There exists the improbable stair - you only have to imagine that one exists where there is none, except it may stop at any point(in place or time) and you can't get on again. Normal writers would have stopped at just having to imagine the stair. Garth Nix gives us a history lesson. The Compleat Atlas of the House is a pretty major one; in Lord Sunday Arthur uses it to, ahem, remake the Universe. The main antagonist in this story is Mister Monday, one of the seven Days against whom Arthur must face off. They were seven of the Architect's favourite Denizens and were placed in charge of the The House (in absentia). They were each given one of seven Keys, and the House split into seven Domains, each Day ruling one of these Domains - having absolute power in their Demise. They were also forbidden to enter the Universes outside of the House (the 'Original Law') but they and their minions are capable of going to any place in existence on the day with their namesake (i.e. 'Mister Monday' can go to Earth on a Monday). Unfortunately, though originally pure of heart, absolute power corrupted them, in different ways, absolutely. In the case of Mister Monday, he has the sin of 'Sloth' - extreme laziness. Mister Monday is the possessor of The First Key. Also Despite the fact that it looked like Lord Sunday had plenty of time to tell Arthur when he was trying to convince Arthur to give him the Keys. In fact, telling him the truth could possibly have convinced him. Yet he didn't do it. After all, Sunday's sin is pride... As noted in Too Dumb to Live example above, this is almost as much of a source of problems in the house as the vices, and the deviations from the seven heavenly virtues (most notably the substitution of Judgement for Patience as an opposing virtue to Wrath, but also the use of looser protestant virtues in general rather than their classical counterparts as primary identifiers) are actually clues for the alert reader that something is not quite right with the Will.

First, there's the hero, Arthur Penhaligon. Let me say that again: Arthur. PENHALIGON. PEN HAL IGON. Garth's books include: the YA fantasy Old Kingdom series, including Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Clariel and Goldenhand; SF novels Shade's Children and A Confusion of Princes; and a Regency romance with magic, Newt's Emerald. His fantasy novels for children include The Ragwitch, the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence, The Keys to the Kingdom series and others. He has co-written several books with Sean Williams, including the Troubletwisters series and the forthcoming Have Sword, Will Travel. A fantasy series of seven books by Garth Nix, consisting of Mister Monday, Grim Tuesday, Drowned Wednesday, Sir Thursday, Lady Friday, Superior Saturday, and Lord Sunday. Desperate, Arthur escapes to the mysterious house that has appeared in town - a house that only he can see. Maybe there he can unravel the secrets of the key - and discover his true fate.Innocent Fanservice Girl: Suzy. She thinks nothing of undressing in front of Arthur, and often wears shredded or sliced-open clothing. But then again, she has the body of a child.... Small Role, Big Impact: Monday's Dusk (or Noon, after Mister Monday) is the one actually responsible for the entire series, by facilitating the First Part of the Will's escape. After the first book, he is not seen aside from a couple of scenes in Grim Tuesday and Sir Thursday.

The plot of this book was kind of confusing. I'm not really sure why the Will needed to do what it does because the real world seemed fine. The weird world that Arthur goes to doesn't seem to be in the greatest of shape, but there wasn't really anything outright wrong with it, I think. The book also kind of just throws you into the world without much help, except for the info dumping that occurs sporadically, but always during or right before it's most convenient. The rules of the world don't seem to be clear and seem to allow for pretty much anything to happen, especially if it'll move the plot along. Avoirdupois. I don't think I need say any more. And if you've heard that word before, then you have to be over 40.Laser-Guided Amnesia: Averted in that washing between the ears removes all memories rather than just the personal identity. Four of the seven trustees have been defeated and their Keys taken, but for Arthur Penhaligon, the week is still getting worse. His friends have been captured by the Piper, and the New Nithling army still controls most of the Great Maze. Nice to the Waiter: Arthur is polite to everyone, including those below him. This is such a rare occurence in the House that the telephone operators go out of their way to help him, including defying Saturday herself, because he thinks of saying please, and even recognise him just because he is so polite to them. Anyway, onto my actual review. This book wasn't necessarily bad, it just isn't something that I usually enjoy. While I have read some really good middle grade books, the majority of them don't appeal to me because I find it more difficult to connect to the characters. Arthur isn't an unlikable character, but I couldn't really connect to him. His sole motivation seemed to be curing people of this virus and while that's not a bad motivation there wasn't really any insight into who he was as a person, other than he's a decent human being that doesn't want people to die.

