SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
Lady Friday sends a message to Arthur regarding the fate of her key. But it might be a trap and he doesn't trust her. To complicate things, Leaf has been taken prisoner by Friday.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Arthur is much more forceful in this book. He has no problem standing up to Dame Primus, who still tries to bully him when it comes to the fate of the Piper's children.
Suzy's relationship doesn't develop with Arthur at all. She appears in the book less than half way through books.
Fred returns, arriving with Suzy. It was nice to see a side character that was male, but he doesn't to seem to have any real relationship with Arthur. But he does have an important role in the story.
Leaf is once again a main character. She is captured by Friday but doesn't escape because she needs to save someone.
Lady Friday is very beautiful and envious of humanity's experiences. So her sin is naturally, envy.
PACING
The story goes back and forth from Arthur to Leaf. Arthur as he tries to find Friday and Leaf as she tries to save someone. This helps the pacing slightly. But it's still not really fast paced.
LEAF'S QUEST
It's great that Leaf is so brave it's just that she is trying to save a character we never even see. And we have no real idea of the love she has for her relation. We never saw them in any scenes together before this book, so we only know that Leaf cares for her because she briefly tells us.
WHERE IS SHE?
A relative of Arthur's disappears, and isn't in the Secondary realm. Arthur freaks out but thinks he knows where they must be: with Lady Friday.
EXPERIENCING-VAGUE SPOILERS
Arthur soon learns that denizens can experience different people's existence from placing a piece of paper on their foreheads. Eventually this plays a bigger part in the plot.
REMEMBERING ALBERT
Leaf uses something she learned from Albert back in “Drowned Wednesday”. He taught her that if she has an item she can run around and explore a long time before anyone notices her. I thought it was nice that something from the past came in handy. I still wish we had actually gotten to know that character though.
SUZY'S DECEPTION-SPOILERS
Suzy and Fred both have necklaces that tighten whenever they badmouth the piper. It hurts them both when they meet Arthur. Later on, Suzy says something bad about the Piper causing Arthur to use his key, even though he didn't want to.
Fred points out that Suzy tricked him into using his power. She only apologizes because Fred says to but she came off as really selfish. And Arthur's reaction was rather underwhelming considering how important it is to not overly use the key.
UGHAM-SPOILERS
There is a third piper's child named Uggham. I don't know why was there, he didn't seem important at all. Perhaps he was there to cause trouble when he betrayed them? And he actually meets a dramatic end. But I felt nothing when it happened. No one had a relationship with him after all.
WINGED SERVANTS
Arthur and his friends meet flying denizens who cannot speak. Instead they use a type of sign language. Fred plays a key role here and the Servants eventually lead us to a crucial character in the book.
GILDED ONES
There are masked beings that used to be Piper's children. But somehow Grim Tuesday got a hold of them, and their not really people anymore. I kind of wished to learn more about them.
ARTHUR'S MOTIVATION
Near the end of the book, Arthur explains why he is risking his life and using the keys. He says it honor or responsibility but doesn't really sound inspired. I thought his motivation was to be able to go home. But now it's kind of unclear.
ARTHUR'S SPELL-SPOILERS
Arthur figures out a way to make a special compass that will point to the will. I thought this was inventive and smart on his part.
A HUMAN INVENTION
There is a scene where Dame Primus says that love is a human invention. She doesn't make a case to why it's a bad idea but simply states it as fact that they don't need it. Nor how the family unit grew out of biology, She seems ignorant and lacking in understanding of her own creation. I would have liked to have seen Arthur debate her.
THREE STRIKES-SPOILERS
The mariner finally makes an appearance. But he tells Leaf that he can only be summoned three times. And this is the second. I thought it was interesting that he could only be called so many times. I wish this was explained exactly why it was this way. But it sets up the Mariner to return for one last time.
CLIMAX
Arthur finds Lady Friday and she is defeated when he gets the key. A surprise enemy shows up; Arthur finds out about his lost loved one and Leaf returns home.
CONCLUSION
The world as detailed as ever and we meet new creatures, such as the Gilded ones and the Servants of the night.
Two stories may help the pace, but the relationships between the characters still feel shallow. And we are far along enough in the series where I think that should have changed. Along with the development of the characters themselves.
I give “Lady Friday” three stars.
