I picked this book up on a whim while browsing the small selection currently available at my local library. I read some of Garth Nix's other novels (the ones about the Necromancer...) while in middle school and remembered really enjoying them, so I decided to give this one a shot.
Arthur isn't one of the cool kids. He never was. So on the first day at a new school, he has no intentions of being the center of every one's attention. Then they gym teacher asks him to run. Which puts him in the center of attention for, you see, Arthur has asthma. Very bad asthma. So, as he begins to run and become short of breath...on comes an asthma attack. He gets help from a brother and sister named Ed and Leaf, who run for help. While in the middle of the attack, Arthur has a hallucination.
A man named Mister Monday, in a wheelchair appears, out of nowhere. He tells him something about a Will, and mentions something about an heir, and after being assured that Arthur is most certainly about to die, hands him something. Only...Arthur doesn't die.
From the minute (no pun intended) that he grabs hold of the 'Key' he can breathe. He later finds out that he can do other things as well...like unlock doors. Or freeze people...literally, if he has the key in his hands. He is drawn into a fight for...well, right? I suppose?
This book started out very confusing to me, with asthma attacks and strange people showing up out of nowhere and deep booming voices...and there were several times that I almost put it down. Its a book that is definitely meant for children. But then I would read a passage like this and it would fill me with wonder and I had to keep going:
I mean...come on! Who wouldn't want to open an elevator and see an office amidst a forest?? Its the sort of thing my childhood dreams were made of. A forest to sit around a campfire and read in, but still have a place to get out of the rain? :) So maybe its most certainly a kids book. But I'll be reading book two as soon as I can, to find out what happens, and to see what adventures they have next.
Arthur isn't one of the cool kids. He never was. So on the first day at a new school, he has no intentions of being the center of every one's attention. Then they gym teacher asks him to run. Which puts him in the center of attention for, you see, Arthur has asthma. Very bad asthma. So, as he begins to run and become short of breath...on comes an asthma attack. He gets help from a brother and sister named Ed and Leaf, who run for help. While in the middle of the attack, Arthur has a hallucination.
A man named Mister Monday, in a wheelchair appears, out of nowhere. He tells him something about a Will, and mentions something about an heir, and after being assured that Arthur is most certainly about to die, hands him something. Only...Arthur doesn't die.
From the minute (no pun intended) that he grabs hold of the 'Key' he can breathe. He later finds out that he can do other things as well...like unlock doors. Or freeze people...literally, if he has the key in his hands. He is drawn into a fight for...well, right? I suppose?
This book started out very confusing to me, with asthma attacks and strange people showing up out of nowhere and deep booming voices...and there were several times that I almost put it down. Its a book that is definitely meant for children. But then I would read a passage like this and it would fill me with wonder and I had to keep going:
The elevator opened out onto a shaded grove of very tall, very thick-trunked trees. They formed a circle around a roughly trimmed lawn, which had the remains of a campfire sitting in a burnt patch at its center. A narrow but beautifully clear stream cut through one corner, burbling gently along. A wooden footbridge crossed the stream, with a paved path leading across to an open summerhouse that was like an old-fashioned bandstand. In the summerhouse were a desk, a lounge chair and some bookcases.
"Here we are," said Suzy. "The Office of the Efficiencer General."
I mean...come on! Who wouldn't want to open an elevator and see an office amidst a forest?? Its the sort of thing my childhood dreams were made of. A forest to sit around a campfire and read in, but still have a place to get out of the rain? :) So maybe its most certainly a kids book. But I'll be reading book two as soon as I can, to find out what happens, and to see what adventures they have next.
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