I just cannot say enough good things about this series. I absolutely love the creativity of Garth Nix. Some of the stuff he comes up with is simply brilliant. In this one, I particularly like the tectonic plates strategy. How very clever and original.
Once again Arthur Penhaligan is wrapped up in the difficulties with the house and wresting the keys from the bad trustees. This time Sir Thursday gets his crack at Arthur and his allies. Sir Thursday is in charge of the Architect's army and once Arthur is drafted for 100 years of service, the game is squarely in Thursday's court. Of course, while Arthur is literally fighting for his life, the trustees are fighting him on another front as well. They have created a nithling boy to replace Arthur on Earth with the threat of destroying his family so Arthur can not ever return home. So now we have Arthur struggling to fight the nithling army, worrying about his family and trying to wrest the key from Sir Thursday as well as finding the fourth portion of the Will.
In case you are wondering about the tectonic plates...the maze of the house is set with different tiles (each one is rather huge). At sundown each day, the majority of the plates shift positions. For example, the plate at location 123,456 may move to location 223,499 which could be many miles away. This allows the denizens of the house to successfully defend the house since they only have to hold out until sundown.
Once again Arthur Penhaligan is wrapped up in the difficulties with the house and wresting the keys from the bad trustees. This time Sir Thursday gets his crack at Arthur and his allies. Sir Thursday is in charge of the Architect's army and once Arthur is drafted for 100 years of service, the game is squarely in Thursday's court. Of course, while Arthur is literally fighting for his life, the trustees are fighting him on another front as well. They have created a nithling boy to replace Arthur on Earth with the threat of destroying his family so Arthur can not ever return home. So now we have Arthur struggling to fight the nithling army, worrying about his family and trying to wrest the key from Sir Thursday as well as finding the fourth portion of the Will.
In case you are wondering about the tectonic plates...the maze of the house is set with different tiles (each one is rather huge). At sundown each day, the majority of the plates shift positions. For example, the plate at location 123,456 may move to location 223,499 which could be many miles away. This allows the denizens of the house to successfully defend the house since they only have to hold out until sundown.
