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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Not as good as I would have hoped given it had a type of protagonist which appeals to me. I imagine this is because it is a book aimed at preteens so it all felt very simple. It is just that the synopsis was something I've been eyeing for awhile.
The audiobook is totally worth checking.
Started the audiobook, but finished the paperback.
Started the audiobook, but finished the paperback.
you ever just re read this book having read all the following books,, and just really feel like telling valkyrie to just start therapy, like,, now?
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
So I’ve read this (probably a decade ago) and I could not remember it at all, really. But GODDAMN. It was so so good.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job with all of the voices being distinct, and the accents on point (I'm assuming Landy is Irish?) Imagine if Artemis Fowl found out about this magical world! The sort of spooky jazz music was wild at the start of each chapter haha "....yeahhhh tssssst." As if it is pronounced "ser-pine" instead of how it obviously should be read "serp-een." I know this is incorrect but let younger-me have this, okay?
I think that Stephanie is probably the strongest female character I've read written by a man. The other female characters too were written incredibly well. Tanith Low is my favourite, I love how she just rocks up to these random adventures as the muscle. She is matter-of-fact, kind and a warrior and I love her so much.
I think one of the main things that drew me into this world is the magic system. I am intrigued by adepts (magicians who can control very specific but powerful spells) and I hope we learn more about them in the next book. I think elementals are very cool and definitely where it's at. It's a new take on this as well, I did not anticipate that air could be the most deadly by literally forcing air into something and that blows it up. Fire is obviously cool as heck and Skulduggery can draw moisture from the air Katara-style. Learning about earth was wild and how it literally turns you into a statue as a last defence. How do you even practice that?
I also really appreciate how important names are. They're a big part of my life and most of the content I consume has a good respect for names. My question is, if you change your given name (the one from your parents) then does that count as your taken name or can you still choose a bad-ass magic one too? Imagine if your true name was like Steve or something lol.
Something else I really liked were the fight scenes. It felt like everything was really well-described and broken down and I could picture exactly what was happening.
This book was also really funny, I found myself smiling a lot:
"Well, if you teach me some magic, maybe I won't get hurt as bad next time."
"You said you weren't hurt."
"Are you kidding? I jumped off a building, of course I'm hurt."
This is definitely something I am into and I had a lot of fun with it,
I think Skulduggery is a cool character as a concept but I think I would be less fond of him for being a skeleton if I had to see him. Idk, too much Doctor Who probably. I also feel like "I was just really mad at Serpine and I guess that brought me back" was way too vague of a response from him for why he is this way. I think he did some dark magic before he died maybe. ALSO, what kind of a coincidence would it have been for his taken name to be Skul-duggery huh? Also, his head got stolen but he found a replacement, can he literally just Ship of Theseus forever? I wonder exactly how old he is? But still, having your fam killed in front of you is pretty bad.
I appreciate that Gordon Edgeley clearly had a favourite and made it known to literally everyone at the reading of his will. That was a power move.
Stephanie having a house and fortune at the age of twelve is freaking sick. Is it trashed now they are out of the maze? That was scary af btw. Now with her new magic powers and a copy of herself that can go to school for her, she is set for life. I liked how capable she was and how she really helped Skulduggery. I didn’t know if she was able to help him so much because he’s a moron that needed a twelve year old as back up or if she is just really cool. It was so scary though when she was in the mansion by herself at night and that creepy voice on the phone kept telling her to let it in and she defended herself, fair enough, but then she literally didn't call anyone or hide because it would have been embarrassing. No Stephanie, no.
China Sorrows is dead to me. Sure she hoards books and I respect that but she not only does nothing when the crap hits the fan but she locks Stephanie in the bathroom too. I would definitely not have given her the all powerful crystal even if it is broken, I swear to god this will not end well.
Valkyrie Cain is such a cool name, Stephanie has her shit together. Anyone realise she was listening to "Ride of the Valkyries" while she was thinking about names? I wonder wtf Tanith Low is meant to mean.
So basically Serpine worked for Mevolent who was a bad dude and they wanted The Faceless Ones to come back (gods who wanted to wipe out humanity.) But the Ancients (first magicians) got rid of them. Serpine thought Stephanie had the Sceptre which would bring them back and that's how this whole mess started (seems like it just disintegrates people tbh). My question is, if Gordon had it and got involved in all this then could he do magic? Or was he squibbing it out and just hid it in his maze of horrors anyways? I think Skulduggery said that someone could have magic and not know, is that the case with Stephanie's dad? They are apparently descended from the Ancients and that's why the staff was on silent mode when Stephanie was around.
