Mister Monday - Book One of the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. (Fantasy; Young Adult)Reason for Reading? After not really enjoying Jim Butcher's work, I wanted to read something that was both light and that I knew I'd enjoy. I knew this book fit the criteria. Also, I read this book almost five years ago now, in my first year of university. I have not, however, read the following books in the series, despite the fact that books two and three have been sitting neglected on my bookshelf for almost the same length of time. I decided it was time to get back to them, and I thought that it might be a good plan to refresh my memory of the first book before I moved on to the later ones.Was it Good? Yes, of course it was. If it wasn't, I wouldn't care about rereading it or reading any of the later books in the series.Why? These books appeal to me in the same way that the Harry Potter books do - that is, fantasy for young adults that doesn't assume that all children are idiots, all adults are idiots, OR that all children are just eagerly waiting around to encounter their first true love. (All these are things that cropped up frequently enough in the young adult books that I encountered when I was young adult that I pretty much wrote off that whole section of bookstores until I was an adult and I was willing to give another shot. In fact, prior to the Harry Potter books, the only young adult books I can remember reading and enjoying were the Animorphs books.) Whoa, there's a tangent for ya. Getting back on track, I like these books because they are intelligent fantasy for young people. Nix has clearly done historical and mythological research for this work, but is in no way trapped by it. There are references to several different mythologies; some obvious, some considerably more subtle. This (of course) appeals to the nerd in me.The characters are interesting and (the human characters at least) are people you can relate to. The best part of this book in my opinion, however, is the world that Nix sets up. It is both sensible and nonsensical in a way that is rarely found in adult fantasy books. I find it to be crisp and imaginative, and for all that Nix writers darker young adult works than most young adult authors, still pleasantly innocent. I would go into greater detail about the world, but I think that to do so when give more spoilers than I am comfortable giving, even with a spoiler warning. In short, this book is NEAT. I find myself wondering about what sorts of natural laws would apply to the universe within the book, if any. What's it about? It's about a boy named Arthur, who, like the vast majority of main characters in young adult fantasy, finds himself drawn into a greater destiny than he had thought he would have. In this case, he is named heir in another (sorta) world by a Will, and he must venture to this world to claim his, er, inheritance. It's had to describe without spoilers, but suffice to say he confronts plagues, bureaucracy, frogs in the throat, and creatures of Nothing. It is quite fantastical, in the truest sense of the word.Who's your favourite character? Probably Arthur, the main character, actually. It's rare that I like the main character best, but there it is. Favourite secondary character This is interesting. You see, the first time I read this book, it was easily, EASILY, Monday's Noon. But on the rereading, I find myself more fond of Monday's Dusk, the Will and Suzy. I also quite like the Old One, but there wasn't enough of him to say he's one of my favourites. I'm not quite sure why this has changed, but I *still* love the fact that Noon has (literally) a silver tongue. Would you recommend this book to others? Yes. Yes, absolutely. I would also recommend this book to a really wide range of people. Young and old, long time fantasy fans and people who've never read fantasy before in their lives. I would especially recommend this book to people who have been feeling a little melancholy without any new Harry Potter books to read. Anything Else? As you may have gathered from my frequent comparisons to the Harry Potter series, I think this series is woefully unknown in comparison, and deserves the same sort of exuberant attention that JKR's books got. I know that I would eagerly attend a release party for these books. (I have to admit, the only thing that ever made me sort of wish that I could stomach the Twilight books was seeing the line-up for the release of Breaking Dawn. I'll be honest - I really miss those midnight lineups. And the movie lineups just aren't the same.) I think the imagery in this book is Phenomenal. I can see everything in this book so clearly in a way that most books don't grant. It makes me want to draw boat loads of fanart for it, which frankly, is rare. I thought that this desire might have diminished on the second reading, but it has not. I may, in fact, have to draw fanart for this, just to quiet my brain some. I haven't yet only because I'm unsure I can do it justice.
