Skulduggery Pleasant

Derek Landy’s first attempt at writing his own book is Skulduggery Pleasant, a sharply dressed talking skeleton with extraordinary abilities, apart from being dead. Derek addresses each character and setting as if it were happening in real-time; every moment is captured and portrayed in amazing detail.

Obviously, Skulduggery isn’t his real name, but as he explains, if a mage know your real name, they can obtain total control of you, unless you change it. This would never happen in the world outside of the book, which makes it into a fiction novel. However, commanding fire, water, air and earth isn’t all to this book. It also has the typical villains, trying to bring back evil god to the world and wiping out all of humankind. To build on the previous description, it is not just a fiction novel; it is horror fiction.

The very first character described is one of the most important in the entire book, Stephanie Edgley, a twelve year old schoolgirl who finds schoolwork and family a little boring... until Gordon, her uncle, dies “while doing what he loved best”: writing; and she finds herself as the sole owner of Gordon’s huge mansion, all of his possessions, assets and royalties to be inherited on her eighteenth birthday. It is here she meets detective Skulduggery Pleasant.

Detective Skulduggery Pleasant’s distinguishing point is he doesn’t act like a skeleton, almost as if he still believes he has flesh. He doesn’t follow the usually hero stereotypes which, from the moment he is describes, makes the book amazingly lifelike. He has sarcasm and humour, just as any real person does, and that makes the book a little less far-fetched. On the other hand, he has deep secrets that reveal his history that unravel during the story.

Every description of the scenery and settings seem perfectly plausible, and would make sense in any society. For example, all magic communities are purposely unspectacular, to avoid attention from the non-magic people. The book itself is not particularly biased towards males, unlike most books of this type.

Skulduggery is a typical magic book, with the heroes on the rails being bombarded by the baddies, until they bounce back and secure Earth from worldwide evil. Although there is more to this book then just saving the world, as almost every character changes in some respect as they meet new people. The book storyline covers an extremely fast-paced week, when everything happens in tandem to everything else; but you feel engulfed into the storyline as you read, and forget all sense of time: in the real world and in the book.

I would have no problems recommending this book to anyone, the blend of humour and seriousness that all books should have. It builds a long-lasting picture in the mind, but at the same time lets you imagine every step of the plot. This is a fantastic read for early teenagers, right up to adults who have a passion for near believable fiction and sarcastic wit.

By Nickesh :)