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He'll actually skip his turn on the Wii to read these. My son absolutely loves this series. He even spent his own allowance to buy three in the series instead of waiting for a nearby holiday or his birthday. Please, Mr. Nix, write more books.
I have enjoyed essentially everything Garth Nix has written and I can say he didn't let down my high hopes for this book. It is a great continuation of the Keys to the Kingdom series and I can honestly say I am eagerly awaiting the next in the series. I strongly advise those who like a little fantasy to try out this series starting Mister Monday. You'll get hooked.
If you haven't read the series, you are missing out. Anything this author writes is amazing. Trust me you are missing out if you havent't read anything by him.
Not to say that the books aren't fun to read, but I believe they could be fun to read and rich. The first book, especially, seems to move toward that path, but as the books progress, they seem to become more and more formulaic and lacking in substance.
However, sometimes the books themselves, although phenomenally imaginative, are hit or miss depending on how much Nix is able to flesh out the story. The Seventh Tower series, for instance, is deftly imagined, a two worlds drawn together through light and shadow, and the ability to use colored gemstones to create light beams that can do all sorts of interesting things.
There's certainly one thing to be said about everything Nix writes, and that is that it's rife with original creativity and completely new fantasy stories. I feel like the Keys to the Kingdom series is a mixture of both, and I'd love to see the world more fully explored.
Unfortunately for whatever reason, Nix doesn't explore the world and the story enough. It's much more like eating watery soup than it is like consuming a good meal.The Abhorsen Trilogy, on the other hand, is a great work, and although it's not a classic literature sort of story, the world itself is fleshed out well, so that the reader can really imagine the world and lose themselves in it.
Ultimately, Nix's imagination seems to know no bounds, but if he would slow down and put more life into these books, I think they would be much better. Hopefully his next fantasy series will be more like The Abhorsen Trilogy.-Lindsey Miller, [.].
Even though promotions are physical movements to a higher floor, conditions aren't really improved, one's peers are bitterly resentful, and one only gets a different coloured umbrella in return for all that hard work). Although he has managed to win five Keys from the immortal Trustees that rule over the House (the epicenter of the universe) and free five parts of the Will (the embodiment of the legislation left behind by the mysterious Architect) he still has the two most dangerous challenges left to defeat: the powerful Superior Saturday and the enigmatic Lord Sunday.As in all the books, Arthur must free the next part of the Will and wrest the Key from the Trustee, but Nix's skill as a storyteller keeps this formula from getting stale. Every time he uses the power of the Keys, more of his mortal self is sapped away, along with the chance to return home to a normal life. The terrible Nothing is swallowing up the lower portions of the House, many of his allies are unreliable, and a nuclear bomb attack threatens his home city.
By this stage, the books are so complex that it's impossible for a beginner to start things here, what with the sheer amount of information concerning the House, the Trustees, the Will and various other powers and personalities contained within the series. With his family and friend Leaf endangered on the one hand, Arthur must make an intractable decision regarding his own humanity to (literally) buy some time for the safety of his loved ones.Meanwhile, Superior Saturday stands in her impossibly tall tower soaked by constant rainfall, the square iron cubicles that make up its height constantly being raised in her attempts to breach the base of the Incomparable Gardens where Lord Sunday resides. (Could this be Nix's sly nudge at corporate life. The longest week of Arthur Penhaligon's life is drawing to a close in this, the penultimate installment in Garth Nix's "The Keys to the Kingdom" seven book series. As others have suggested, perhaps it's better to wait until the publication of The Keys to the Kingdom #7: Lord Sunday and read the "weekend books" one after the other in a single volume. But at the same time, Arthur himself is going through some rather profound changes.
Although his transition into a Denizen of the House means supernatural strength and the elimination of his athsma, it also has the troubling side-effect of loosing much of his empathy toward lesser life-forms. Struggling to stifle his newfound sense of arrogance, one can *feel* the weight on this young man's shoulders, even as his body looses many of its weaknesses.
But like a giant chess-game, the pieces now seem to be in place for the final battle: the Piper, Saturday and Sunday, Dame Primus, and Arthur himself are all ready for the final climactic battle (as well as an intriguing reappearance from the Old One that will surely have its consequences in next book). By this stage, the situation is dire and things just keep getting worse for our intrepid hero.
But for long time readers this is a satisfying read.for the most part. All of the Trustees embody one of the seven deadly sins, and Saturday jealously coverts Lord Sunday's position, which opens up an opportunity for Arthur (and Suzy Turquoise Blue, of course) to infiltrate her realm.By this stage Arthur is a proactive, three-dimensional hero who has accepted the burden placed upon him.
He makes his plans, stands up to Dame Primus, and goes undercover with the grease monkeys that oversee the growth of the tower. Superior Saturday herself, one of the most dangerous entities in the entire series, is disappointingly absent for most of the book, and although all of the books thus far has been relatively self-contained with a clear beginning-middle-end to the adventures, "Superior Saturday" ends on a frustrating cliffhanger.
I'm looking greatly forward to "Lord Sunday."
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