Skulduggery Pleasant
15 primary works • 22 total works Complete
Book 1
Meet the great Skulduggery Pleasant: wise-cracking detective, powerful magician, master of dirty tricks and burglary (in the name of the greater good, of course).
Oh yeah. And dead.
Then there's his sidekick, Stephanie. She's… well, she's a twelve-year-old girl. With a pair like this on the case, evil had better watch out…
“So you won't keep anything from me again?"
He put his hand to his chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die."
"Okay then. Though you don't actually have a heart," she said.
"I know."
"And technically, you've already died."
"I know that too."
"Just so we're clear."
Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction.
Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source – the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard.
When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture… Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.
Book 1.5
A shot of Skulduggery action for free.
It isn’t easy to take over the world. First you need the scheme. Then you need the muscle. Then you need to come up with a system for ruling six billion people and keeping them from revolting. It takes a certain kind of man to take over the world.
Scaramouch Van Dreg, however, is not that man.
But he has one thing going for him. He has his arch enemy, Skulduggery Pleasant, chained up in his dungeon, and the only person who is coming to save him is the skeleton detective’s 13 year old sidekick.
What could possibly go wrong?
All the following Skulduggery Pleasant novels are available in ebook now:
• Skulduggery Pleasant
• Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire
• Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones
• Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days
• Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil
Book 2
Just when you think you’ve saved the world…
"You will kill her?" the Torment asked.
Skulduggery sagged. "Yes." He hesitated, then took his gun from his jacket. "I'm sorry, Valkyrie," he said softly.
"Don't talk to me," Valkyrie said. "Just do what you have to do."
Valkyrie parted her tunic, and Skulduggery pointed the gun at the vest beneath.
"Please forgive me," Skulduggery said, then aimed the gun at the girl and pulled the trigger.
With Serpine dead, the world is safe once more. At least, that’s what Valkyrie and Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, and dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland. With Baron Vengeous after the deadly armour of Lord Vile, and pretty much everyone out to kill Valkyrie, the daring detective duo face their biggest challenge yet. But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home…?
Book 3
Third bone-breaking, belly-busting adventure in the series that puts the “funny” back in… um… funny series. That didn’t really work, did it?
If you’ve read the previous Skulduggery books then you know what the Faceless Ones are – and if you know what the Faceless Ones are, then you can probably take a wild guess that things in this book are going to get AWFULLY sticky for our skeletal hero and his young sidekick.
If you haven’t read the previous Skulduggery books then what are you doing reading this? Go and read them right now, so that you know what all that stuff in the previous paragraph was about.
Done? Good. So now you’re on tenterhooks too, desperately awaiting the answers to all your questions, and instead you’re going to have to wait to read the book. Sorry about that.
Book 4
Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior.
Oh yes. And dead.
Skulduggery Pleasant is gone, sucked into a parallel dimension overrun by the Faceless Ones. If his bones haven’t already been turned to dust, chances are he’s insane, driven out of his mind by the horror of the ancient gods. There is no official, Sanctuary-approved rescue mission. There is no official plan to save him.
But Valkyrie's never had much time for plans.
The problem is, even if she can get Skulduggery back, there might not be much left for him to return to. There’s a gang of villains bent on destroying the Sanctuary, there are some very powerful people who want Valkyrie dead, and as if all that wasn’t enough it looks very likely that a sorcerer named Darquesse is going to kill the world and everyone on it.
Skulduggery is gone. All our hopes rest with Valkyrie. The world’s weight is on her shoulders, and its fate is in her hands.
These are dark days indeed.
