Arena [Kindle Edition]

Callie Hayes thinks she's participating in a mere psychological test--a mere "obstacle course"--what she finds is a parallel world where she's expected to travel through hostile lands, through very real danger and deception, until she finds the Gateway from this new world back to her own. Will she die on the journey, and be returned to her old life with no memory of her time in the Arena, or will she make it all the way through to whatever reward awaits her on the other side?

Arena is a brilliant allegorical science fiction yarn--emphasis on the brilliant, with rich worldbuilding and characterization. People have been saying for years that CBA fiction needs to be grittier--more realism when dealing with hard issues--this book has it. The author is never afraid to look at the difficulties of the Christian life: personal inadequacies, the believer's struggle with the old sin nature, demonic influence, doubts about the Word. She also wrestles with questions that plague unbelievers: how do we know who to listen to, and what constitutes Truth?

The difficult elements are handled well, though some have expressed concern about the elements of torture and rape. The romantic subplot is sweetly done, and the story has a beautifully satisfying ending. Even on my second read, I turned the last page still wanting more, wishing I didn't have to say farewell to the characters.

This book well merited the Christy award it won in 2003.

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 depend on her spiritual link with the Arena's overseer. The men and women of the Arena are vividly human characters with their own flaws and problems, including the man seemingly chosen to lead the community back home. No one has the power to return home on his/her own; the true test comes in putting your faith in another, greater power.

Some will say that the allegorical nature of this story is too obvious, but I thought the Christian nature of Callie's journey through the Arena was subtly yet powerfully done. As I said, you don't have to read the story in this allegorical way if you do not want to. I think you should, though, as it makes this novel something extraordinarily special. I won't go into the parallels between Callie's journey and the Christian's journey here, but the one greatly reinforces the other. As a Christian, I was deeply impressed by some of the insights embedded in Arena; in this fantastical setting, Hancock helps you look at your own spiritual journey in entirely new and instructive ways, drawing connections that surprise, exhilarate, and inspire you. From this perspective, the whole journey seems so simple; it is only man's nature, fears, and limitations that make the journey such a needlessly hard and difficult one. If you're looking for a work of Christian science fiction that really and truly works, Arena is the book you've been waiting for.