Book Review - Lady Friday

Title: Lady Friday
Author: Garth Nix
Series: Keys to the Kingdom (book 5)
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Release Date: 5 Mar 2007
ISBN-13: 978-1741145892

Synopsis
Four of the seven Trustees have been defeated and their Keys taken, but for Arthur, the week is still getting worse. Suzy Blue and Fred Gold Numbers have been captured by the Piper, and his New Nithling army still controls most of the Great Maze. Superior Saturday is causing trouble wherever she can, including turning off all the elevators in the House and blocking the Front Door.
Arthur can't even find out what is happening back home. All he knows is that Leaf isn't on earth any more. She's missing and so are hundreds of other people who were transferred from regular hospitals to a private institution run by a 'Doctor Friday'. From there they have been taken somewhere else in the Secondary Realms, for Lady Friday's own horrible purposes.Amidst all this trouble, Arthur must weigh an offer from Lady Friday that is either a cunning trap for the Rightful Heir or a golden opportunity he must seize--before he's beaten to it!

My Review
I remember when this book first came out, I was so excited, I started to read it before I realised I had no idea what was going on. It had been so long since I had read the others, and it's been sitting on my shelves ever since just waiting for me to jump in. After finishing Sir Thursday with higher hopes and renewed interest I was looking forward to reading more and finally getting stuck into this one after all those years.
This book is a little bit slower on the pace side of things, most of the characters are now well established but there are always some new faces to come to terms with, the plot of Arthur trying to get home and remain human is once again brought forward, but of course before he can leave he must vanquish x,y & z. He has to find the next part of the will so he can get the next part of the key. Some parts started to feel a little bit samey, but at the same time Garth Nix keeps you involved in so many mysteries you can't help but want to read more. You still don't know who this Architect is, or who the mysterious Sunday is and why he seems to be relinquishing his control to Saturday? Is there a deeper reason to why Arthur was chosen? What does the Piper really want? It's enough to make you turn pages regardless.
This book reads a lot like the set up for the next 2 books - the big Finale. Saturday is mentioned a lot more and gives you a real sense of foreboding before his appearance. Big things are going to happen, we just don't know what.
Lady Friday herself I found to be a bit weak and pathetic, the tagline says that the fifth day brings fear, and yes the idea of eating people's memories in a way that sounds a bit like sucking thier souls out is a bit gross but I wasn't particularly scared, she seemed a bit weird. All of her staff seemed terrified of her too but I couldn't quit feel it. 
Overall this book was exciting enough to have me reading through the pages, and I like Fred coming back again, he makes me laugh, but overall it was quite slow. 
I'm hoping the last two will bring us to an exciting conclusion.

My Rating