Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix (3/5 stars)

This is the third book in the Keys of the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. This book follows much in the footsteps of the first two books of this series. I listened to this on audio book and the audio book was very high quality.

Arthur is taking a brief respite recovering in the hospital on Earth when he receives an invitation from Lady Wednesday requesting his presence for a lunch meeting. Things go all wrong when the crew sent by Lady Wednesday fail to pick up Arthur and instead grab his friend Leaf. Arthur is left to drift at sea until he is picked up by some scavengers. Arthur needs to find the third part of the will and obtain the third key from Lady Wednesday, as well as find Leaf.

I didn’t really think that the first two books in the series were all that special and this one follows those. These books are very creative and interesting to read; I just can’t seem to get past Arthur’s character. Arthur’s incessant whining drives me crazy. He is always whining about how he thinks this time they really are going to die. I think that this is something that doesn’t need to be constantly spoken out loud. If the characters are in a dire situation and the situation is well described you shouldn’t have to tell your readers that the characters might die; they can figure that out. That being said there was a noticeable change in Arthur in this book. Towards the end of the book Arthur is less whiny and more commanding in his rule as the True Heir of the House. Of course right at the end he has to whine a bit more about how he didn’t chose this and doesn’t want the responsibility, blah, blah, blah.

Some of the new, and old, characters are what really hold this book together. It was good to see Leaf take on a larger role in this book. It was wonderful to see Suzy Blue back, as she is probably my favorite character. The Moth’s crew and the Raised Rats were also a wonderful additions to the book. Feverfew was a positively evil villain, although I wish he had been present for more of the book. It was nice that this book didn’t follow the formula of the last two; that is to say that Lady Wednesday wasn’t as corrupt and evil as the other Morrow days have been.

This book was better than the first two. I will continue to read them because I want to know what happens; so I guess that says something else positive about these books. I still much prefer Garth Nix’s Seventh Tower series or the Abhorsen Trilogy.