Mobile Maze: The Great Maze, the section of the House used to train the Glorious Army of the Architect. It is a one thousand by one thousand grid of one mile by one mile tiles which randomly switch their positions every day. Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Leaf and especially her brother Branch. Seriously, can you blame the guy for going by 'Ed' instead? Garth Nix has always, and will always, be one of my favourite writers. This series was part of my pre-teen childhood, The Old Kingdom series was part of my young teen years and I still love them to this day, along with his many non-series books. Leaf – A 12-year-old human girl who befriends Arthur. She becomes involved with Arthur's adventures in the House.The original inhabitants of the House are called 'Denizens' and are nearly immortal, though there are a few things that can kill them. Denizens are not supposed to interfere with the normal universe, but they are capable of this to some extent (a Trustee can only go to Earth on their "day") and they do. Apart from original House creatures, there are also the 'Piper's Children' and 'Raised Rats' (a group of anthropomorphic rats), which were both brought into the House by a House creature called the Piper, and so-called 'Nithlings'. Nithlings are creatures that come into existence out of the magical substance 'Nothing'; they can kill Denizens and go to the universe freely. Hordes of Nithlings fight with the Denizens, but there are also Nithlings that are allied with the Denizens and are used, for example, to wreak havoc on Earth. Adults Are Useless: The main heroes are children and the Denizens of the house are either too stupid or stubborn (or corrupt, or bureaucratic, or evil) to change anything. The Piper's Children are also shown to be much more helpful to Arthur than most Denizens. On the other hand, pretty much all the adult humans in the story are shown to be competent or even Reasonable Authority Figures. Apocalypse How: Class Z-1. If the House is consumed by Nothing, Earth and the rest of the Secondary Realms will be gone as well. Specifically, if the Incomparable Gardens are destroyed. First thing in, last thing out. The only exception is the New Architect holding the seven Keys, who can then start over in rebuilding everything from Nothing. The writing is simply written and thought evoking in asking the reader to participate in the mysteries, and the description and characterization are second to none as the reader can fully relate to the multiple characters introduced during the first book. Garth Nix has done a marvellous job in writing an incredible fantasy adventure that will last through the ages. Actually Not a Vampire: While Fetchers are not vampires, being bipedal dog-like humanoids. Howver Arthur specifically notes similar traits between them, such as the fact they Must Be Invited to gain entry to a building, and that they can be killed by salt or silver.

And then there's Suzy Blue, who Arthur meets inside the House. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll content myself by saying she's a typical Nix heroine, even if she's not in the spotlight - smart, capable, and determined. Give her time and she could stand proudly beside Sabriel. Call to Agriculture: The New Nithlings decide that they would rather be farmers than soldiers. Not that they have a choice in the matter. Komisář se opět předklonil a přiblížil zbraň k Arturovu zápěstí. Chlapec vykřikl, ale než stačil něco udělat, nebo se ho dotkla čepel, Klíč mu z nenadání vystřelil z ruky jako šíp. Vnořil se komisaři do hrudní kosti, vyletěl mu ze zad a vrátil se Arturovi do ruky.Monster Whale: Drowned Wednesday's curse turned her into a Leviathan-sized whale. In this form she's so big that she be get mistaken for an island and her Horror Hunger makes her eat people whole. Even though I thought the fantasy elements were whimsically fun and interesting, most of the characters are disguised heroes and villains from the Bible. Although apologists try to make the case the author was using tropes from Joseph Campbell's world mythology books, which I have read from cover to cover - twice - I felt as if I was reading a more intense Nardia adventure with more overt and complex biblical imagery. Grim's Grotesques are named for the Yan tan tethera sheep counting system, though the individual spellings come from differing regional variants of the system, and in fact both Sethera and Azer mean "six" (Az ar, however, does mean seven). Large and in Charge: A physical law in the House. The more power or authority a Denizen or being possesses, the taller and more beautiful they are, while being demoted makes them smaller and plainer. When Arthur meets Pravuil enslaved in the Coal Pit, he gives him the rank of Sir Pravuil, making him grow a couple of inches. Lord Sunday, last of the Trustees and the most powerful, is ten feet tall. As Arthur's body becomes more contaminated with magic and he becomes less human and more like a Denizen, he starts getting taller and more beautiful. This is extremely painful, as human bodies are not supposed to grow several inches taller in a few seconds, or have their teeth and jaw suddenly shift to a more perfect position. He becomes twelve feet when he becomes the New Architect. End of the World" Special: At the end of the series, Arthur becomes the successor to the Architect and is given the opportunity to replace the universe that was just destroyed. Instead of starting from scratch, he just recreates the old universe.