Mister Monday

Though well written and clearly original, I personally feel most of the characters lack something, a sort of depth. The underlying story is good, but the way the events pan out is rather boring.

The story begins with an introduction to its protagonist, Arthur Penhaligon, a boy from Earth whose parents died in an influenza epidemic when he was a baby so he was adopted by close friends of his parents. As a result of the epidemic Arthur suffers from terrible asthma, the book opens a week or two after he has a fatal attack and surprisingly he has another one. Whilst Arthur is lying on the floor dying, two of his new class mates, Leaf and Ed run off to fetch help, leaving him alone. Whilst on his own Arthur beholds the strange sight of a man being wheeled towards him. Thinking it is a hallucination, Arthur watches the strange sight.

Mister Monday slowly reached inside the left sleeve of his silk robe and pulled out a slender metal spike… He spoke too quickly for Arthur to make out what he was saying. He didn’t slow down until he reached the final few words. “And so let the Will be done.”

Those last few words of Monday are the vital words with thrust Arthur into an adventure of a lifetime; he is thrust into action in the House, leaving a trail of disaster back home on Earth. The House is no ordinary building; it is the epicentre of the universe, with all the secondary realms branching off it. Arthur soon discovers these worlds are in danger and must track down the seven trustees, all of whom are named after the days of the week, and claim their keys and free the seven parts of the Will of the Architect in order to make everything right. When Arthur returns to Earth, another disaster occurs just as it turns Tuesday…