Mister Monday: Keys to the Kingdom Book 1 [Mass Market Paperback]

THIS BOOK WAS THE BEST NUMBER ONE 1. THIS A BOOK THAT YOU DONT NEED TO THINK AS MUCH TO KNOW WHATS GOING ON AND IT MAKES A VERY CLEAR PICTURE WITH ALL THE DETAILS THAT WAS GIVEN.

Arthur Penhaligon has asthma. As a result, he ends up in the hospital regularly. But one day he encounters a strange man called Mr. Monday and his creepy butler, who leave him with a Key shaped like a minute hand and a little book with dancing letters. When he returns home after another stay in the hospital, Arthur finds that the Key seems to be attracting unwanted attention -- a statue of a Komodo dragon comes alive, and a winged man-dog tries to come into his house. What's more, a House has appeared -- one that is also inside the little book.

Soon Arthur is being pursued by more dog-faced Fetchers, and a strange plague is sweeping his town -- and somehow the Key is keeping him alive, even though he was supposed to die of an asthma attack. His answers lie inside the House. But what lies beyond it is like nothing in our world, where ghastly nithlings roam and the Piper's children run wild in the streets. And the sinister Mr. Monday wants the Key back.

Garth Nix takes his focus from high fantasy (such as the Abhorsen trilogy or the Seventh Tower series) to a more modern fantasy that takes place in our world. Though Arthur skips to another world, he's clearly from our own world. But Nix doesn't downplay his brand of horrific fantasy either; stuff that would seem silly for most other authors is magic in his hands.

As in his other books, he melds an exceptional, original fantasy world with elements of horror. The handling of the parallel world, the Will, Sneezer, and the Key and Atlas are all wonderfully woven together (not to mention the characters of Dawn, Dusk, Noon for each day, and so on). At the same time, we have the bloodwinged, silver-tongued Noon and the ugly Fetchers, not to mention the hideous nithlings. This is dark fantasy at its best.

Arthur is a likable kid, with an unusual problem (asthma). Like most of Nix's heroes, he's desperately running and searching, and learning from those ahead of him. Quirky Suzy is reminiscent of a Lloyd Alexander heroine. The writing is detailed, evocative, and never lags for a minute.

"Mister Monday" is another great book from Garth Nix, combining darkness and fantasy and leaving me eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. Brilliant.

Arthur doesn't know what to do, but he knows that he cannot stay at school when an army of dog-faced Fetchers show up to get the key from him. Even more frightening than the Fetchers is Mr. Noon, who is just as beautiful as the man who gave him the key, and just as deadly. When a deadly virus strikes Arthur's new town, he knows that he has no choice but to go into the House. When he passes through the gateway, Arthur is immediately plunged into a strange world where people collect paper and writing and the children the Pied Piper lured off are trapped. Suzy, one of the trapped children, decides to help Arthur and, together with the Will, a mysterious creature that Arthur is not sure is helping him or not, Arthur and Suzy set out to win the other key from Mr. Monday and take over the world so that Arthur can return home. But it seems that everyone Arthur meets has another plan and he doesn't know who to trust and why was he chosen to have the key anyway?

Mister Monday was a good book and I enjoyed it, but it was pretty confusing and very different than other books that I have read. I was kind of expecting this because Garth Nix writes a lot of really good dark fantasy, but it isn't what you would call easy to understand. I liked Arthur, but he was a little standoffish and the other characters were pretty weird too. The worlds that Arthur explored were the most confusing, but this may be on purpose because the reader only learned and understood things when Arthur learned and understood them. I think it may be too confusing for younger readers, but older readers and those who have enjoyed the Harry Potter series will enjoy having another set of books to read in between waiting for Rowling's next offering. This appears to be the first in what will be a new series for Nix and I am eagerly awaiting the next - Mr. Tuesday, I presume?