Mister Monday: Final Thoughts/Verdict

[pangolin20]

Chapters Twenty-Eight and Twenty-Nine | Table of Contents | Grim Tuesday

Kerlois: A good day, everyone, and welcome to Mister Monday, for the very last time! Last time, Arthur got home, finally cured the Sleepy Plague and the book ended with a sequel hook. Now it is time for the final thoughts.

Plot

Vermaanti: Well, the premise of the book wasn’t bad at all, and the ideas and plots were fine, too… but the execution was lacking, to say the least.

Corneille Blanche: The largest problem, I think, is the plague plotline. It does tie in with Arthur’s background, and it could certainly be done well, but it ends up taking over the book without actually doing so. It is only natural that the plague provides Arthur’s motivation to go into the House, especially since the Will promises to help him. It is quite a bit less reasonable that it stays his motivation after the Will has told him that Monday wants to get his Key back and will not stop and after he has been in the Coal Cellar. At some point, I would expect someone to understand that, even if the plague were fixed, Monday and his minions would still be chasing after Arthur, but apparently not.

At the same time, he does not think about it all that much, even when he rightly should, such as after visiting Suzy’s city. It does come back at the end, to be fair, but a bit too strongly; putting the entire ending on the plague, and preventing Arthur from acting on it earlier for angst is… not a good way to end.

Vermaanti: I actually think that Nix made the story up as he went along. That explains how very inconsistent it is and stuff like the plague plotline.

Kerlois: That would fit with such things as the Will giving us an infodump once Arthur reaches the House… and it does explain quite a lot. It is not bad to do so at first, of course, but one should eventually tie everything together, and Nix clearly neglected that. Do we have any particular highlights or low points?

Vermaanti: One particular low point is the whole capture sequence around the middle, where Monday is apparently okay with having Arthur get potentially killed or with him fleeing for no good reason and where Arthur and Suzy lie stunned for half a chapter.

Kerlois: I would submit Arthur being stuck in the Coal Cellar while the rescue mission unfolds outside of him, the spiderwire (never explained) and the battle between Dusk and Noon (and Dawn) being offscreen.

Corneille Blanche: For positives, I would say the Will washing the ambulance away, the Improbable Stair sequence (irrelevant though it might have been), and the whole climax. I really did like how much action it had.

Kerlois: One thing I do want to note is how very strongly this book wraps up. There are no loose threads beyond general sequel stuff left hanging, which I think showed most strongly in Arthur appointing Dawn, Noon, Dusk and Suzy. That could certainly have been left for the sequel, after all. Further, the book ends (before the sequel hook, at least) with the declaration that “all was over”, which is… a bit out of place for the first book of seven. Outside of that, I notice that we do not get very much on things outside of Monday and the Lower House. Sure, Grim Tuesday is mentioned, but not with much specifics, and there is also this:

For the first time, Arthur wondered where those elevators went to. He had always thought Monday’s Dayroom must be at the top of the House. But of course, this was only the Lower House, and there were the regions governed by the Morrow Days above. Or so he presumed.

Arthur shook his head. He shouldn’t be thinking about stuff like that. He had to concentrate on the immediate problem.

Why should we care about the other books in the series, after all? It really feels like Nix tried to write this as a stand-alone book, and it is certainly not to its benefit.

Characters

Arthur Penhaligon

Vermaanti: He’s decent enough as a protagonist. I do like that he’s mostly driven by the urge to keep his family safe and that he has asthma, which does affect him. He’s easy enough to like, though he can be a bit bland and I wish he were a bit quicker on the uptake.

Suzy Turquoise Blue

Corneille Blanche: She has more characterisation than Arthur and I wish we could see more of her, because of how exuberant she can be. (And we have her Tragic Backstory, which is forgotten soon after it is given.) Two things about her handling do bother me, though. The first is that, especially later in the book, she often does not say anything when she is in the scene and she rightly should. The second is the frequent times she almost dies: Noon tries to kill her when fighting with Dusk, she is nearly hit by steam when the spiderwire breaks, Arthur finds a feather once she goes to fight with Pravuil, and she nearly dies after Monday is defeated. I just wish our main female character does not often become a damsel in distress, often for very stupid reasons.

The Will

Kerlois: They are quite a bastard, though one that Arthur cannot quite get rid of, and Nix does justify this dynamic well throughout most of the book. After Arthur and Suzy have reached the Dayroom, though, there is less benefit to staying with them and their behaviour becomes worse… but no one calls them out on it, which is quite irritating. Even more so is that Arthur names her his Steward, despite all the warning signs.

Monday’s Dusk and the Midnight Visitors

Vermaanti: Dusk’s decent enough for his role as mysterious ally. I only wish we saw more of what he feels about this… As for the Midnight Visitors, we don’t even have a solid idea of what they do, so that doesn’t help.

Arthur’s Family

Corneille Blanche: They also fulfil the role they are given, though I doubt Eric and Michaeli needed to be onscreen at the end (in fact, Eric speaking there is all the lines he will have in the series).

