Many-Coloured Realm
Anne Hamilton
Wombat Books: www.wombatbooks.com.au
Many – Coloured Realm
Anne Hamilton
REVIEWS
Because I haven’t read a fantasy type novel for many years I think I had forgotten how amazing they can be. As a writer I have gained a huge respect for Authors of fantasy novels while reading Anne Hamilton’s Many – Coloured Realm. The imagination and knowledge involved in creating this story is incredible. Anne Hamilton has produced an amazing journey of knowledge and self discovery. It is filled with truths about humanity and life while being an extraordinary story of ulterior realms, beings and adventures all intertwined with astonishing skill.
Many – Coloured Realm is the story of an ordinary girl who finds herself in a very un-ordinary situation. Robby is a nice girl, and as you read on you discover that calling someone nice isn’t the compliment it seems to be. However, it is this niceness that gets Robby into this most peculiar situation.
When her study partners go missing, neither of which she is particularly fond of, they did leave her to do all the work after all. She sets off to find the pranksters and discovers they are not actually playing any kind of trick on her at all, but by then it is too late. She has crossed into another realm while following one, and her ‘friends’ need help. At first Robbie doesn’t know where she is or even which way is up, gravity can misbehave in other realms. Thrust straight into the deep end Robbie has to face challenges from start to finish, but she is not alone on this adventure, not at all. Aside from her bully study partner’s brother who followed her into the realm (and is almost a polar opposite to his brother in personality), she meets a great many different characters, from a Goblin King, a moon child and the phoenix to elves and a variety of animals both recognisable and entirely foreign, all with the ability to communicate and several other talents also.
Robby soon discovers Stephen (the bully) is trapped in a life threatening situation (an immurement actually) and so she has to rescue him by taking on tasks which could go terribly amiss if she sets a foot wrong. This isn’t easy when you have no understanding of the world you are in.
If that isn’t enough, there is trouble in the Many – Coloured Realm. War is fast approaching, war which could destroy the realm and all those in it, war with no natural barriers, war against demons.
The Many – Coloured Realm is full of unlikely friendships, mysterious events and valuable lessons.
I feel as if my feet haven’t touched back into the real world yet. Many-Coloured Realm is like no other parable, fantasy, allegory or epic I’ve ever read before. What a stunning stand-off between the forces of good and evil! Those fantastic characters have still got a hold on my mind. Genius!
Robby and Chris have entered the shabby, colourless realm of the goblins to rescue Chris’ brother Stephen from a hopeless looking predicament. But how can they help when the king of the goblin realm is so deliberately vague about what their quest will involve? What is he trying to hide? Their journey to find out involves meetings with elves, sprites, sirens, a helpful muse and a forgetful phoenix. What they finally discover is mind-blowing.
As a fantasy author and homeschooling mother myself, plenty of fantasy has passed through our doors. Lewis, Tolkien, Rodda, Rowling, L’Engle and Colfer to name just a few. Many-Coloured Realm is second to none. A book that combines drama and science with nail-biting suspense is a book to be held onto. Add the whimsical and hilarious and you have a classic!
Paula Vince
Author of the Quenarden Chronicles
YOUR BOOK RULZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought your book was awesome. A few questions, though.
Can you plz tell me what Zzael was afraid of?
Plz plz plz plz plz plz plz plz plz plz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The names were really hard to pronounce and I had to look in the book to see the correct spelling. In fact I have it right here as I'm typing. The book wasn't really obvious and oh I forgot: why didn't Chris swap places with Stephen when he wished it? Other than that your book was really cool, my favourite character was Artemys.
Sandy (aged 10)
I've been reading Many-Coloured Realm for a while now and I think it's one of the best books I've ever read.