Mr Bliss was freaky. But like, strongest dude ever and Serpine flicked him against the wall. What even was his plan? Someone else who did not think this through was my-name-means-wise-book Sagacious. Oh you're spell is the only thing stopping your murderous boss getting what he wants? Gee, I wonder what will happen?! Also how the fuck did Tanith survive a literal scythe through her chest??
I liked the dad vibes Skulduggery gave Stephanie (even though she has parents and they are totally supportive and cool-which is rare in this genre). He told her so many things and let her come along because why not?
I freaking loved when they were heisting and talked to that old guy in the crystal who kept wasting their time by saying someone else was supposed to do the recording because they didn't trust him so he stole it and did it anyway XD The vampires were so scary I have no idea how Stephanie survived and falling out of a building...idk man.
I was pretty frustrated that the Council did what governments do in our world-pretty much nothing. They just gave them two police to escort them while they broke Skulduggery out from Serpine torture.
The zombie white cleaver is scary and not good. I don't want to know why it ran away or where it went eeeee.
I totally forgot Serpine got disintegrated at the end lol, I wonder who the antagonist will be now.
The Book of Names is cool and I understand it'll give you power over anyone but why did Serpine need it when he could have spent time summoning his gods? Also what are the Hollow men besides paper and gas? Did Serpine make them? I was trying to figure out how exactly they are deadly when they are literally a bag of farts.
I appreciated this quote: “There is no such thing as winning or losing. There is won and there is lost; there is victory and defeat. There are absolutes. Everything in between is still left to fight for...Until then, there is only the struggle, because tides do what tides do-they turn."
Overall this is a super cool urban fantasy/action/mystery story and I loved the plot and the characters. It's very well written, funny and easy to read.
I am super keen to keep on going with this series, and apparently there are many. 15 or something to go (are they still coming out?). Please keep being besties Valkyrie and Tanith (I am requesting training scenes with them thank you).
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job with all of the voices being distinct, and the accents on point (I'm assuming Landy is Irish?) Imagine if Artemis Fowl found out about this magical world! The sort of spooky jazz music was wild at the start of each chapter haha "....yeahhhh tssssst." As if it is pronounced "ser-pine" instead of how it obviously should be read "serp-een." I know this is incorrect but let younger-me have this, okay?
I think that Stephanie is probably the strongest female character I've read written by a man. The other female characters too were written incredibly well. Tanith Low is my favourite, I love how she just rocks up to these random adventures as the muscle. She is matter-of-fact, kind and a warrior and I love her so much.
I think one of the main things that drew me into this world is the magic system. I am intrigued by adepts (magicians who can control very specific but powerful spells) and I hope we learn more about them in the next book. I think elementals are very cool and definitely where it's at. It's a new take on this as well, I did not anticipate that air could be the most deadly by literally forcing air into something and that blows it up. Fire is obviously cool as heck and Skulduggery can draw moisture from the air Katara-style. Learning about earth was wild and how it literally turns you into a statue as a last defence. How do you even practice that?
I also really appreciate how important names are. They're a big part of my life and most of the content I consume has a good respect for names. My question is, if you change your given name (the one from your parents) then does that count as your taken name or can you still choose a bad-ass magic one too? Imagine if your true name was like Steve or something lol.
Something else I really liked were the fight scenes. It felt like everything was really well-described and broken down and I could picture exactly what was happening.
This book was also really funny, I found myself smiling a lot:
"Well, if you teach me some magic, maybe I won't get hurt as bad next time."
"You said you weren't hurt."
"Are you kidding? I jumped off a building, of course I'm hurt."
This is definitely something I am into and I had a lot of fun with it,
Spoiler
I think Skulduggery is a cool character as a concept but I think I would be less fond of him for being a skeleton if I had to see him. Idk, too much Doctor Who probably. I also feel like "I was just really mad at Serpine and I guess that brought me back" was way too vague of a response from him for why he is this way. I think he did some dark magic before he died maybe. ALSO, what kind of a coincidence would it have been for his taken name to be Skul-duggery huh? Also, his head got stolen but he found a replacement, can he literally just Ship of Theseus forever? I wonder exactly how old he is? But still, having your fam killed in front of you is pretty bad.
I appreciate that Gordon Edgeley clearly had a favourite and made it known to literally everyone at the reading of his will. That was a power move.
