Grim Tuesday
Keys to the Kingdom 2
Garth Nix

Allen & Unwin 2004
290pp., pbk $14.95
1741172547

Grim Tuesday is the second book in the fantasy series “The Keys to the Kingdom” written by Garth Nix. I had not read the first book Mister Monday but I found you didn’t need to have read it because I could easily follow the story. The second book does refer back to the first book quite a bit which helped me know what happened before.

In this book the same main character, Arthur Penhaligon, again enters the other world of the Kingdom. In the first book, Arthur had inherited a key to the kingdom from the mysterious Will who is now keeping the key safe for Arthur. So this time he has no key to the front door so even trying to enter creates many exciting moments. He ends up in a place called the “Far Reaches”.

Arthur’s enemy is an evil presence called Grim Tuesday. Grim has been given slaves by the other keepers of the keys and he is trying to bring financial disaster to Arthur’s (and our) world. Grim’s henchmen are trying to stop Arthur from finding the mysterious Will and inheriting the second key. Grim, of course, wants it for himself and will do anything to keep the second key.

I really enjoyed this book. I found it very exciting and hard to put down. The language the author uses makes it easy to imagine the action that is happening and the places they happen. I would recommend this book to boys and girls from Year 6 upwards.

Lillian, 12 years, Sydney.

The book is an older teen book. The story line is good but a bit complicated in some parts. There weren’t any illustrations apart from the front and back cover. The book is about a person called Arthur Penhaligon. He has to find the second piece of the Will, get the second key and save his house and the world form the evil Grim Tuesday. Can he do it?

Overall I liked the book, but it shouldn’t have gone on for so long.

Brittany , aged 13, South Australia