Book Review: Mister Monday

Summary: Arthur Penhaligon's first days at his new school don't go too well, particularly when a fiendish Mister Monday appears, gives Arthur a magical clock hand, and then orders his gang of dog-faced goons to chase Arthur around and get it back. But when the confused and curious boy discovers that a mysterious virus is spreading through town, he decides to enter an otherworldly house to stop it. After meeting Suzy Blue and the first part of "the Will" (a frog-looking entity that knows everything about the House), Arthur learns that he's been selected as Rightful Heir to the House and must get the other part of the clock hand in order to defeat Monday. That means getting past Monday's henchmen and journeying to the Dayroom itself. Thankfully, Arthur is up to the challenge, but as he finds out, his fight seems to be only one-seventh over.

Thoughts: This was one of those reads. You know the ones I'm talking about. The 'I-just-finished-Harry-Potter-what-do-I-even-read-now?' books. Yup, it was one of those and not the first. Was it good? Yes. Did it fill the gaping hole left by finishing amazing books like Gregor, Artemis, and Harry? No.
 This was another young tweens/teens read that copied the generic formula of basically every other book in it's genre (most of which stem off of Harry Potter). While it's story, characters and execution were unique and fun, I didn't sense the deeper things that makes the list above so exceptional. And that's about the only negative thing I have to say for the book.
 Anyways, the plot was one of the more fascinating aspects. If this were a standalone I would have been extremely disappointed with the way the House was explained in a such a slap-dash method. This being a series of seven books? Every scenery change is a teaser. Every explanation opens a thousand more questions! Each turn, twist, and step leads to a glimpse of some new, unexplainable, wonder. And it never took way from the actual plot that kept beating a steady and straight course from the beginning to the end. I especially loved the steampunk feel to the world.
 The writing was good and flowed through naturally, keeping a fairly steady pace until the very end where the climax ascended shockingly and perfectly.
 The characters were all very cute and well handled. And there's a surprise 'Mysterious Helper' I honestly didn't see coming but was really excited to discover. Suzy though was a particular favorite of mine. I rarely see the young girls that pop up during the story brought to life so well and never get annoying. But Suzy felt very real and I loved her for it. Arthur was a fairly well-written character but I found his drive to be more interesting than his reactions to happenings within the story. His adopted, blended family is very precious to him and it was nice to read about a sturdy and happy family that was drowning in debt and parents who weren't dumping their children for the summer. The family was involved as much as possible and I really liked them and their interactions!

Content: A tiny bit of violence, a little bit of blood. Some magic. All in all, a fun read for all ages and a nice bit of clean steampunk!