esther, and yet there are few (if any) scenes in this book in which a Christian worldview fails to shine through. Oh, God *is* in the Arena, all right. Just don't look for him to appear by that name, along with a host of characters all saying "Praise the Lord!" and "Hallelujah!" and doing all the right things at the right times until someone says the "sinner's prayer", because _Arena_ isn't a thinly disguised sermon like most CBA offerings. This is a story in which characters display realistic feelings and make hard choices--often even wrong choices--and where even the "good guys" don't always know God's will, or have all the right answers.In fact, the word "choice" pretty much sums up what _Arena_ is all about--the free will which God has given us to make our own decisions, to seek His will or to only satisfy our own desires, the freedom to learn from our mistakes and grow from them, or to repeat our bad choices over and over again until they destroy us. It is a story that reveals unconditional love and grace, but also reveals that willfulness and wrong choices will lead to painful, yet just, consequences. Our choices, and whose guidance we choose to follow or disregard, determines our outcome. Simple as that. And just as difficult. In order to help people make the right choices, the Arena provides a written manual, and also a Benefactor. Sound familiar? And just as in real life, people in the Arena are not any better at trusting in authority or following directions than we are. This is a bad thing, yes? Well, no, because this means that _Arena_ has believable characters whom we can all relate to. I saw myself in so many different guises while reading this book--both myself at my best and myself at my very worst. And often I'd see both of these sides of myself in the same character. You see the full