My favourite character was Artemys the penguin. He had great personality that fit him well. The goblin king was a character that to me seemed sort of a mystery but that made the book even more interesting. The part I liked best was when they met Neil again when they could either go to the place with the winged cats or go to the place with the thimblethorns. At first I thought they would go to the winged cats but then I started to lean more towards the thimblethorns. But when Neil told them the way to get past them was by throwing a shoe at them, well, that was a pretty good way to get them out of the way. Of course this meant that “pack mode” was pretty useless.
Great book, love reading it.
Jeremy (aged 10)
Flying Friends and Faith: Well written with a complex plot, Many-Coloured Realm is not for the impatient reader or someone out for a simple straight-forward read.
The plot of Many-Coloured Realm revolves around the attempts of notorious nice girl, Robby Alveretti, selfless and caring Chris Pierce, and flying penguin Artemys to save Chris’s step-brother, bullyboy Stephen. Other characters include the mysterious goblin King, the Sprite Queen Tamarlane, Lady Pedantica and a cohort of elves.
Along the way, they try to understand time in a strange world. They look for answers of the true nature of the war between elf and goblin and the true name of the Goblin King, known only as Majesty. Also adding to the drama and complexity is the sudden appearance of a third player in the war, one who can only be defeated by faith. The elves and goblins must combine forces to battle this enemy, but the elves are stubborn and their leader bears a burden of shame and guilt that could jeopardise the whole mission.
This book has many themes. The selflessness of friendship and love, the strength of faith, the need to know who you are and the nature of right and wrong are the most important ones.
If the book has one failing, it is that not all loose ends are tied up. Anne Hamilton introduces some extra talents for both Robby and Chris that end up amounting to nothing. Aside from that, it is a good book and one that I would recommend for more mature readers who are looking for a bit of depth.
Laura (aged 14)
Written in the style of CS Lewis, with a dash of Tolkien and a sprinkling of Lewis Carroll, Many-Coloured Realm has just what it takes to become a fantasy classic.
Delightful, zany, captivating and quirky are some descriptions that immediately leap to mind. Robbie and Chris are two ordinary children who enter the goblin realm to rescue Chris’ step brother, Stephen.
They are never endowed with magic powers; they never become super heroes; they always remain themselves but throughout the adventure they grow, learn and discover that it often hard to discern who is good and who is evil.
When what appears to be a tragic ending turns out quite differently, we have reassurance that all things really do work together for good, even when it appears otherwise.
I do not intend to ruin your enjoyment of this intricately layered book by giving away any spoilers so I will merely give a couple of proverbs from the walls of the goblins’ bedroom. ‘If covers told you all about books, then trolls and elves could be judged by their looks.’ ‘It is not fair to treat individuals UNequally, but it is not fair to treat them equally either.’
This is a book for the young adult market and I give it 10 out of 10.
Dell Sadler
‘Expect the unexpected,’ it says on the back of the book and that is certainly true. Inside these pages you will find a plot with lots of twists and turns and a vast cast of characters that include elves and goblins, a penguin that flies and various other creatures as well as humans. Add to that a time element as Robby and Chris seek to save Stephen, Chris’ brother, before time runs out and you have a book guaranteed to have you turning the pages.
If you liked A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle I suggest you will also like Many-Coloured Realm. Not that is similar in plot but it does contain the same complexity of language and ideas as L’Engle’s work and encompasses various other disciplines like poetry and maths.
I’ve read several of Anne’s nonfiction books like The Singing Silence, The Winging Word and The Listening Land, and I have always been amazed at her breadth of knowledge and the amount of research that goes into them. In this, Many-Coloured Realm is no different. It contains faint echoes of some of the themes raised in those books. It is written in a numerical literary style but that’s something you’re not conscious of as a reader because you are too involved in the story.
The prologue plunges the reader right into action from a previous time before transporting the reader back to the present and Robby and the poetry project Robby, Neil and Stephen were meant to be working on. But then the police arrive because Stephen has gone missing.
Where could he be? And does his disappearance have anything to do with the argument between Stephen and Neil over the bezoar ring. That evening Robby hears someone call her name. ‘Robby stared at the dancing figure. It had wings.’
