Oh, Mr. Nix, how could you? I'm so disappointed. I devoted myself to each new release of your seven-book The Keys to the Kingdom series, only to arrive at this shoddy end? Alas.
Honestly, I didn't expect it to be as good as Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. TKttK started out fairly strong, stayed interesting for a while, and then got increasingly weaker. The formula felt a bit tired out. None of the characters seemed to develop. The fantasy world was muddled and random. The religious imagery was a good idea to start but didn't seem to hold much significance. And yet...I was hoping for a satisfying ending that would clarify some things. I regained interest as the action in Lord Sunday was fast-paced, and then I came to the final chapter. I was very, very disappointed.
**SPOILERS BELOW**
Yeah, so here's basically what happened. The House is being destroyed by Nothing (ever read or seen The Neverending Story? Yeah, not completely original), so Nix gets to the point where he has two choices: he can either magically stop the Nothing and fix the House/save the world, or he can let it destroy and kill everything, and then bring it all back. Both are pretty cheap tricks, in my opinion. In the final chapter, all in a hurry, Arthur gets ultimate power, a few enigmatic characters are "revealed" (to no real satisfaction), everything gets destroyed, the dang Architect complains that she's tired and just up and LEAVES, and Arthur brings it all back, book over. Oh, yeah, except his mom is dead, so he takes about one sentence to let that sink in, and then everyone goes about their business, blah, blah, blah....SO CRAPPY. There's no payoff for any of the detailed religious imagery, and no creative explanation for this spiritual dimension or its impact on the real world. Ugh.
Oh, yeah, and his sweet little yellow elephant who came to life to help Arthur just got KILLED and then left with no followup. I think I'm more ticked about that than anything.
Oh, and I hate the cover art on this last book. It's completely freaking me out, and not in a good way, partly because of his glowing eyes but partly because Arthur has the hairstyles of an old, frumpy woman with too much hairspray. Also, the cage and hedge pictured look cheap. Cheap like the ENDING.
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OH MAN! This ending bonked in a HUGE, HUGE way! So, so many questions left unanswered. His mom DIED? Elephant died for no apparent reason? Everything is just hunky-dory again? Except that Arthur's town was nuked and thousands upon thousands of people died or have been exposed to radiation. Why were the Piper's kids' ears cleaned all the time? Why did each of the Trustees fall prey to one of the 7 deadly sins? WHY did this book have such a lame, rapid, lame, uninvolved ending? What was up with how the 7th part of the will got released? Not to mention the acquisition of the 7th key? AAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
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