thepunktheory's Review of Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant, #1) (Collins Readers)

by Derek Landy

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.

Full review on my blog coming soon!

A friend of mine is a huge fan of these books and she convinced me to pick them up as well.
I always like a good mystery and these books had been on my radar for a while now, so I was pretty excited to get started with Skulduggery Pleasant. Long story short, I basically burned through the first installment and can't to read the next one.
Why did I like it?
First of all, it's such a cool idea to have an undead skeleton detective. The worldbuilding that basically adds another layer to our world is great and I'm curious to find out more on that front.
The book is well-written and the mystery part of the story comes across nicely. There are several twists and turns, so you'll be continuously surprised but still encouraged to keep guessing along.
Furthermore, Skulduggery's new friend Stephanie - or Valkyrie Cain as she calls herself - is an amazing character. I can't wait to find out more about that feisty girl who never backs down!

Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant, #1) (Collins Readers)

by Derek Landy

Reviewed by thepunktheory on Feb 18, 2020

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