Many-Coloured Realm by Anne Hamilton

Sometimes, I am contacted by authors, wanting me to read their books and review them. I have to inform those authors that I cannot promise to review their books, but I will read them. Not every book I read ends up becoming a review.

I am also cautious about writing a review if there is little that I can find worthy in a book. At the same time, I also feel the pressure of being just one reader, with particular tastes and sensitivities.

So, it was with some trepidation that I picked up a book written by Anne Hamilton, a Queensland-based Christian fantasy author. However, joyfully, I can report that Many-Coloured Realm is a revelation! It is a work of considerable breadth and depth, with possibly the largest cast of characters since Lord of the Rings (the whole trilogy).

It references CS Lewis (his fantasy and sci-fi novels), as well as Lewis Carroll (rabbits, young girls, dark passageways, bizarre creatures), as well as including almost every form of medieval mythical creature, with not a witch or wizard or vampire in sight!

Robby is a school girl who is exasperated that her colleagues working on a school assignment, Neil and Stephen, have simply disappeared, leaving her to do all the work. Annoyance turns to concern when they continue to be missing. While searching for them, she stumbles across an entryway to a mysterious place, and then tumbles into an adventure that crosses many worlds and time zones.

She befriends goblins, elves, the Queen of the Sprites, and especially a talking penguin, as she seeks to free Stephen from an immurement, a form of magical imprisonment. All this is under the pressure of the growing presence of the malevolent Zzael.

What delighted me about this book is the sense of humour. The Goblin King promises to release Stephen if Robby can tell him his true name. “No it’s not Rumplestiltzskin… Why does everyone say that?” I also loved the wonderful Lady Peddy who has a fascination with tautology: “comprehensive overview”, “beratingly chastise”, “engrossingly absorbing” are some of my favourites.

There are also absolutely gorgeous drawings of the characters every four pages or so. These really help to lock in the characters and to keep track of the plot development.

This is definitely a book written by an author with a Christian worldview, but Hamilton does not use a sledgehammer to get her message across. It is more the Madeleine L’Engle technique of subtlely emphasising the power of love, the importance of choices, and awareness of the ongoing struggle between good and evil. One of the pithy comments is about the human condition: “Humans are a great paradox. They are noble and they are monstrous.”

Another example is the moment when Robby’s friend Chris is granted a wish, anything his heart desires or his mind can conceive. On face value it is something humans have always hoped for… but Chris is warned about this gift:

It is not something to rejoice in. Sensible people would avoid the responsibility. Thoughtless wishes are almost always disastrous. Even good ones. There was a king, centuries ago, whose wish was for his people never to be hungry again. They weren’t. Because they all died the same day. And long before that, there was the countess, Solveigra, who desired to live forever. She does, but without eternal youth. It is a torment to her.

This is a very intelligent book, with many layers of imagination and wisdom. There are a couple of refinements I would suggest. The book would benefit from a cast of characters and a guide to pronunciation of some of the tongue-twisting names.

I also felt the Epilogue was a little clumsy. Some rewriting would improve the flow and lend impact to the final message.

That aside, an email from the author reveals that there is even more complexity to the book than I had perceived. Anne Hamilton is a former mathematics teacher, and the book is written in numerical literacy style, that is, the book has an internal mathematical architecture. Thus the book has 111111 words, with a 1111 word prologue, and even a 111 word blurb on the back cover. These numbers have significance.

Hamilton reports that the book has been picked up by primary schools across Australia, meaning that potentially hundreds of thousands of children may also become intrigued by these characters, have their hearts warmed by their example, and have seeds for the Gospel planted.

The book is published by Wombat Books, and is available here.