On the face of it, Arthur Penhaligon is very poor material for a hero. He is so severely asthmatic that an attack brought on by a compulsory cross-country run at his new school is about to end his life. Someone on the point of death is exactly what the sinister stranger Mister Monday wants, and he gives Arthur a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock. But it doesn't work as Mister Monday intended, for with the key in his hand Arthur can breathe as though he has never had asthma. However, along with the key comes a plague brought by bizarre creatures from another realm--dog-faced men in bowler hats called Fetchers. These, along with Mr Monday and his avenging messengers with blood-stained wings, will stop at nothing to get back the key, even if it means destroying Arthur and everything around him. In desperation, Arthur ventures into a mysterious house--a house only he can see. This is where Arthur must unravel the secrets of the key and discover his true fate. I found this book (especially the Prologue) more bizarre than either Sabriel or Lirael, but every bit as engrossing. I have to marvel at an author who publishes the first book in a long and complex series without having first written all the others. I wouldn't like it myself because if a brilliant deviation from the outlined plot occurred to me for a later book, but it needed a rewrite of the first book, this couldn't be done. Garth Nix has a hard act to follow in this first, highly imaginative book of The Keys to the Kingdom. And he has to do it six times!. Incidentally, I read the following in a review by a young reader here on amazon. com and had to smile. "Written slightly below the level of the Harry Potter books this series should still capture the attention and imagination of young readers attracted to these types of stories. I found it to be a fun and enchanting read, maybe a little tame, but then I'm somewhat older than the target audience. ". How he could have found Arthur's ordeals "tame" I have no idea! And the first Harry Potter book was very firmly a middle-grade novel, despite its length. Amazon. com rates its readership the same as for Mister Monday--ages 9-12, which would be about right. I call that the upper end of the middle-grade readership. Too many books suitable for this age group are classed as "young adult"--possibly because the readership of YA books is more likely to be 15 and under than genuine young adults, and many young readers like to feel they are reading above their age level, so authors and publishers pander to this. I do know that at age 15 I wouldn't have "been seen dead" reading a children's book because, even though 15-year-olds of my generation were considerably less sophisticated than today's 15-year-olds, I considered myself "too old--nearly grown up". Make what you like of that. :-)
These, along with Mr Monday and his avenging messengers with blood-stained wings, will stop at nothing to get back the key, even if it means destroying Arthur and everything around him