xcellent ( )

Fun packed action / adventure book, when Skulduggery Pleasant, the snappy dressing skellington detective first enters into Stephanie's life, things will never be the same. Lots of one liners and sarcasm fill this book in between the fast paced action. Some of the characterisation for me was a little out, with the two main characters feeling too similar, and some of the baddies weren't as scary as they could have been - that aside though, this was a fun book to read, and for its target audience its probably near perfect! ( )

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

It all started when Gordon Edgley died. Well, it actually started much earlier than that. I mean, if you want to be picky it "all" started at the dawn of time. Or is that just when time started? Never mind. The point is, for Stephanie Edgley it all started when her uncle Gordon died. Gordon wasn't much of a family man; in fact, Stephanie was probably the one closest to him. Even saying that, though, is a bit of a stretch. It would probably be better to say that he tolerated her presence better and more often than he did the rest of his family. Which still doesn't completely explain why he left his house, his fortune, and his book royalties to her. Actually, there's a lot of unexplained things about Gordon, even more so now that he's gone. Like the strange man at the funeral. The one wrapped so tightly in a scarf, sunglasses, and an overcoat that you can't even glimpse an inch of his skin. That was the first time Stephanie had ever encountered Skulduggery Pleasant.

The next time they were in the same room was for the reading of Gordon's will. The one where he left most of his things to his twelve-year-old niece. Much to the dismay of Stephanie's aunt and uncle, who got a boat (Uncle Fergus gets seasick), a car ("We already have a car!"), and a brooch ("It doesn't even have any jewels on it."). Stephanie's parents, incidentally, got the villa in France. Skulduggery Pleasant received the strangest gift of all, which is some very cryptic advice. With which he was completely content. This was not to be the last encounter between Stephanie and Skulduggery.

Having spent most of a day exploring part of Stephanie's new house, she and her mother get in the car to go home and find that the car won't start. The mechanic that comes to fix it has to tow it back to his shop. Stephanie convinces her mother that she can stay at the house alone while the car is being fixed. But, the storm that started while they were waiting for the mechanic grows worse as time passes. It is eventually determined that the car won't be fixed until tomorrow, and the road to the house is flooded. Stephanie is stuck for the night. Though it takes some convincing for her mom to leave her there.

Freedom and solitude: Stephanie couldn't be happier! Which lasts all of a few minutes. Someone is trying to break into the house, and somehow Stephanie doesn't believe him when he says he won't hurt her if she just lets him in to get what he wants. Skulduggery Pleasant to the rescue! And what a strange rescuer he is. In the struggle with the intruder, Skulduggery's hat and scarf fall off to reveal only a skeleton! Stephanie is so shocked by this that she mostly forgets what he's done. Now she has a million questions: Who and what is Skulduggery? How did he know her uncle? Why was he at the house? How is it that he can throw fire? Can he teach her? And how does he stay upright when there's no skin and muscle to hold him together?

Stephanie is stunned, but oddly not frightened, by recent events. She was just contemplating how boring life was, and suddenly life got considerably more thrilling! Skulduggery isn't in the market for a sidekick, but he might just have gotten one. After one night in his world (he did have to keep her safe after all) Stephanie can't imagine pretending not to know what she knows. Besides, the bad guys are after her. Or at least something that belonged to her uncle, and now that she owns most of his things... Life, or death depending on who you are, will never be the same.

I love it! Not just a fun storyline, an exciting adventure, and a well drawn plot, although it does contain all of these things. SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT is one of the best written books I have encountered recently. Conversational and snappy, witty and self-deprecating, with a fantastically quirky cast of characters. This one has enough adventure to keep you on the edge of your seat, and random hilarity that makes falling off that seat a distinct possibility! I can hardly do it justice by merely describing it, so you'll just have to read it, and love it. ( )

Scepter of the Ancients immediately grabbed my attention with all the lightning coming out of the jeweled scepter on the front cover. Within the first two paragraphs, I became intrigued by the death of Stephanie’s uncle and an unidentifiable man at his funeral. The story quickly unfolded when Stephanie spends the night at the mansion her uncle leaves her in his will. She is attacked for a key she knows nothing about, but is rescued by the mysterious man who turns out to be a rather humorous talking skeleton, named Skulduggery Pleasant. He is a close friend of Stephanie’s uncle and is also a detective who reveals a magical world that Stephanie can’t turn away from. Positive that the man who attacked her has something to do with her uncle’s death, Stephanie teams up with Skulduggery Pleasant to seek out the Scepter of the Ancients, which is known only as a legend. As they pick up more clues about where the scepter is, Stephanie meets new characters who join them to help solve the mystery. They do not find the scepter in time, but they do stop the evil Serpine from gaining total control over the world. I enjoyed this aspect because the book did not end exactly the way I thought it would. The imagery that Derek Landry used in this novel is amazing and it helped make every chapter come alive. The combined mystery and humor made this book enjoyable to read and I would recommend it to anyone who likes adventurous novels with a twist. This book has won the Young Reader’s Choice Award, the Red House Children’s Book Award, the ALA Best Books for Young Adults and was a finalist for the Cybils Award. ( )

Skulduggery Pleasant is the debut novel by Derek Landy, and on this evidence I believe he should have many successful books ahead of him. He tells the tale of a wise-cracking skeleton detective, who befriends a young girl called Stephenie Edgley when her uncle is murdered. They are from then drawn into a world of magic and mystery and uncover a plot by the leading dark wizard to bring back old Gods and murder all those without magic.

The plot moves at breakneck speed, with sparkling dialogue between Skulduggery and Stephenie. It is easy to follow and twists many cliches in the pursuit of entertainment. The skeletal detective at the heart of the novel is by far the best part of it all - never less than interesting, witty and good-humoured. I would greatly enjoy reading more adventures involving him.

Stephenie is resourceful, brave and cool-headed - a fine role model for girls who pick up this book. In fact, the strength of these two characters cause the others to fall into their shadow and the secondary characters are never truly fleshed out to the point where you would care about them.

I also have complaints about the bad guy who, despite my earlier words, is terribly cliched. He is paper-thin in terms of characterisation, never really gives reason for his motives, and is used more for comedy effect than tense moments.

It is easy to see that Landy has a background in martial arts because his fight scenes are effective and efficiently-written, showing us clearly how they would play out.

Lastly, I would comment that the system of magic, while unoriginal, shows signs of being used to a greater extent in novels to follow.

Altogether this is a blast of a debut novel, setting the scene in an exciting manner for more tales of Skulduggery Pleasant. ( )