I bought this book, and the other six in the series, for $3 each at a supermarket in Singapore. I took them with me to Sydney, to Auckland, then back to Singapore, then to Atlanta, and then at last brought them home with me to Melbourne, three years after buying them. Having invested so much of my always precious baggage allowance in these books for such a long time, I was really hoping they were worth it.
I think that’s why I’ve never actually read them. I was scared they wouldn’t be.
Well, if Mister Monday is any indication, I used my suitcase space wisely. What a stunningly original and utterly bizarre world Nix has created here, in this Middle Grade fantasy series about a boy who is thrust into an alternate world by sheer chance (I think?) and ends up being the only one who can save it. Of course. Okay, so maybe the plot isn’t as original as the world.
In fact, given that our young hero’s name is Arthur Penhaligon, I’m assuming that he is based on King Arthur, and yeah, you know how much I love Arthurian myth. But that is the worst part of the book (and, I hope, series), the rest is filled with breezily impossible people and impossible places and a strong, capable heroine in Suzy Blueshoes, a denizen of the weird world in which Arthur so precipitously finds himself, and a deity who is female and is betrayed by her adjutants. So there’s religious allegory, as well.
There is a lot of action in this book, and once it gets going it is quite exhilarating — for its target audience, I am sure the book is a total thrill ride. (Though, definitely confusing, and how all the magic of the world of the House — the alternate dimension — works is anyone’s guess.) I liked it a lot, am very worried about the world outside the House, with Arthur’s hodgepodge of a fused family living amidst the threat of plague and such. But it is Arthur’s quest to understand the Will of the Architect (goddess) of the many worlds and save her from her power-hungry, sinful (as in, Seven Deadly Sins-ful) lieutenants that is at the heart of the book, and, I assume, series.
I enjoyed this one enough, and am curious enough about what happens, that I’ll definitely be jumping back into it soon. Very pleased I liked it. Otherwise, all those air miles these books took with me would have been a huge regret.
SCORECARD
TBR DAY 46: Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom #1) by Garth Nix
GENRE: YA Fantasy
PUBLISHED: 2003
TIME ON THE TBR: ~ 10 years.
PURCHASED FROM: Carrefour, Singapore.
KEEP: Probably not. I’ll pass it on to a suitable pre-teen.
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