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5.2.3
 
An exemplary comparison of different secondary world models
As we have already seen in chapter 5.2, Saxby suggests five possibilities for the 
design of a literary secondary world. This practical division shall be retained for the following 
analysis and comparison of secondary worlds in selected corpus novels, which distinguish 
themselves by their originality and creativity in that respect. Accordingly, the first group of 
corpus novels to be analysed are those in which the secondary world is “a well-defined entity” 
with its own characteristics. It coexists with a primary world, albeit without immediate 
physical contact, and engages in direct contact with it. Brennan’s Faerie Wars, The Purple 
Emperor
and Ruler of the Realm are exemplary for this category. 
In Brennan’s novels, two world models clash on the day that the boy Henry, who lives 
in the primary world, i.e. reality, finds a faery
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in Fogarty’s garden. It turns out to be Pyrgus 
Malvae, the heir to the throne of the faery realm. After the first surprise, Henry and Fogarty 
are interested in the faery realm, and Fogarty manages to build a portal of his own. Two-way 
traffic is possible again between the two worlds, as the pensioner and Henry prove by 
following Pyrgus to his realm. Unfortunately, Pyrgus uses the portal Mr Fogarty created 
without it having been thoroughly tested or calibrated. So instead of returning home into his 
world, the prince finds himself in Hael.
Pyrgus’ world distinguishes itself from the primary world by various pronounced 
characteristic features. Above all, its life forms are not human. Not only faeries, but also 
beings like the orange dwarf Kitterick, animals like lie-detecting endolgs or psychotronic 
spiders populate the secondary realm. Its otherness is furthermore expressed by exotic means 
of locomotion. In the realm, magic is a law of nature. Naturally combined with a touch of 
religion and science, it is not only used by the technician priests who maintain the portals but 
also by the other faeries, who can use spells as weapons. The twin moons of the realm
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underline the world’s otherness against the primary one. As in novels such as Pratchett’s 
Discworld
series or Rowling’s Harry Potter, reinterpretations of phenomena occur. In Ruler 
of the Realm
, Henry is abducted in his own world by a flying saucer or so he believes. 
However, it turns out that the UFO is not manned by aliens, but by demons from a parallel 
world to Henry’s own as well as the faeries’, namely Hael.
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It can be observed that the spelling of the word “faery” differs from the normal “fairy”. This phenomenon is 
no isolated case in current British fantasy novels for children. It seems very likely that authors who follow this 
practice want to distance themselves and their work from the cliché-laden word “fairy”, which is intimately 
linked with “fairy tales”. In his essay “On Fairy Stories”, Tolkien also uses the “faerie” spelling. 
192
Brennan, Faerie Wars, p. 195.

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It is worth noting that the outcome of the social and power-political conflicts in the 
realm are decisively influenced by the appearance and the active intervention on the part of 
the boy Henry, and, less directly, by Fogarty. Without their arrival in the realm, the conflicts 
between the faeries themselves on the one hand and the demons on the other hand would 
certainly have led to a different result. So in these novels, the existence of the portals and the 
possibility for travel and exchange between various worlds is vital for the solving of conflicts 
by means of otherworldly input and different ideas and strategies.
Novels of the second group feature physically adjacent worlds,
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where transition 
takes place via gates or mirrors. From our corpus, His Dark Materials fulfils these 
requirements in the style of Carroll’s two Alice-novels, Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia or 
Ibbotson’s The Secret of Platform 13.
A prime example for fantasy novels of this kind is Nix’ The Keys to the Kingdom 
heptalogy. Even though the author is not British but Australian, his work matches Saxby’s 
definition very closely. Consequently, we are going to take a glance over the rim. Nix’ novels 
are bestsellers in Britain, not least because he introduces innovative ideas. With the
creation 
of the House the author gives an impulse to the genre by demonstrating a new possibility for 
the form of a secondary fantasy world.
On the first day at his new school, the main character Arthur Penhaligon is given a 
strange key and a notebook by a man just as strange. From this moment onwards in which the 
House has made contact with Arthur, his encounters with unusual beings occur more and 
more often. Having come into possession of both the Key and The Atlas, Arthur is now 
closely connected to the House. The latter manifests itself in the form of a huge, ancient-
looking building
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somewhere in town, where Arthur is sure it only appeared very recently. 
Its unusual mix of many architectural styles on the exterior mirrors the diversity of its various 
areas, denizens, rulers and their style of leadership. It transpires that, from the viewpoint of 
the House and its inhabitants, Arthur’s world is a secondary realm; for Arthur it is just the 
other way round.
From the Architect’s Will and by studying the Compleat Atlas, Arthur learns about the 
origin, structure and the self-image of the House. Built from Nothing by the Great Architect, 
it houses Her servants and the entire administration and its purpose is to record and observe 
193
Saxby, Books, p. 236. 
194
Nix, The Keys to The Kingdom. Mister Monday, p. 59.

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Her work.
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Within the House, illness, hunger and thirst are unknown, so as to permit the 
denizens to fully concentrate on their tasks. Also the fact that the denizens live for hundreds 
or even thousands of years means that time plays a far less important role than in Arthur’s 
world. In more than one sense, the House therefore is subject to differently measured 
dimensions.
It can be observed that it takes up a current trend in British fantasy novels for children, 
namely the occupation with and discussion of biblical models, motifs and stories by a 
growing number of authors. In this respect, Nix’ heptalogy takes its place among Taylor’s 
doomsday atmosphere, demons and angels, Almond’s angel Skellig, Nicholson’s The Wind on