First Look: 4/5 This looked so cool. I loved the concept, and the cover was cool and slightly creepy at the same time. Just goes to show you that you can't judge a book by its cover. Argh.Setting: 1/5 It didn't make any sense. I was so confused. Yes, it was all explained in logical terms, but still. It just felt so out-there. I couldn't believe a word of it. Not for one minute. I had trouble imagining it, because it just felt so incredibly random. It felt just thrown-together. The characters would run into a setting-related obstacle, and then--BOOM! Hey, guess what? There's actually an insert-something-way-too-convenient that we can use to get out of this dangerous situation! Yay! Not okay, people.Characters: 1/5 I couldn't like Arthur, either. The book begins with him whining about how he has to move to a new school, and so on. And then he nearly dies from a slow jog. I started out hating him, and didn't stop. To me, he came off as whiny and incompetent. He was slow to figure things out. He was selfish and ordered people around, when he wasn't cowering in sheer terror. He didn't seem realistic at all. I got no sense of personality from him whatsoever.The other characters weren't any better. I'm sorry, but I couldn't take the Will seriously as a...frog. Suzy just seemed super-hyper and jumpy one minute, and ancient the next. Mister Monday wasn't scary at all. Or sloth-ish, for that matter. I didn't like any character except for Leaf, but she was only in the book for a chapter or so.Plot: 2/5 This frustrates me so much. This plot had so much potential, but in the end it just didn't work. Like the setting, it didn't make much sense and felt almost random. It didn't flow like it should. It was fast, yes, but I got bored anyway. Because I didn't care one bit. I didn't care that the characters were facing certain death. I didn't care that a plague was killing everyone, because I was never given a reason to care. It's not good when certain death and fast-paced action is simply boring.Uniqueness: 4/5 I have to give it points in this area. Personification of the days of the week? Brilliant!* Throw in the Seven Deadly Sins while we're at it? Twice as brilliant! Unfortunately, it didn't follow through.Writing: 1/5 So. Much. Telling. Wow. I'm serious. There was soooo much telling in this book, and hardly any showing. I could hardly picture what was going on throughout the entire thing. The dialogue felt awkward and realistic. It moved way too fast. There's a whole list of things, both major and small, that I could list here, but let's just sum it up: I did not like the writing at all. It just felt disconnected and TOLD me what was going on instead of letting me experience the story for myself.Likes: Um...Not-so-great: This book took me over a week and a half to read. Folks, a week and a half. My average time to read a book hovers around 3-4 days. Not good.And...there were some rather atheist remarks in this book. Atheist remarks along the lines of "Life after death? Pshaw! We just turn back into nothingness and never go to Heaven 'cause there's no heavenly being to go to!" This does not do anything to help me like this book.Total Score: 1/5 I feel like I'm not being fair to this book. And maybe I'm not. I don't know. Maybe I just didn't like it because school started last week, and cut all my reading time down so it took me forever to finish. Maybe I was in a bad mood whenever I read this. But, still, it didn't work. The writing just told me everything that happened. The characters weren't the least bit likable or realistic. The plot had so much promise, but it just fell flat in the end. Just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover. Not recommended at all.*I can't exclaim "Brilliant!" without using a British accent. Keep that in mind as you read this to yourself.
What do You think about Mister Monday (2006)?
I remember picking this book up because I liked Nix's Abhorsen trilogy so much, but this one is kind of a big letdown after the greatness that was Abhorsen. It's just a run of the mill mid-grade fantasy quest Arthurian/Christian symbolism story. And to make matters worse, for me anyway, is that it is just so whimsical and overly descriptive. Two things I dislike on their own, but in combination? STABSTABSTAB. Also, I pretty much just hate stories where the magic has no logic or rules or structure and everything is possible because magic. It makes me twitchy and annoyed and puts me in a book-throwin' mood. Blah. At least it was a quick read. But mostly skimming 16 pt font doesn't take that long. So, yeah, this one? Not for me.
—Becky
This was my first Garth Nix book and it won't be the last, especially since I want to see what happens on the other days of the week. And I have to admit that I probably liked it so much because it was so well narrated. I've found that I enjoy most fantasy books more when I listen to them rather that read the print copy. I think that's partly because I'm doing some mundane, boring task while I'm listening to this story of strange and often bizarre things that take place in an other-worldly situation. Good escape and nothing to take seriously, although I did find myself caring what happened to Arthur.
—BJ Rose
The book starts off great, and then devolves into very dull and pedestrian YA fiction. I bought it from our local used book shop on the strength of the first several pages, in which the world is established. The beginning reads like a saga or a good role-playing session: there is an incredibly powerful artifact called the Will which must never be used but cannot be destroyed. So the powers that be have split the Will into seven parts, and scattered those seven parts across all of creation. We see that one segment of the Will has been taken to the last few moments of the universe, contained in a time bubble on the surface of a neutron star within an unbreakable box in the center of an eldritch clock face, guarded by twelve wardens who resemble nothing so much as Simmons' Shrike. The jailers visit periodically, to survey that everything is contained properly. The Will is so powerful that even its segments are fully sentient, and by careful and patient subterfuge, the segment manages to trick one of the jailers into inadvertently helping it to escape. It then sneaks into and possesses the jailer, manipulating him further to convince Mister Monday (of the title) into bestowing one of his keys of power - the minute hand of a clock (you can tell that clocks and Time are a big motif) onto a mortal. But when we get to that point, the story collapses into mediocrity.There's two major categories of problem I have with the book at this point. First, the plot is such a rote copy of the template for modern YA fantasy novels that there is no tension, surprise or delight in reading it. YA novels like this one feature a lowly junior high school student who is an outcast and/or misfit (usually from a broken home) who stumbles across some amazing object that bestows astonishing powers upon the bearer. The kid wrestles for some time with this, at first denying it, then letting his curiosity (often fueled by desperation engendered by some external threat) lead him to using the object to go to Another Place, where he spends some time bumbling around until he meets the Plucky Native. The Plucky Native serves as a guide, then later a friend and/or romantic interest. The kid is still in denial about being the Chosen One, but when the Plucky Native is kidnapped/threatened, he has to step up and own his powers so that he can save his friend/lover. The big bad guy makes an appearance, usually to try to reclaim the object that the kid has. They fight, and all looks bad for the kid until he pulls some clever reversal and defeats the bad guy. Then the kid tries to resume his normal life. If you've read any fantasy YA books in the last twenty-five years, you've seen this plot again and again. The setting of this book is so imaginative, but the plot seems produced wholly by a template.The second major problem I have with the book is that the protagonist is singularly unlikable and unrelate-able. Reading "Mister Monday," I had no sympathy for or connection with the kid. Instead I found him whiny and irritating throughout.
—Harold Ogle