Ed and Leaf

Kerlois: They are quite interesting, in that they see Monday and the Fetchers right at the beginning of the book (given that Ed and Leaf are siblings, Leaf’s “second sight” theory might well hold water). After that, Leaf provides Arthur with the first concrete evidence of the plague, so it seems she will be an important character… but then she only appears during the Improbable Stair sequence and then never again. It is quite a waste and poor writing, too.

Mister Monday

Vermaanti: I guess he’s the main villain? At first, he looks like an evil overlord type, though he’s rather undercut by his tendency to constantly fall asleep. During the climax, though, he shows that he’s quite capable and quite motivated to hurt Arthur. (I really liked his performance there!) After he’s been defeated, we also have his redemption… We did learn that he wasn’t always like this earlier, but Arthur doesn’t think about it much, so that whole thing feels weird. At the least, it shouldn’t be brushed off like this.

Monday’s Dawn and the Inspectors

Corneille Blanche: They exist and I suppose the Inspectors are some kind of secret service? The most we see of them is the Inspector in the prologue… who is certainly sympathetic, but is completely forgotten because he only appears in the prologue.

Monday’s Noon and the Commissionaires

Kerlois: Noon is a lovely villain in how openly evil and competent he is, so I love that he gets as much screentime as he does. The Commissionaires are also good in their role as his minions.

Pravuil

Vermaanti: I like the idea of him, as a spy of the other Trustees, but he is much too obvious. To his credit, Nix does make sure that Arthur can’t ditch him and that he has reason to go to Pravuil, but it’s still just a little irritating. Having him come back is a nice choice, though we really should have seen more of his fight with Suzy.

The Old One

Corneille Blanche: He was executed quite well, as a mysterious figure who has no real stakes in the conflict. Because of that, him letting Arthur almost be attacked by the Clock-Marchers does not make him very unlikeable, so well done with him, Nix.

For the other characters… I do not have anything much to say. They are decent enough, mostly.

Setting

Vermaanti: This is one of the stronger points of this book. The Lower House is quite interesting and makes sense, as does the magic. The Earth is also clearly different from that of the audience, which is nicely used.

Kerlois: If I were to complain, I wish that we could see some more of the common people of the Lower House. True, we do get to see the Inspector and a Commissionaire-Sergeant, but they are still official agents. There is also Suzy, but she quickly becomes a main character. I just think the world would feel more lived in if we could hear what it is like for those who live there.

Style

Corneille Blanche: This was quite fine; it fit well with Arthur’s viewpoint and was easy to read. I was only slightly bothered by Nix sometimes using omniscient. Something that I do like is how good Nix is at putting us in Arthur’s head and conveying emotion.

Themes

Vermaanti: It didn’t really have themes, given how inconsistent it was. The strongest one was Arthur deciding to reform Monday instead of killing him, which I appreciate and which does fit with the rest of the series… except that Arthur ought to say something about the Will wanting to kill Monday for that to land entirely well. Outside of that, no, I can’t really think of any specific messages.

How would we improve it?

Corneille Blanche: I would suggest cutting down the first half of the book quite a bit. Delete the prologue entirely; it does not come up again and the Will could tells us that information, too. Then cut down on the exposition about Arthur’s family, as most of it will not be relevant. Cut out the first Fetcher and maybe the second group, too. I would also put Leaf’s email after Noon’s attack to pull these plot threads tighter together.

Vermaanti: I’d go less heavily for “mystery”, and have things like the nature of the House be revealed before Arthur goes in. The sequence with the ambulance and entering the House could be left alone. Then I would have him actually talk to someone outside of the Lieutenant Keeper once he’s in there.

Kerlois: After that, we could meet the Will like in the book, though their infodump would be shorter, and I would remove the records altogether. Then they could still be caught, but that should happen without advance warning and somewhere more sensible than the office of the Efficiencer General. Arthur could still be sent to the Coal Cellar, and that plot could work out mostly as it did, though I would like to see more of the Old One and less of Pravuil.

Corneille Blanche: I would also wish for some indication that Suzy and the Will will come back. The Improbable Stair sequence and being on the Antechamber I would leave, though I would put in some more mentions of Leaf. For the next bit… I would almost like to see the Will instead of Suzy be threatened. After that, we do need an explanation for the spiderwire.

Vermaanti: I’d leave the climax and the denouement mostly intact, though we need a less definite ending. Have the Will be called out on their remarks and Monday have something to do after being reformed. Then have us hear about Suzy’s and Dusk’s battles. For the ending, I would go with Arthur realising that the Nightsweeper will only work at midnight and then using the residual power of the Key to make it work immediately. Then I’d end with a sequel hook.

Overall

Corneille Blanche: All in all… it is not a bad book, but not a great one, either. It reads smoothly enough and it certainly is compelling, but the plot problems keep it from being what it could be. Sure, they are not so conspicuous on a casual read, but if I am to like a book, it should stand up to deeper examination. So I would say this book passes, though it does not rank very highly.

And that is that! Off we go. (picks up Kerlois and leaves along with Vermaanti)

Scales: Well, that was Mister Monday, then! I’ve finally managed to finish a review! I hope whoever read this had fun reading along with me, and maybe you’ll go on to the book that takes its place: Lord Foul’s Bane. See you there!