Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Prologue

As soon as you read the first sentence of the book, you're hooked. While the page moves on, you really start to understand what is happening. During this first section of the book, you are an inspector looking to see if the fragment of the Will is still held safely, and guarded by the sentinels (large steel guards that are more flexible than a elastic band) to be sure that none can touch the Will. No one has touched the Will for ten thousand years (which I think now means that someone will touch the Will) and it had not changed since the day it was torn. The inspector in my opinion has no sense of fashion, because the book describes him as wearing a white shirt that was not really white, along with a badly tied green necktie that did not adequately disguise the fact that his collar had come adrift. Finally, he is described as wearing a top hat that had "seen much service" and was both squashed and leaning to the left. When he raised it to acknowledge the sentinels, a sandwich wrapped in newspaper fell out. This part of the book takes place on a dead star (dark matter). Each one of the sentinels have a specific time (1 o'clock, 2 o'clock....), and they are in charge whenever it is their time of day. Now that the inspector had seen the Will and knew that all was in order, he began to leave. But as he left he knew that something wasn't right, but he didn't know what, and he also knew that to falsely raise the alarm would be punishable by either demotion or being stripped of his power and memory, and then placed in the secondary realm as a living breathing baby. As the inspector went over to his transport plate, something small, skinny, and very black shot between the legs of the 12 o'clock sentinel and onto the transport plate. Then the alarm went off. I think that this small and black thing, was the Will, and the inspector now will be in A LOT of trouble with those higher up than him. The inspector knew what the black streak was, it was a line of text from the Will, and it had just escaped.

The Keys to the Kingdom Critique

For my critique I have made a section on the positives and one on the negatives that this book has presented to me.

The Positives:
This book through out has brought forward new ideas on how our world works, and how much of our world is controlled by time. During the prologue, we see how time is something that is of great value. As the book progresses and Arthur goes into the house that only he can see, he learns how time never stops for anyone, but him. With the minute hand he can control many forces of nature and can use it along with the hour hand to destroy a day, Mister Monday. I don't want to give away anything that happens in the book, but I will say that this is the first book in the series of seven. The seven days of the week.

The Negatives:
I have read this book several times, and every time that I read it I am slightly disappointed with certain aspects of it. For example: The vocabulary is at points quite weak, while at other points it is strong. Also there are several points in the book that are like a cheesy horror film. Part of you is stressed, worried, and anxious about what is about to happen in the book , while the rest of you knows EXACTLY what is going to happen. As a result of this you aren't surprised, but slightly disappointed. As a result of this, I wouldn't suggest this book for an extremely good reader, but for someone who isn't as worried about vocabulary and predictability.

This book is quite interesting and is a great adventure, but I wouldn't suggest this book to someone who is at a higher than average reading level. While I will suggest this book to someone who is interested in a book with a very good and interesting plot.

Monday, February 25, 2013

The Keys to the Kingdom

Arthur Pehaligon is not supposed to be a hero. He is, in fact supposed to die and early death. But then his life is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand on a clock.
Arthur is safe, but his world is not. Along with the key comes a plague brought by bizarre creatures from another realm. A stranger named Mr. Monday, his avenging messengers with bloodstained wings, and an army of dog-faced Fetchers will stop at nothing to get the key back, even if it means destroying Arthur and everything around him.
Desperate, Arthur ventures into a mysterious house, a house that only he can see. It is in this house that Arthur must unravel the secrets of the key, and discover his true fate.

Keys to the kingdom is a fantasy thriller, that takes place two worlds. The land of reality which we all know to well, and the land of house, where time is controlled by the wealthy, and feared by the poor.