Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

Stephanie Edgely never could have predicted the death of her beloved Uncle Gordon would lead to her rebirth as Valkyrie Cain, magical apprentice to the world famous skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant.

Instead of attending school, doing homework, and spending time with her family like other thirteen-year-old girls, Valkyrie sends her reflection to carry out the mundane duties of everyday life, while she prowls the streets of Dublin with Skulduggery, honing her abilities and hunting down villains by order of The Elders back at Sanctuary.

Skulduggery harbors suspicions about head and (presently) sole council member Thurid Guild, suspicions that only increase when one of the Malevolent's most fanatical, intelligent, and powerful generals, Baron Vengeous, escapes from his secretly located prison. Aided by the vampire Dusk and razor-blade wielding U.S. import Billy-Ray Sanguine, Vengeous plans to complete a mission Lord Vile set in motion years ago.

With the help of China Sorrows and Tanith Low, Skulduggery and Valkyrie must put together the various pieces of the Baron's plot before he resurrects the Grotesquery (a monster assembled from the most fearsome beasts of legend) and brings the Faceless Ones back to life.

PLAYING WITH FIRE is a swiftly paced novel that delivers adventure and suspense without sacrificing character and relationship development. The relationships between Valkyrie and her mentors have deepened in this second novel, yet we also see a distance being created from her family and old life.

Readers will be satisfied with the novel's plot wrap-up, yet still hunger for the next installment thanks to Derek Landy's overarching hints and teases of a much larger conspiracy. To sum up, PLAYING WITH FIRE is a clever, snarky, satisfying read. ( )

This book is a fast read with a couple of good twists. There's plenty of action, not too many details to keep track of, and I love the sense of humor. ( )

Funny and exciting ( )

I think this book is very good and exciting ( )

It's very interesting and exciting ( )

I love Skulduggery Pleasant. Very entertaining writing style, dry humor, and great characters. ( )

Continues the story of Skulduggery and Stephanie (now Valkyrie) and their fight against those who want to rule ordinary humanity.

It's fun, not quite as much fun as the previous one but still a well-realised world, even if my previous comments about it's predecessor that the female lead really comes across as a bit older than the story shows still rings true, to me she feels more around 16 than 13. ( )

Stephanie Edgley is no ordinary girl.

After her uncle´s death, twelve-year-old Stephanie meets Skulduggery Pleasant, a fast-talking, snappy dressing detective who just happens to be a walking, talking skeleton. He tells Stephanie that she is directly descendant from the Ancients, people who used control magic.

Under Skulduggery´s tutelage, Stephanie´s skills have grown. She is an Elemental, able to control Air, Earth, Water and Fire to her will. While still not as skilled as Skulduggery, she´s getting better. Which is a good thing; she´s going to need all her skills for a new evil that is threatening the world.

Evil sorcerer, Baron Vengeous, has hatched a plan to bring back the Faceless Ones; Gods who ruled the Earth with dark magic and great cruelty. Stephanie and Skulduggery previously defeated the Baron´s boss, the horrible Serpine. But the Baron has a surprise in store for our hero´s far nastier than Serpine.

The Baron plans to resurrect the Grotesquery. Part man, part Frankenstein mishmash of mythical creatures and all evil. If brought back to life, the Grotesquery will call the Faceless Ones back to earth and then everyone will be done for.

Skulduggery and Stephanie will need all their magic, all their allies, to defeat this most monstrous of enemies.

And they only have three days to do it.

I am a huge fan of Landy´s first Skulduggery book. I´ve given copies out to friends and family and have told everyone I know about it. It was one of my favourite books of 2007.

It was funny, fun, frantic and incredibly fantastic. It was also self-contained. So, needless to say, I was a little worried about a second book in the series though extremely excited at the same time. Would Playing With Fire be just as funny, as fast paced and fun?

The answer is a loud and resounding yes. In fact, Playing With Fire is better than Landy´s first offering. Landy manages to write a dark gothic fantasy that is laugh out loud funny and also incredibly original, fresh and new.

