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| Superior Saturday (The Keys To The Kingdom) | 
 enlarge | List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $10.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 17 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1299
Category: Book
Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Studio: Scholastic Press
Manufacturer: Scholastic Press
Label: Scholastic Press
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.7 x 0.8
ISBN: 0439700892
EAN: 9780439700894
ASIN: 0439700892
Publication Date: August 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The secret of his own identity. The identity of The Architect. The complete Will of the House. The fulfillment of his fate. Arthur Penhaligon is getting closer and closer to these things... but not without risks, conflict, and adventure.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Superior Saturday September 23, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
An very unhappy. have not recieved the book nor any reply from seller I would not have even given it one star but has to give it a rating to continue
 Superior Saturday feels just like a weekend, too short September 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
After excitedly reading the first five books I was anxious to read this one. What a let down this particular book was. It feels very stripped down and rushed. There is no real excitement at all during the quick drive to an ending. As others have noted this one feels unfinished and also ends on a cliffhanger, as if the last chapter was missing. The plot is very straight forward and the antagonist who we have had glimpses of through the other novels shows up briefly and never really challenges our hero during this whole story. Superior Saturday should have been a tougher foe to defeat but we never really see any interaction between the two main characters.
If you equate his previous books to be movies, this book would fall in at a 1/2 hour tv episode mark. Sorry, I so wanted to love the book, but it was quick, shallow and unsatisfying. I still love the universe that he has built and hope to see an epic resolution in his next novel. Hopefully the right people will see all of our reviews and take it to heart and not let us down again.
lacking in substance September 16, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had so long awaited this book and was disapointed with it's lack of depth. I hate when a book has no ending and you must read the next to feel satisfied. That is what this book did, it left you hanging.
 A vivid fantasy comes to life for middle school readers. September 8, 2008
Garth Nix's SUPERIOR SATURDAY is another 'Keys to the Kingdom' series title best enjoyed by collections with prior familiarity to the plot. Arthur here has wrested five of the Keys from their immortal guardians, the Trustees of the Will - but the Sixth Key poses different, greater challenges. Superior Saturday isn't just one of the Trustees - she's the oldest Denizen and the most powerful sorcerer within the house. Arthur faces his greatest challenge when a house is being destroyed and only the keys can save the House and his home city. A vivid fantasy comes to life for middle school readers.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too September 3, 2008
Having read and loved Garth Nix's OLD KINGDOM books (SABRIEL, LIRAEL, and ABHORSEN) as well as his SEVENTH TOWER series, I had pretty high expectations when I started in on SUPERIOR SATURDAY. I wasn't
disappointed. The action moves along quickly, with new and original presentations of magic at every turn, and major and minor characters worth cheering for (or, in the case of the antagonists, against).
The sixth book in Nix's KEYS TO THE KINGDOM series picks up right where the fifth book left off, making it a little confusing to understand at first, especially if you're a newcomer to the series, like I was when reading this. The book is certainly good enough to merit your going to the library and checking out all of the previous ones in order to get up to speed, but in case your library is as negligent as mine, here's the background that I wish I could have had going in.
Our protagonist, asthmatic twelve-year-old Arthur Penhaligon, through a series of complicated circumstances described in previous novels, is taken from his home on Earth and granted the power of being the Heir to the Kingdom. Nix's complicated but fascinating universe centers around a grand House that is the epicenter of all universes, and is ruled by seven Trustees, all named for the days of the week. Within the House, each Trustee has its own domain. As the Heir, Arthur's duty is to wrest the Keys to the Kingdom from the corrupt Trustees, and to recreate the Will of the Architect, which the Trustees have consistently disobeyed. The Architect is a mysterious figure responsible for creating both the House and the "secondary realms," including Earth.
In this sixth book in the series, Arthur is up against one of the toughest of the Trustees: Superior Saturday, with her power to work great sorceries with the help of the sixth Key. With the help of friends and acquaintances throughout the House, Arthur attempts to infiltrate Saturday's portion of the House and find the sixth part of the Architect's Will. He's running out of time, though, as the dangerously corrosive Nothing eats away at the House's foundations.
Arthur must retrieve the Key, and the next part of the Will, in time to ensure that the House is not destroyed--for if the epicenter of all universes is demolished, the secondary realms that depend upon its survival will also crumble and fall, making for the end of Earth and Arthur's home.
Nix always has a unique perspective on magic, and this series is no different in that respect. His innovations draw heavily upon archetypes and numerous different branches of mythology that add a richness and texture to his world, even if the average reader does not see them all on the first read-through. I also enjoyed his characterization of Arthur, a young boy who is taking on increasingly difficult tasks and succeeding at them, so that although he is young, there is a strength and maturity to his outlook. Of course, this doesn't prevent him from having his share of doubts.
Overall, I highly enjoyed this book and would recommend the series to anyone interested in fantasy adventure.
Reviewed by: Candace Cunard
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