Drowned Wednesday (The Keys to the Kingdom, #3) in Aussie Readers

May 23, 2014 Anne Hamilton rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australia-nz, fantasy, spec-fic, ya

A medley of literary and Scriptural allusions drift in and out of this book.

A touch of the story of Jonah and the whale, with a hint of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea thrown in. A whiff of Celtic legend in the reference to the Red Hand, and also of Norse legend mediated via Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy plus a more hefty dollop of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, both in the Raised Rats and the sea that spills over into a bedroom. There's also a glancing nod to The Silver Chair in the thought th A medley of literary and Scriptural allusions drift in and out of this book.

A touch of the story of Jonah and the whale, with a hint of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea thrown in. A whiff of Celtic legend in the reference to the Red Hand, and also of Norse legend mediated via Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy plus a more hefty dollop of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, both in the Raised Rats and the sea that spills over into a bedroom. There's also a glancing nod to The Silver Chair in the thought that perhaps Arthur is not actually invited to a feast, so much as to be the feast. Then of course there's the odd allusion to Alice in Wonderland and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Like the salvagers in the book who picked up flotsam and jetsam from the Border Sea, Nix has raided the rich froth of many classic works and blended together the finest story in this series so far.

This one packs an emotional punch - largely because Drowned Wednesday is such a tragic figure. It was hard to feel any sympathy for slothful Monday or greedy Tuesday but gluttonous Wednesday is a victim of the wiles of others. (Hmmm... just noticed as I wrote that last sentence that three of the seven deadly sins have turned up. I guess that means there are going be more...)

Once again, as in Grim Tuesday, there is clear evidence of Nix dealing with his own name - and these are my favourite kinds of books. I just love the whole Jacob-wrestling-with-the-angel aspect of this sort of fiction.

Arthur has received an invitation to a feast of 17 removes from Lady Wednesday and he's anxious about it. Holed up in the hospital with a broken leg and a return of his asthma, he realises that it only a matter of time before someone from the House arrives to spirit him away. His friend Leaf comes to visit and is there when a huge wave breaks into the room and washes his bed away.

Leaf is rescued by a ship with shimmering green sails - and Arthur is accidentally left behind. He's alone on the sea in a sinking bed, rapidly moving towards a line of storms. Picked up by the Moth, a ship converted from a counting house, he finds he has made an enemy of the dread pirate Feverfew.

His thoughts of approaching Lady Wednesday for help are met with stunned horror. It seems that Wednesday went mad some millennia ago, turned into a whale and began eating everything in sight. She's even eaten her own officials. Nothing escapes her voracious appetite and she has become a monstrous leviathan hundreds of miles long and wide.

Arthur finally realises that he needs to find the Third Key to help both Drowned Wednesday and everyone else on the Border Sea. And, according to some mercantile-minded Raised Rats that he meets, it's hidden by sorcery in the one place no one can ever get to and come back alive. Inside Drowned Wednesday's belly. ...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Karen Field rated it liked it

Garth Nix has let his mind run wild with this series but in my opinion it works well. The story is fast paced and fun to read. The entertainment value is high. There was no talking eye brows in this book but I lived, as I’m sure most readers will. Strangely, the very last paragraph didn’t make sense to me. I suppose it was a set up for the next book - Sir Thursday (The Keys To The Kingdom, Book 4)- but maybe I missed something in the storyline - I’m really not sure.

No matter, I enjoyed the book ...more

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