Landy has managed to do something that many authors have not: transcend genres. While this is first and foremost a young adult fantasy, it´s also a noir comedy and can be read by young adults and adults alike.

Landy is a talented writer and has managed to create characters we care about. The relationship between Skulduggery and Stephanie is comic, yes, but also extremely touching. It´s a rare and talented author that can make us laugh in one sentence and then pull our heartstrings in another.

Playing With Fire is an incredible, amazing treat and one hell of a read. It´s also the best young adult book I´ve read in years. If you haven´t read Skulduggery Pleasant, the first book in the series, do so. Then read Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire. You won´t be sorry.

In fact, you´ll be left begging for more. ( )

Skulduggery and Valkyrie are back and she's been learning a lot. This time, their enemy is even worse than the one in the previous book! Yet again, they have to try and prevent the old ones from being resurrected and destroying the world, but this time the plot is even more nefarious. There are also sinister hints at a third book, if not even more! ( )

In this action-packed sequel to Skulduggery Pleasant, we say that there are still attempts to raise the Faceless Ones and rain death and destruction upon the world.

But, Valkyrie has some training under her belt, so they're ready for the challenge.

We have new villians! The main one is Baron Vengeous wants to bring the Grotesquery back to life. The Grotesquery is a Franken-monster that contains a bit of Faceless One. The Baron has waited for year for the last two ingredients before he can shout "IT'S ALIVE" and now he has them. Plus, he and Skulduggery have a few unsettled scores.

But the Baron has lots of help--including a vampire that keeps infecting innocent bystanders and a Southern Gentleman who can move through the Earth itself.

And, in the end, Landy sets us up perfectly for the next book in the series.

Overall, if you liked the first one, you'll like this. You have cool monsters, a wise-mouth skeleton, and more than one girl who kicks ass, or is starting to. Plus, there are a few characters whose loyalities are unclear--both to the reader and the characters. China Sorrows, for instance, is on no one's side but her own, so it's always a gamble asking her for help. I like moral ambiguity in a few characters-- so often in literature, characters are good or bad, and sometimes they change, and they often have good or bad qualities to round them out, but... so rarely is a character so clearly both good and bad. AND when they aren't clear, they're often clear to book characters, but not the reader, or to the reader, but not the other characters...

Anyway, it's a solid sequel that doesn't disappoint. ( )

When the evil Baron Vengeous escapes from prison, Detective Skulduggery Pleasant and his apprentice, Valkyrie Cain, have just two days to recapture him or the Baron's creature, the Grotesquery, may summon the Faceless Ones back to their world.

When the evil Baron Vengeous escapes from prison, Detective Skulduggery Pleasant and his apprentice, Valkyrie Cain, have just two days to recapture him or the Baron's creature, the Grotesquery, may summon the Faceless Ones back to their world. ( )

I requested this review copy from HarperCollins Children's Publishing because my son loved the first Skulduggery Pleasant book. As soon as I got this one in the mail, he grabbed it and started reading. I had to make him turn his light off at midnight the first day, and he finished it on the second, then pronounced, "Mom, this one's good. You should write a good review of it."

I'll write a good review of anything that gets him that excited about reading.

I did pick it up a couple of days ago and have just finished reading it myself. It's a wild supernatural romp with vampires, skeletons, monsters, giant spiders, and other seriously creepy creatures. There's plenty of action (it's almost movie script-like in its pace) to keep even the most reluctant reader interested, but my favorite part was the snappy dialog. Skulduggery is sarcastic, clever, and funny, which I suppose is an appropriate tone for a skeleton detective. Worked for me anyway.

I'd recommend this book for kids who aren't easily susceptible to nightmares (there's a lot of very violent action, people "rupture" and "explode" with bits of them raining down all over the place). And my nine year old recommends it too. He also says it's not for young children since there are a couple of bad words in it. (Not seriously bad ones, but not ones you'd want them spouting in front of Grandma.)

As a side note, it looks like lots of the reviews associated with this book actually apply to the first in the series which is simply titled Skulduggery Pleasant. This is actually the second book. ( )