Book 5
Following the shocking revelations of DARK DAYS, get ready for the fifth instalment of the bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series – guaranteed to contain at least 40% humour, 50% action, and 100% thrills…
"The blonde girl with the black lips turned to Valkyrie. 'We know,' she said. 'We've seen the future. We know you're going to kill the world…'"
Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are back – just in time to see their whole world get turned upside down…
While they struggle to protect a known killer from an unstoppable assassin, Valkyrie is on a secret mission of her own. This quest, to prevent her dark and murderous destiny, threatens to take her to the brink of death and beyond. And then the body-snatching Remnants get loose, thousands of twisted souls who possess the living like puppets, and they begin their search for a being powerful enough to lead them. Facing such insurmountable odds, Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Ghastly and Tanith can trust no one. Not even each other…
Book 5.6
A brand new Skulduggery Pleasant novella for World Book Day: a hilarious and thrilling standalone story in the internationally bestselling series – perfect for new readers, and essential for Skulduggery fans…
Three ancient gods are freed from their prison with only one desire: to destroy the planet and everyone on it.
To save us all, Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain must go undercover in a Dublin school. Skulduggery has to blend in with the teaching staff, while Valkyrie has to pass for an ordinary schoolgirl. Above all else, no matter what happens, they both must act completely and utterly normal.
We are so dead.
Book 6
Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior.
Oh yes. And dead.
The Necromancers no longer need Valkyrie to be their Death Bringer, and that’s a Good Thing.
There’s just one catch. There’s a reason the Necromancers don’t need her any more – because they’ve found their Death Bringer already, the person who will dissolve the doors between life and death.
And that’s a very, very Bad Thing…
Book 6.5
Skulduggery and Valkyrie are back, in an exclusive World Book Day novelette, set after the momentous events of Death Bringer…
Hey, punks! Skulduggery and Valkyrie are about to make your day…
15-year-old Ryan is running away from home, looking for escape and adventure. But unfortunately, sometimes people DO get what they wish for. Ryan hasn’t gone far before he is set upon by a bunch of scary, nihilistic punk-sorcerers who need him to set off a doomsday device that will destroy the planet and everyone on it. Fun!
Riding to the rescue, however, is a certain skeleton detective and his teenage partner/combat accessory. Now Skulduggery and Valkyrie only have a few hours to figure out what's going on, while saving Ryan and – incidentally – the whole world.
And all that time, the punk-sorcerors are closing in…
Book 7
The seventh instalment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe…
Magic is a disease.
Across the land, normal people are suddenly developing wild and unstable powers. Infected by a rare strain of magic, they are unwittingly endangering their own lives and the lives of the people around them. Terrified and confused, their only hope lies with the Sanctuary. Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are needed now more than ever.
And then there's the small matter of Kitana. A normal teenage girl who, along with her normal teenage friends, becomes infected. Becomes powerful. Becomes corrupted. Wielding the magic of gods, they're set to tear the city apart unless someone stands up against them.
Looks like it's going to be another one of those days…
Book 8
The eighth instalment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe - and the follow-up to the number-one bestseller, Kingdom of the Wicked…
War has finally come.
But it's not a war between good and evil, or light and dark – it's a war between Sanctuaries. For too long, the Irish Sanctuary has teetered on the brink of world-ending disaster, and the other Sanctuaries around the world have had enough. Allies turn to enemies, friends turn to foes, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie must team up with the rest of the Dead Men if they're going to have any chance at all of maintaining the balance of power and getting to the root of a vast conspiracy that has been years in the making.
But while this war is only beginning, another war rages within Valkyrie herself. Her own dark side, the insanely powerful being known as Darquesse, is on the verge of rising to the surface. And if Valkyrie slips, even for a moment, then Darquesse will burn the world and everyone in it.
Book 9
The ninth book in the original, jaw-droppingly stupendous Skulduggery Pleasant series.
Valkyrie. Darquesse. Stephanie. The world ain’t big enough for the three of them. The end will come…
The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder.
And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals… and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.
The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive…
Book 10
The best-selling return of skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant and it will rearrange your world.
A lot has changed. Roarhaven is now a magical city, where sorcerers can live openly. Valkyrie Cain has been out of action for years, recovering from the war against her alter-ego Darquesse, which nearly destroyed her and everyone else.
Some things never change though: bad people still want to do bad things, and Skulduggery Pleasant is still there to stop them.
