SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT: Derek Landy: HarperCollins: 2007: Fantasy/Mystery: 391pp.
Here's a new one: a skeleton detective. Skulduggery Pleasant has suffered an Agonizing Death at the hands of archvillain Nefarian Serpine, but has (partly) come back to take vengeance and to battle the Forces of Evil wherever they may be found. He is accompanied in his quest by Stephanie Edgley, a precocious twelve-year old, heir to Gordon Edgley's home and fortune, and a lot of other things she didn't expect. Together, she and Skulduggery battle really icky vampires, a Cleaver gone wrong (more like the Dementors than Wally and Beaver), and the dreaded Hollow Men (headpieces definitely not filled with straw). Fortunately they are aided in their adventures by Skulduggery's use of a bit of magic here and there, and by friends like Ghastly Bespoke, an Elemental and tailor to the Mages and Adepts. Skulduggery Pleasant is a ripping yarn, filled with memorable characters, clever wordplay, and non-stop action. A film waiting to be made. In fact, some of the action scenes are so cinematic they seem too slow-moving on the page; also, the setting remains vague. Those small quibbles aside, it is a rip-snorting pleasure riding around with Stephanie and Skulduggery in his Bentley, in this first book of what one hopes will be a many-volumed series.
Here's a new one: a skeleton detective. Skulduggery Pleasant has suffered an Agonizing Death at the hands of archvillain Nefarian Serpine, but has (partly) come back to take vengeance and to battle the Forces of Evil wherever they may be found. He is accompanied in his quest by Stephanie Edgley, a precocious twelve-year old, heir to Gordon Edgley's home and fortune, and a lot of other things she didn't expect. Together, she and Skulduggery battle really icky vampires, a Cleaver gone wrong (more like the Dementors than Wally and Beaver), and the dreaded Hollow Men (headpieces definitely not filled with straw). Fortunately they are aided in their adventures by Skulduggery's use of a bit of magic here and there, and by friends like Ghastly Bespoke, an Elemental and tailor to the Mages and Adepts. Skulduggery Pleasant is a ripping yarn, filled with memorable characters, clever wordplay, and non-stop action. A film waiting to be made. In fact, some of the action scenes are so cinematic they seem too slow-moving on the page; also, the setting remains vague. Those small quibbles aside, it is a rip-snorting pleasure riding around with Stephanie and Skulduggery in his Bentley, in this first book of what one hopes will be a many-volumed series.
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