Sunday, June 18, 2006

Sir Thursday: 48 Hours

Sir Thursday by Garth Nix, Series: The Keys of the Kingdom, and yes they really should be read in order. 344 pages, finished at midnight last night, time off to eat.

David Levithan is Garth Nix's editor? And Chris Wooding? I find that interesting, because these are 2 fantasy writers I adore and I have to say congrats to David. The interesting part isn't that David's a great editor -- it's that he's a great editor of fantasy. Now I want to dig around for some of his interviews to see if he's a fantasy reader, and if he plans to write a fantasy himself. (And while some of his work is, I know, not taking place in the "real" world, they are not fantasy the way Nix's and Wooding's work is fantasy.)

But enough about David. (No, we are so not on a first name basis, but it makes me look cool, no?)

Why Garth Nix is fabulous: he's created 2 alternate worlds and, through all the books, remains consistent. The worlds do not contradict their rules; the realities make sense; and they are incredibly complex and layered. Nix has to keep track of a lot of things and I wonder if he has a "bible" with lists and rules and maps and the like. Because I cannot believe he can keep this all straight in his head. The world of Keys to the Kingdom is just too dense, too intricate.

What is also interesting is that in Book 1, I thought Arthur was of "our" world, going into the "other" world. But as details of Arthur's world emerge, I realize his Earth is not our Earth. (Truth be told, there may have been details that revealed this earlier which I just thought were Australian things rather than otherworld things.) Not only do I wonder about Arthur's actual origins, but now I wonder about Emily, his mother, who seems a bit too quick on the pick up when dealing with Denizen-inspired disease.

Loved the interchange between Suzy Blue and Michaeli. Love the mythology. I do find that I forget the minor characters between books; so I look forward to all 7 books being published so I can read them in a row, as if it were one big book.

Next: Wolves of Willoughby Chase, which I began at 10 while getting my hair done.

1 comment:

Michele said...

I've found that I have to re-read the preceding books in the "Keys" series too, before reading a new one otherwise I've forgotten half of what happened before.

I see Arthur's Earth as a slightly futuristic version of ours - much of it is the same, but there are bits and pieces of technology that are rather more advanced than ours...