Skulduggery Pleasant

I am not the target audience for this book (which I think is 10-14 year olds who like magic and detective stories and running around shooting things.) But I read quite a lot of kids and young adult books, so I don't think that was the reason it didn't click for me.

It's fun - when Stephanie's uncle dies, she discovers a hidden world of magic and evil, and unites with a wisecracking skeleton to defeat the bad guys, along the way finding her own magic powers and taking on a new name. It just never gripped me - they run around a lot, they find mcguffins, they lose mcguffins, etc. And (in a way that is completely fine for a kids book, but isn't very interesting) they just tend to do the obvious thing a lot, in a way that turns out to be show more quite dim (like 'we know where Gordon has hidden the key! It's really well hidden, the bad guys must have no idea! Let us go and steal it, because then we can go and get the mcguffin! Ah, now the bad guys have us and the key, and now the mcguffin. Oh.')

(It has a slightly ikky tone on body image. Stephanie definitely feels described through the male gaze, with her tall, slim, dark haired-ness all coded as 'good', set against her bottle blond, stumpy, badly dressed and bulgy cousins very clearly coded as 'bad'.

And Stephanie is snarky, in a way that I ought to like, and that I think is probably very enjoyable if you're twelve, but just rubbed me up a bit the wrong way.) show less

Skulduggery Pleasant, book #1, by Derek Landy is probably a middle grade book but I don't care that I'm not. I laughed as hard as any school girl throughout this book! This is so fun, witty, full of snark (often from the girl), magic, and adventure...oh, and a skeleton as the main character! Oh sure, the girl is co-founded main character but who gets more looks in the car? Adult or child, add this to your list and do something good for your self. Do one better and go for the audible version, I got mine at the library. The performance is so much better than what I could have imagined. Terrific story, going to see if they have more!

A friend described this book to me as "really clever," and I'd say that's spot-on. This YA fantasy/horror novel details the adventures of Skulduggery Pleasant (a detective-cum-skeleton) and Stephanie Edgley (sidekick-cum-12-year-old-girl) in their fight against evil. The essential seriousness of their quest is nearly (but not quite) lost in the humorous episodes and witty quips; I often found myself laughing out loud. This was a very quick, enjoyable read.

Originally posted at FanLit: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/skulduggery-pleasant-scepter-of-the-anc...

Scepter of the Ancients is the first book in Derek Landyƒ??s childrenƒ??s series called SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT. The story follows 11 year old Stephanie Edgley who inherits her eccentric uncleƒ??s property after he dies. Stephanie gets involved with some supernatural goings-on when a thief breaks into her new house (the one her uncle left her) and nearly kills her. To her rescue comes Skulduggery Pleasant ƒ?? a man who used to be alive but is now a magically animated skeleton. Stephanie and Skulduggery set out to solve a mystery and end up saving the world.

Stephanie is a great little protagonist ƒ?? sheƒ??s smart show more and logical and mature. Skulduggery Pleasant is also a great character ƒ?? heƒ??s unusual and amusing, always cracking jokes in a dry but kind of obvious way that should appeal to the target audience of this book (ages 9 and up). Hereƒ??s an example from the very end of the book where Skulduggery Pleasant is being interviewed:

Interviewer: How would you describe yourself in five words?
Skulduggery Pleasant: Five words? Right, here goes, in no particular order, least of all alphabetical: Charming. Witty. Lethal. Brilliant. And modest.

Like I said, kind of obvious. But I will admit to snickering several times. (The above example wasnƒ??t one of them.) The characters, the humor and the creepy atmosphere are the defining features of this novel. Unfortunately, the plot seems to be of secondary importance to Landyƒ??s writing process. Itƒ??s fast-paced but itƒ??s also predictable and full of clich??s and cheesy villains. I thought it was bland and forgettable. Fortunately, this is something that can be fixed in future stories. I havenƒ??t read any of them (there are eight full novels so far and four novellas) and Iƒ??m not going out of my way to find book two, but if it appears on sale at Audible, I might pick it up. Or I might not.

