Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Background

Skulduggery Pleasant is the first in the Skulduggery Pleasant series of novels and the debut novel by Derek Landy, Thee books follow the titular character Skulduggery Pleasant, an un-dead sorcerer and detective, with his partner Stephanie Edgley as they battle evil.

Synopsis

Meet the great Skulduggery Pleasant: wise-cracking detective, powerful magician, master of dirty tricks etc, but all in the name of the greater good, of course.

… Oh yeah. And dead.

Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction.

Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source – the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard.

When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture… Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.

Review

This book is best described as a Y.A. novel or even a kids book, but why let that get in the way of a good story, as a lot of adults have read books about a certain boy wizard aimed at a similar audience.  

Being aimed at a younger audience, this book will be an easy read for adults and as such does not take long to read, but this is not just from the fact it is a younger persons book, the major factor in this, is it is such a good story that it is hard to put down until you get to the end.

The plot is solid and the pace is good, with characters that are all fully fleshed out to the point that you can suspend reality and just enjoy the story that weaves, horror, fantasy, adventure and fun in equal measures.

Even though this is a book aimed at younger readers. I really enjoyed it, there was plenty of action and mystery in the plot to keep the pace up, and the banter and interaction between Skulduggery and Stephanie quite often made me smile or even laugh out loud.

Although I have said this is a book for a younger reader, I’d like to categorise that by saying 12+  (or a bit younger if your child is reading ahead), but if you don’t have a child, don’t feel foolish in buying it for yourself, it is a good read.

Rating

I give this book 9 out of 10, a great bit of fun