My relationship with Australian author Garth Nix is an odd one. My first introduction to Nix was in middle school when I attempted to read his famous Sabriel novel after being relentlessly urged to do so by friends. I couldn't get further than one hundred pages. It was so excruciatingly boring that I had to stop -and I rarely give up on books that after I've begun them. Considering my taste in literature, Nix's books should fit perfectly with my preferences, but something about them just falls short. I thought I'd try again with the first book in Nix's The Keys to the Kingdom series, Mister Monday. The book is very similar to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and is even being touted as the next Harry Potter. I can definitely see the connects between Mister Monday and these other series, but there is little else there besides the fact that Mister Monday is a somewhat dark, young adult fantasy novel. Mister Monday follows the story of Arthur Penhaligon who, during an asthma attack, is entrusted with a magical key by the mysterious Mister Monday. Not long after, Arthur's hometown is ravaged by an unexplainable plague. In order to fight the plague, Arthur decides to enter the House (which only he can see) to find a cure. He ends up meeting an odd collection of characters that have some connection to time, setting the House back on its course, and of course, finding a cure for the plague. The book is about as confusing and boring as it sounds. It took me a considerable amount of time to get into it, only to find that the plot makes little to no sense. This confusion is only helped by the fact that Nix tends to rely on extremely vague descriptions of characters and environments that leave the reader wondering where the characters are and what they look like. The characters themselves are paper thin. While Nix creates some unique characters and a fairly interesting hierarchy within the House, it falls flat on its face because the characters are underutilized and not given enough time and attention to mature. I personally disliked the lack of a group of constant supporting characters in the novel. While there were a few, they appeared so little that they didn't have time to make an impact on the reader. That's the biggest difference between The Keys to the Kingdom and Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. The two latter (and more successful) series have wonderful collections of supporting characters, while Kingdom spends so much time trying to explain the plot and the world that their is little time for anything else. I think that there are some wonderful ideas here, but I Nix simply didn't take the time to adequately develop them for the novel
I think that there are some wonderful ideas here, but I Nix simply didn't take the time to adequately develop them for the novel