October 3, 2010

Review : Lady Friday by Garth Nix

Title : Lady Friday
Author : Garth Nix
Reading Dates : 30 Aug - 30 Aug 2010
Lady Friday (Keys to the Kingdom, Book 5)
Keys to the Kingdom
The books in the series include :
  • Mister Monday
  • Grim Tuesday
  • Drowned Wednesday
  • Sir Thursday
  • Lady Friday
  • Superior Saturday
  • Lord Sunday
From goodreads :
Four of the seven Trustees have been defeated and their Keys taken, but for Arthur, the week is still getting worse. Suzy Blue and Fred Gold Numbers have been captured by the Piper, and his New Nithling army still controls most of the Great Maze. Superior Saturday is causing trouble wherever she can, including turning off all the elevators in the House and blocking the Front Door. Amidst all this trouble, Arthur must weigh an offer from Lady Friday that is either a cunning trap for the Rightful Heir or a golden opportunity he must seize - before he's beaten to it!


Book Review of Lady Friday.
I alternated between loving and disliking this book. This is primarily because I enjoyed the parts involving Arthur but the ones involving Leaf were rather boring.

I suppose the reason I didn't enjoy Leaf's story is because I can't like or understand her. Her character seems to be more for convenience, a character who is needed to carry out certain actions outside of the House and who is not bound by any of its restrictions. So, the parts of the tale involving Leaf always feels like a distraction which could have been avoided. And so, I usually skip these parts of the story whenever possible.

Arthur's part of the tale on the other hand, I enjoyed. One of the reasons for this is his personality. Rather than attacking or suspecting everyone, Arthur prefers to use peaceful means to gain his way and it is wonderful to read a story where the nice guy wins because he is nice. An example are the telephone operators going against their orders and choosing to help Arthur simply because unlike most denizens, Arthur is polite when talking to them.

It is this part of Arthur's character that gains him unexpected assistance whenever he's in trouble. He makes a temporary alliance with Banneret Ugham, a Newnith assigned to watch Suzy Turquoise Blue and gains an understanding of the Newniths which could be important for the future. He also manages to take over Friday's domain with little problem due to his willingness to help Friday's Dawn and the Winged Servants of the Night.

The part I liked best though was meeting the fifth part of the Will who espouses moderation. So far, the Will is usually impractical, choosing to focus more on trivialities even during dangerous times. It was nice to meet a part of it which showed good sense for once.

My conclusion : An enjoyable read for fantasy fans.

2 comments:

  1. Hi! Just stopping by and following from the Blog Hop!
    Stop by mine if you get a chance.
    Hafsah @ IceyBooks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Am also hopping by. You have great stuffs here. Will be visiting here regularly.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...