Stephanie having a house and fortune at the age of twelve is freaking sick. Is it trashed now they are out of the maze? That was scary af btw. Now with her new magic powers and a copy of herself that can go to school for her, she is set for life. I liked how capable she was and how she really helped Skulduggery. I didn’t know if she was able to help him so much because he’s a moron that needed a twelve year old as back up or if she is just really cool. It was so scary though when she was in the mansion by herself at night and that creepy voice on the phone kept telling her to let it in and she defended herself, fair enough, but then she literally didn't call anyone or hide because it would have been embarrassing. No Stephanie, no.
China Sorrows is dead to me. Sure she hoards books and I respect that but she not only does nothing when the crap hits the fan but she locks Stephanie in the bathroom too. I would definitely not have given her the all powerful crystal even if it is broken, I swear to god this will not end well.
Valkyrie Cain is such a cool name, Stephanie has her shit together. Anyone realise she was listening to "Ride of the Valkyries" while she was thinking about names? I wonder wtf Tanith Low is meant to mean.
So basically Serpine worked for Mevolent who was a bad dude and they wanted The Faceless Ones to come back (gods who wanted to wipe out humanity.) But the Ancients (first magicians) got rid of them. Serpine thought Stephanie had the Sceptre which would bring them back and that's how this whole mess started (seems like it just disintegrates people tbh). My question is, if Gordon had it and got involved in all this then could he do magic? Or was he squibbing it out and just hid it in his maze of horrors anyways? I think Skulduggery said that someone could have magic and not know, is that the case with Stephanie's dad? They are apparently descended from the Ancients and that's why the staff was on silent mode when Stephanie was around.
Mr Bliss was freaky. But like, strongest dude ever and Serpine flicked him against the wall. What even was his plan? Someone else who did not think this through was my-name-means-wise-book Sagacious. Oh you're spell is the only thing stopping your murderous boss getting what he wants? Gee, I wonder what will happen?! Also how the fuck did Tanith survive a literal scythe through her chest??
I liked the dad vibes Skulduggery gave Stephanie (even though she has parents and they are totally supportive and cool-which is rare in this genre). He told her so many things and let her come along because why not?
I freaking loved when they were heisting and talked to that old guy in the crystal who kept wasting their time by saying someone else was supposed to do the recording because they didn't trust him so he stole it and did it anyway XD The vampires were so scary I have no idea how Stephanie survived and falling out of a building...idk man.
I was pretty frustrated that the Council did what governments do in our world-pretty much nothing. They just gave them two police to escort them while they broke Skulduggery out from Serpine torture.
The zombie white cleaver is scary and not good. I don't want to know why it ran away or where it went eeeee.
I totally forgot Serpine got disintegrated at the end lol, I wonder who the antagonist will be now.
The Book of Names is cool and I understand it'll give you power over anyone but why did Serpine need it when he could have spent time summoning his gods? Also what are the Hollow men besides paper and gas? Did Serpine make them? I was trying to figure out how exactly they are deadly when they are literally a bag of farts.
I appreciated this quote: “There is no such thing as winning or losing. There is won and there is lost; there is victory and defeat. There are absolutes. Everything in between is still left to fight for...Until then, there is only the struggle, because tides do what tides do-they turn."
Overall this is a super cool urban fantasy/action/mystery story and I loved the plot and the characters. It's very well written, funny and easy to read.
I am super keen to keep on going with this series, and apparently there are many. 15 or something to go (are they still coming out?). Please keep being besties Valkyrie and Tanith (I am requesting training scenes with them thank you).
Audiobook. Cute dialog between Stephanie and Skullduggery. Could be a little scary for young elementary, lots of fights and action. Skullduggery uses a gun. Quite a bit of twists and turns and double crossing.
Jeg ville ønske, jeg havde kunnet lide den bedre. Idéen er virkelig fed.
I wish I had found this book as a kid. If you have kids and you eventually want them to get into The Dresden Files, this is like a YA/Middle Grade version of that (but also British). I really enjoyed the humor and banter between the characters. And the fighting scenes were really well written! I didn't find myself becoming too attached to the characters, but I do enjoy them a lot.
Unsure if I will set out to finish the entire, long series. But may pick up the next book at some point.
Unsure if I will set out to finish the entire, long series. But may pick up the next book at some point.
Wow. Easily the best YA novel that I've read so far in 2012. I'll be reading more of this series for sure, utterly unputdownable and enjoyable in every way possible.