jdurkan91 's review for:

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

4.0

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Skulduggery Pleasant / Derek Landy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

~ There's 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… ~

It’s been years since I read this, I read it when it first came out, and unfortunately never continued. By chance being on a loose end on Borrowbox and seeing it available made me go down memory lane, and I’m delighted I did.

 

I had forgotten almost everything about this novel, not an iota. And I loved it, it was very funny, and had a solid plotline that ran throughout that carried the story. It was action packed without being overzealous, although after the 200th near death experience you do start thinking “really?”

 

It was the characters and the banter between them that made this though. Skulduggery the literal skeleton and Stephanie the literal twelve-year-old.  I loved it when he told her she was very annoying. All the secondary characters like Steph’s family all make sense in how clueless and horrible they can be. Her da is literally me. The magic aspect was well done, you weren’t just suddenly thrown into it. The villains were well crafted also.

 

But all being said, this is a children’s book, and Landy doesn’t disrespect his readership, he draws you in and doesn’t make it too silly.

 

I will continue this, just waiting on availability on Borrowbox, but the nostalgia hit and having not read any further, I’m looking forward to the adventures these two unlikely heroes will get up to.

Audiobook Length: 7hrs, 7mins

Narrator: Rupert Degas

🎧 Listened to on @borrowbox 🎧 

• Read: 11/01/25 - 14/01/25
• Release Date: 01/04/2007