Arena [Paperback]

There are disappointingly few good SF novels for the Christian market, and Hancock's intense debut is an excellent though edgy contribution to the genre. Callie Hayes is a frustrated artist with a colorless life; she earns minimum wage raising rats for laboratory use. When she volunteers for a seemingly harmless psychology experiment, she's unexpectedly thrown into a frightening and alien world. The narrative is a loose allegory of the Christian life: provided with a "field manual" (the Bible), Callie must navigate the "Arena" to return home. She hooks up with Pierce Andrews, and together with a ragtag group, they battle the mutant "Trogs," who delight in raping, torturing and devouring their victims. However, Elhanu (Christ) soon appears in disguise to help. Some CBA readers may be disturbed by the novel's many rapes and attempted rapes, as well as its occasional stomach-turning descriptions (e.g., human bones with the marrow sucked out). Hancock's characters struggle believably with sexual feelings and passion, something that's often handled poorly or ignored in CBA fiction. Characters are multidimensional, although one borders on caricature (SF 's typical buxom, long-legged, weapon-brandishing blonde), and the sporadic Scripture verses seem out of place. To her credit, Hancock admirably dashes most of the reader's preconceptions about the plot as the story progresses through a series of twists, turns and well-paced developments. If this book is any indication, the future should be bright for this promising novelist.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Callie Hayes grudgingly agrees to participate in a psychology study as moral support for a friend. However, frightened by the examiners' secrecy and evasiveness (one vanishes before her eyes), she tries to escape but finds herself cast into the Arena, a testing ground for participants of the study. Armed with only a guidebook and minimal supplies, she is soon forced to trust the enigmatic Pierce, a man who claims to have spent the past five years in the Arena. As Callie journeys toward the Gate, supposedly her ticket out, she learns more about the mysterious Benefactor conducting the test and uses her developing faith in him to find the way home. However, this path is laid with false trails, traps, and false messiahs eager to destroy Callie and the friends she makes along the way. Hancock's first novel is an allegorical blend of fantasy and sf depicting the tests a soul faces that strengthen or destroy belief in God. Hints of the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max surface, along with the sense of climbing through the wardrobe into C.S. Lewis's allegorical Narnia. A classic in the making for the modern era, with appeal for fans of Lewis and Kathy Tyers ("Firebird Trilogy"), this is required for all collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

If you've read Mary Doria Russell's marvelous The Sparrow (1993), you'll have a sense of what first novelist Hancock is trying to do in Arena. Her heroine is a mousy little loser, Callie Hayes, who finds herself transported to an arid alien world, the "Arena." Here Hancock works out a progression of faith by trial somewhat like Pilgrim's Progress, except that in most such allegories the characters move from vice to virtue like stick figures. By contrast, Hancock carefully develops Callie and the man she eventually falls in love with, the brooding, transported cowboy, Pierce. Perhaps because Hancock is a wildlife biologist, her landscapes and alien creatures sing themselves to life, and her theological argument, while certainly Christian, is quite subtle. Hancock hasn't turned in another Sparrow, but she can take her place in the wave of fine science fiction coming from evangelical presses these days. John Mort
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"ARENA is a wonderful and clever allegorical tale with all the excitement of good science fiction." -- Judith Pella-bestselling author of Written on the Wind and THE RUSSIANS series

"ARENA sets a new benchmark for contemporary allegory-thoroughly imagined, intelligently written, and as vivid as last night's unsettling dreams." -- Kathy Tyers-author of the FIREBIRD trilogy and Star Wars: Balance Point

A Repackaged Award Winner From Karen Hancock

Callie Hayes is living a life of fear and disillusionment when she volunteers for a psychology experiment that promises to turn her life around. As her orientation proceeds, Callie becomes frightened by the secrecy and evasion she encounters. When she demands to be released from the program, she is suddenly dropped into a terrifying alien world and into a perilous battle between good and evil. With limited resources and only a few cryptic words to guide her, Callie embarks on a life-changing journey. Will she decipher the plans the Benefactor has established for her escape, or will she succumb to the deception of the Arena?

A journey she did not choose will test her courage and change her life forever

When Callie Hayes agreed to participate in a routine psychology research experiment, she had no clue she'd find herself plunged into a terrifying world where a battle rages between good and evil. With limited resources and only a few cryptic words to guide her, she must unravel the mysteries shrouding her only route of escape or risk succumbing to the deadly deception of the Arena.

Multiple-award-winning author Karen Hancock leads readers on a mesmerizing journey as her compelling characters navigate the deadly terrain of a hostile world in this repackage of her acclaimed debut novel.

Karen Hancock won Christy Awards for each
of her first four novels--Arena, The Light of Eidon, The Shadow Within, and Shadow over Kiriath. She and her husband reside in Arizona. Visit her website at www.kmhancock.com.