Robby tries to follow Neil after he tells her he comes from,’ the other side of yesterday.’ That’s when she finds herself, along with Stephen’s brother Chris who followed her, in a strange place filled with strange characters and the clock ticking to save Stephen who has a limited amount of air in the spherical immurement where he is imprisoned. Robby and Chris have an hour to find a way to save Stephen. After that they have then to find their way back home. The significance of the prologue becomes evident as the story unfolds.
Because of the complexity of the plot and the large cast of characters, this is a book I suspect that having read it once, you will want to go back and read again to gain full benefit and to pick up all those little details and nuances you missed first time round. This book will appeal to thoughtful fantasy readers.
The only thing I would have liked was a list of the characters I could have referred to as other fantasy books often have. It would help when there are unfamiliar names, like Artemys, Thuric, Tamarlane, Avignerne, Aquitaine, and Caesarea, just to mention a few.
Wombat Books are to be congratulated on another interesting addition to their eclectic range .
Dale Harcombe
Pass It On reviews
I read an early draft of this decades ago, and it's been delightful re-discovering my favourite bits all over again, such as Robby's first encounter with Mayerling.
The curtains were whipped aside. "Death to the Perpetration of Evil!" came a triumphant shout. A dagger sliced past her, missing by a hair's-breadth as the youth wielding it diverted his aim at the last possible moment. "You are not the Lord of Degeneracy!" he exclaimed, as it hit the wall. Robby stared. The youth was tall, his eyes twilight-hued and his face as smooth as alabaster. His hair was quite like Neil's, except that it rippled brightsilver instead of greysilver. His brows tilted in puzzlement. "Who are you?"
"I'm Robby," she said, recovering from a momentary shock. "Who are you?"
"I am Mayerling the Bright, son of Caesarea the King of the Elves, and I have come to visit death upon his enemies." The elf prince pulled a long sword from the swinging scabbard at his side. "Where is the fiend?"
"Fiend?" Robby stared. Mayerling's fine clothes were torn and hung on him, but he wore them with an air of dignity and there was a regal look in his eyes.
"The goblin king," Mayerling snapped. "The Torturer. The Foul Pestilence who wages war with peace-loving elves." He raised his sword and leaned forward, the tip almost resting against Robby's throat. "Tell me," he insisted, his ivory-smooth features assuming a cold expression.
"I don't know." Alarmed by the look of suspicion in Mayerling's eyes, Robby shook her head. "Truly I don't. I only just got here."
"Are you an Ambassador?"
"No."
"Then I shall take you hostage." Mayerling withdrew his sword with a flourish and plunged it into the floor. His hand rested on the jewelled hilt. "But do not fear. I will treat you courteously. I am an elf and we are not uncivilised."
This story may remind people of Labyrinth (though it was written long before); not just because of a Goblin King and goblins and a quest to save someone, but because of the theme of the foolishness of taking things for granted, of things not being as they seem. But Labyrinth is almost straightforward compared to this novel. There are layers and layers, and so many things are backwards and sideways, not just the laws of gravity. And yet they make sense when you think about them a bit more.
"I'm so glad we've got a penguin who can see in the dark," said Chris.
"Dark?" said Artemys. "You've got a strange idea of dark. Nothing can see in the dark. Because in real dark, there's no light at all."
Darkness, light, shadow, faith, strength, weakness, fear, courage, even the nature of "niceness"; none of these are necessarily what they seem. The author is well aware of the conventions of fantasy, and is happy to challenge them in subtle and not so subtle ways. That isn't the only way in which this novel is different, but I have to admit that it is my favourite aspect of it. On the surface, this is just another children's fantasy novel, with a villain and a quest, but neither the villain nor the quest is quite what you think it is.
On top of all that, there are so many little inventive touches, everything from the flying penguin, to the deadly thimblethorn immurements, to the Island of Sanctuary where time stands still; the kingdoms whose time all passes at different rates, and the perils of Relativity
Kathryn Andersen
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