Australian author, Garth Nix follows on from Mister Monday with a fast-paced, action packed story featuring a new nemesis named Grim Tuesday. In doing so he has cemented the reader’s expectation that the book will become the centre of all their activity until the series is completed.
Arthur Penhaligon thinks that he has escaped the perils of the other realm and the House, which is his inheritance now that he has successfully defeated Mister Monday and has managed to get some sleep. He has not fully understood the time difference between the two places however, when he is awoken by a phone call from Dame Primus. It seems he will need to travel back into the House to save his family and his world as the villainous Grim Tuesday has found a way to take control of the Lower house. This is something that can not be allowed to happen.
There is mischief afoot and if Arthur does not intervene, the whole world will be plunged into financial disarray. Tuesday holds the second key and it must be retrieved. The challenges that Arthur must endure and overcome involve some old and new friends. In order to save the House, they have to work together to fight against Nithlings, the collectors of a dangerous substance called Nothing that is mined from a huge pit and can create all kinds of evil.
Nix continues to use vivid imagery in his descriptions of tormented creatures and fierce fight sequences, yet still manages to portray emotional content as almost a subtext as he unravels the next section of Arthur’s quest. He has compiled a slightly darker and more foreboding collection of nasties in the book, but his bringers of light are very engaging.
Once again, an easy to read book that has the reader turning the pages and looking for the next event to occur. The realm within and beyond the House is gaining substance and this volume stands solid with a desire for more editions of this tale to be released.
Reviewed by Leanne Caune
Rating out of 10: 9
Distributed by: Allen & Unwin
Re-released: March 2018
RRP: $16.99
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