My take on "Skulduggery Pleasant" by Derek Landy
If you like the idea of there being a secretive, magical world where the most badass person isn't even a real person, then do I have a book series for you! Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy is, in my opinion, one of the most captivating book series that has never failed the reader. With Landy's latest release in the Skulduggery series, it extends it out to a 12 book main series, with a further four novellas, one of which is a compilation of short stories. That's a readers' dream! Imagine starting a new book series and having 16 books already written and ready to roll! Amazing! Now, many may worry that with so many books, that the writing may become sub-par, however I am here to tell you that it doesn't! As you go on this journey that Landy has laid out for us, you can see how his writing grows throughout the story development. Landy keeps his readers attention through many different writing styles, for example his ability to make the reader feel like they are side by side with the characters in the story. This is something that not may other authors can accomplish. He also has the ability to give the perfect amount of detail without over-saturation and leaving the reader wondering why this much detail was needed. One of my favourite things that Landy does with his writing, is the way he has one of his main characters deliver one-liners. They have never failed to make me laugh out loud every time I have read them (which is quite a lot). He has the ability to make the reader feel like they have escaped the actual world and get a court side seats to the events happening within the story which, and you can ask any other dedicated reader, is every readers' dream.
Despite the title name Skulduggery Pleasant, the main protagonist is in fact a female character called Valkyrie Cain or Stephanie Edgley (the reason behind the two names is explained within the books. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone). In the first book, simply titled Skulduggery Pleasant, we are introduced to this character as a 12 year old girl, suddenly thrust into this secret world by the introduction of Skulduggery Pleasant. To make the jump even more intense, we find out that Skulduggery is a living skeleton that can influence the elements and is a world renown detective. Talk about a scenery change! Valkyrie eventually becomes Skulduggery's partner and their many adventures begin. Throughout the series, we see Valkyrie adjust to her new life and grow up as a person. From worrying about her family finding out about her new life, to getting her first boyfriend and trying to balance all that while simultaneously trying to stop the world from being destroyed or not being killed by the new dangers that the magical world has. As Valkyrie and Skulduggery face countless adventures and problems, the book series begins to turn down a dark path, taking you the reader, through different revelations, massive plot twists and straight up moments that leave you wondering how on earth that could have happened.
The Skulduggery Pleasant series is one of the best book series available and, with talk of a 13th main book coming out soon, it will continue to be so. Originally targeted at teenagers, as the series moved on it definitely made the change into young adult. However, I am now 25 and I still love these books and all of their aspects. So if you are a lover of magic and fantasy, then you will highly enjoy this series. To me, this series is an embodiment of a 10/10. It grows as the series goes on, allowing the reader to see how Valkyrie grows as a person as well as allowing for readers to from attachments to each character. These books always leave you wanting more, which is why I believe the series has been successful for so long. I can't recommend picking this series up anymore, which you can do at any good bookstore (in Australia I go to QBD Bookstore) for about $15 each book, however new releases are usually a little bit more. Otherwise you can grab them online, like from amazon.com, for a little bit cheaper.
So please, go buy and read this series so they FINALLY make the movie that has been in the works for so long because I REALLY NEED A MOVIE!
-JordanTheTiger
Despite the title name Skulduggery Pleasant, the main protagonist is in fact a female character called Valkyrie Cain or Stephanie Edgley (the reason behind the two names is explained within the books. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone). In the first book, simply titled Skulduggery Pleasant, we are introduced to this character as a 12 year old girl, suddenly thrust into this secret world by the introduction of Skulduggery Pleasant. To make the jump even more intense, we find out that Skulduggery is a living skeleton that can influence the elements and is a world renown detective. Talk about a scenery change! Valkyrie eventually becomes Skulduggery's partner and their many adventures begin. Throughout the series, we see Valkyrie adjust to her new life and grow up as a person. From worrying about her family finding out about her new life, to getting her first boyfriend and trying to balance all that while simultaneously trying to stop the world from being destroyed or not being killed by the new dangers that the magical world has. As Valkyrie and Skulduggery face countless adventures and problems, the book series begins to turn down a dark path, taking you the reader, through different revelations, massive plot twists and straight up moments that leave you wondering how on earth that could have happened.
The Skulduggery Pleasant series is one of the best book series available and, with talk of a 13th main book coming out soon, it will continue to be so. Originally targeted at teenagers, as the series moved on it definitely made the change into young adult. However, I am now 25 and I still love these books and all of their aspects. So if you are a lover of magic and fantasy, then you will highly enjoy this series. To me, this series is an embodiment of a 10/10. It grows as the series goes on, allowing the reader to see how Valkyrie grows as a person as well as allowing for readers to from attachments to each character. These books always leave you wanting more, which is why I believe the series has been successful for so long. I can't recommend picking this series up anymore, which you can do at any good bookstore (in Australia I go to QBD Bookstore) for about $15 each book, however new releases are usually a little bit more. Otherwise you can grab them online, like from amazon.com, for a little bit cheaper.
So please, go buy and read this series so they FINALLY make the movie that has been in the works for so long because I REALLY NEED A MOVIE!
-JordanTheTiger
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