Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Keys to the Kingdom: Sir Thursday-Garth Nix

Title: Keys to the Kingdom: Sir Thursday
Author: Garth Nix
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Format & Pages: Paperback, 344
Publication: Scholastic, 2006
Source: Own
Rating:Heart Rater Original photo HeartRater_zps372caef9.png Heart Rater Original photo HeartRater_zps372caef9.pngHeart Rater Original photo HeartRater_zps372caef9.pngHeart Rater Original photo HeartRater_zps372caef9.png
“It’s Thursday. Following their adventure on the Border Sea, Arthur and Leaf are set on heading home. But only Leaf can make it through the Front Door. Arthur is blocked because someone-or something- has assumed his identity and is taking over his life.

Before Arthur can take action, he is drafted by the strange Sir Thursday and forced to join the Glorious Army of the Architect. While Leaf tries to banish Arthur’s double on earth, Arthur must survive his basic training, avoid getting posted to the Front and work out how he can free Part Four of the Will.

Is this a war that Arthur can win…or is his only hope to escape it?”


Disclaimer: This is the fourth novel of Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series. You can find my reviews of the first three novels here. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but nonetheless, I suggest you read the previous books first.

 Arthur has finally decided to stop waiting for the Morrow Days to initiate conflict and to start going on the offensive himself. While Arthur tries to listen to Dame Primus, they are interrupted by a letter detailing Arthur's enlistment into the Army of the Architect. For safety, he changes his name to Ray Green and heads into the Great Maze. Unfortunately, Arthur and his new friend Fred get a cleaning between the ears and lose their memories, rendering Arthur useless in hunting down the fourth part of the Will.

We also learn more about what Grim Tuesday made with Arthur's torn pocket. This blocks Arthur from going home. Leaf goes back, hoping to retrieve the pocket from the silent boy, only to encounter a new and much more dangerous contagion has taken hold. The danger is increased as the contagion takes hold of her mind as she struggles to find her way back to the House.

It is revealed who is orchestrating the attack on the Great Maze with the New-Nithlings. These Nithlings are more organized and educated, following orders with precision. They are closer to near creations than they are nithlings. As Arthur struggles to engage these formidable foes, he must also protect himself against Sir Thursday who has known his true identity all along.

Sir Thursday is most definitely Wrath. This is quite evident by a third of the novel. His anger is only more prominent as the novel progresses and we get to see more of his character. By the end of the novel I thought he would have a stroke or something if he was human.

I really liked this novel. Nix really introduced a lot of new elements to draw the reader back into the series if they were wandering as well as move the story along. The story was fast paced with the dual plot lines of Arthur and Leaf. It brought a lot more complexity into the mix which I think was lacking in some of the previous novels.

Prediction Time: Since there are only a few more novels left, I am going to guess the rest of them. Let's see how I do.
  • Lady Friday-Lust
  • Superior Saturday-Pride
  • Lord Sunday-Envy
This is a pretty hard decision, since Lust and Envy can be so similar. So we shall see how this goes.

2 comments:

  1. This series does sound really neat. :) Glad you are enjoying it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It really is an inventive series. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete