Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix (The Keys to the Kingdom: Book 2)

9/10

With Monday defeated Arthur thought he had escaped the house and left it all behind him, however a couple of hours after releasing the Nightsweeper and finally getting some sleep, Arthur is awoken by a phone call from Dame Primus. In the six months of house time that have passed, Grim Tuesday has found a loophole that allows him to take control of the Lower House, that Arthur has just taken from Mister Monday. Arthur returns to the house and to the area controlled by the Grim, the Far Reaches, however he is mistaken as a worker and set to work in the pit.

In order to claim Tuesday's key, and the second part of the Will, Arthur must encounter a tortured ancient being, a creative contest against the Grim himself, the threat of the entire house falling into a pit of pure Nothing and finally an attack from Saturday's dusk. With all this against him, will Arthur be able to gain the title of Lord of the Far Reaches and save the House?

Grim Tuesday is the second book in the Key's to the Kingdom series and continues both the adventures of Arthur Penhaligon, and the excellent writing style of Garth Nix. A darker novel than Mister Monday, Grim Tuesday has an even faster pace with thrilling scenes of fights, a haunting description of a tortured being and creatures that threaten to remove your eyes if they catch you.

The book can definitely be seen as a progression, the description involved allows to reader to clearly visualise the unfolding scenes, leaving them to linger in the mind after the book has been closed, begging you to abandon what ever it is that you should be doing, and return to reading.

This book, and indeed the series, is a perfect example of why books shouldn't have age groupings. This isn't a children's book, but simply good reading for a reader of any age.