Most children and many adults will like Scepter of the Ancients a lot more than I did. Those who are enamored by the cool characters and creepy atmosphere are likely to forgive or not even notice the lackluster plot. I have a feeling that Iƒ??ve simply read too many fantasy novels to find this unique and Iƒ??ll bet thereƒ??s a negative correlation between how many fantasy novels a person has read and how well they like this book.

With all that said, I want to heap tons of praise on the audiobook version of Scepter of the Ancients. It was truly an excellent production with some original music and chilling sound effects between the chapters. Rupert Degas, the narrator, was brilliant. I loved his voice and his interpretation of the story. This book was worth my time mainly because of Rupert Degas. Audio readers, do not skip the interview with Skullduggery Pleasant at the end of the novel (you can listen to this here and it will give you a sense of how good the audio version is and whether or not youƒ??re likely to enjoy the humor). show less

[3.5 / 5.0]

I'm rounding this up mostly because I feel that my middle school self would have loved this more than adult me did.

Fun and engaging, with interesting characters, but didn't really leap out at me with anything to distinguish this story from the pack of other middle grade, modern day fantasies.

Stephanie Edgley is a normal, if a bit antisocial, 12-year-old. She has normal parents and lives in a normal house in Ireland. Her Uncle Gordon, however, was not so normal; an author of horror novels, he lives in a large, old house and tends to keep strange company. That is, until he dies.

To the surprise of everyone, Stephanie is named Gordon's sole heir to his estate and fortune. It is at this point that things start to get interesting. She meets one of Gordon's strange friends, a Mr. Skulduggery Pleasant, who, as it turns out, is a skeleton (long story)—and she announces that she is going to help him find her uncle's killer, since she's pretty sure he was murdered. What follows is a madcap adventure to, of course, save the world show more from evil forces.

This was an exceptionally entertaining and darkly funny middle-grade/teen novel. It's the first in a series, and I will most certainly be checking out the rest of the books. This is indeed a very dark book, full of death and tragedies, but Landy keeps it age-appropriate and keeps gore to a minimum, though some not-so-likable characters meet deliciously gruesome demises.

Landy has created a world where magical beings coexist with non-magical humans, with the latter more often than not being none the wiser. It's similar in that sense to Harry Potter, but there the similarities end. Magical folk live in a dangerous world, where a war between those who seek power and those protecting the general population has been waged for decades (probably longer, I can't remember exactly, but a really long time). At the time we join the characters in their story, both sides have agreed to a tenuous ceasefire, which of course blows up in everyone's faces, otherwise there would be no story.

As for characters, these are all brilliant. Skulduggery is stoic but with an incredibly wry humor, and Stephanie has some excellent zingers too, along with her determination, stubbornness, and incredible courage. They are, to put it simply, awesome. Oh, and they are both great fighters, which we get to see a lot of.

I listened to the audio version of this book narrated by Rupert Degas, and it was fantastic. Degas was excellent at distinguishing voices, and paced his narration perfectly. Plus he has an accent.

Long story short, if you like dark, humorous, action-packed fantasy, this is a great series to start. show less

This is my second read of this book, and I am still somewhat undecided how I feel about it. Landy writes conversation very well - and there were some ultra-funny laugh out loud moments, but I do feel the plot is somewhat lacking, and it is not something that I can put into words as such. I am not fond of guns in children's books, and they do seem to be a common weapon of choice. But maybe it's the protagonist, Stephanie. I just can't really like her that much. Sure, she's gutsy, rebellious and sharp-tongued, all valuable assets in a heroine. but she's not exactly the sort of person I would like as my daughter. This book is fun, and I am curious to read what follows on - as a series often starts mediocre and builds to better, but it is show more not one that I shall be rushing out out buy. show less