When Skulduggery learns of a plot to resurrect a terrifying evil, he persuades Valkyrie to join him for just 24 hours. But they need someone else on their team, someone inconspicuous, someone who can go undercover.
Enter Omen Darkly. Student at the new Corrival Academy. Overlooked. Unremarkable in every way.
24 hours to save the world. One sharply-dressed skeleton. One grief-stricken young woman. One teenage boy who can’t remember which class he’s supposed to be in.
This cannot end well…
Book 11
Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are back in their most gripping story yet, as book 11, Midnight, picks up where Resurrection left off – and runs.
For years, Valkyrie Cain has struggled to keep her loved ones safe from harm, plunging into battle – time and time again – by Skulduggery Pleasant’s side, and always emerging triumphant.
But now the very thing that Valkyrie fights for is in danger, as a ruthless killer snatches her little sister in order to lure Valkyrie into a final confrontation. With Skulduggery racing to catch up and young sorcerer Omen scrambling along behind, Valkyrie only has twelve hours to find Alice before it’s too late. The clock is ticking…
Book 12
The 12th explosive novel in the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series, BEDLAM will blow your mind – and change everything…
On a desperate journey to recover her sister's lost soul, Valkyrie Cain goes up against the High Sanctuary itself, and there's nothing Skulduggery Pleasant can do to stop her.
With Abyssinia's grand plan about to kick off in a night of magic, terror, and bloodshed, it falls to Omen Darkly to save the lives of thousands of innocent people.
And as the madness unfolds around him, as hidden enemies step into the light, and as Valkyrie is sucked into a desperate, lawless quest of her own, he has no choice but to become the hero he never really wanted to be — or die in the attempt.
Book 13
War is coming.
To avert catastrophe, Skulduggery and Valkyrie are sent on a secret mission that takes them away from everything they know, to a forsaken land of magic and grim, unrelenting terror. It is here that Valkyrie will have to fight the hardest — not only against the enemies who want her dead, but also against her own self-destructive impulses. It's only by crawling through darkness that she'll be able to once again stand in the light…
Book 14
Skulduggery, Valkyrie and Omen return in the 14th and penultimate novel in the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series – and their most epic test yet…
In a matter of days, the world will change.
Billions of lives will be wiped away in a final, desperate search for the Child of the Faceless Ones — she who is destined to bring about the return of humankind's ancient overlords.
To prevent this, Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain have one last – terrible – option: the assassination of Damocles Creed. With protests stirring in the magical city of Roarhaven, with riots and revolutions on the horizon, Valkyrie must decide who she wants to be: the hero who risks everything for a noble ideal, or the killer who sacrifices her own soul for the fate of humanity.
The decision must be made, and time is running out.
Book 15
The second cycle of the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series comes to a thrilling end. You are not ready…
The Faceless Ones have returned to our universe. The bad guys have won.
With the end of everything just days away – and no longer able to rely on Valkyrie Cain – Skulduggery must make allies of enemies if he's going to stand any chance of saving what's left of the world. And just when things are looking their bleakest, they manage to get even worse, with Omen Darkly suddenly having to step up when his brother, the Chosen One, falls.
There's a lot going on. Most of it is bad. Sorry about that.
An unmissable paraquel to the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series, The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire is at once a thrilling recap of the books so far, a reference guide to characters, and a treasure-trove of bonus content.
As the Skulduggery Pleasant series nears its end (again), relive the adventure in this lavishly illustrated compendium of all things Skulduggery. Featuring a unique run-down of the books so far, it also includes an invaluable reference tool for the dizzying cast of characters, as well as bonuses, surprises, and a dark story all of its own. The Grimoire is an essential book for any Skulduggery fan.
The cover of this edition, printed on cloth-effect material, uses special inks and debossing to represent the age and magic of the Grimoire. Pages inside are designed to represent each archivist's actual papers, and are filled with brand-new information and illustrations from a group of carefully selected artists, including illustrator-extraordinaire Tom Percival as well as brand-new names working in multiple styles, to represent the incredible and broad world of Skulduggery Pleasant.
