If you haven’t read any books by YA author, Derek Landy, then you’re missing out. He’s written a whole conglomeration of books centred around a living skeleton (it’s awesome, trust me) and now his latest book Demon Road is releasing in August. Which is exciting. Are you excited? I AM EXCITED. But in case you’re staring at […]
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By: [email protected],
on 7/14/2015
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Cait Drews, Demon Road, young adult, Skulduggery Pleasant, derek landy, Add a tag
By: Gail Gauthier,
on 1/19/2015
Blog: Original Content (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, fantasy, Skulduggery Pleasant, Reader response, 2014, Add a tag
I got the last Skulduggery Pleasant book, The Dying of the Light by Derek Landy, in from England a few months ago. I didn't rush to read it, because I'd found the last few Skulduggeries a little slow and long. Not this one. This one moved along, I kept wanting to find more time to read it, and I would have been happy to have read still another book about the bony one.
The last few books, including this one, jumped around with points of view. With the other books, I felt that slowed everything. With this one, not so much. I began to feel with this book that when you're using multiple points of view in a book, the book may not be one person's story as much as it is the story of some kind of event in which many people have a point. That was a bit of what was going on here. Instead of being just Valkyrie Cain's story (these books have never really been about Skulduggery Pleasant), The Dying of the Light is the story of how a group of magical folk battle the seemingly unbeatable Darquesse. Valkyrie is a significant part of that, but it's not just her, which is why the point of view switches seemed workable.
Two particularly interesting bits:
By: Gail Gauthier,
on 5/12/2014
Blog: Original Content (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, fantasy, Skulduggery Pleasant, Reader response, Add a tag
I am a long-time fan of the Skulduggery Pleasant series. Nonetheless, I'm finding the books becoming more and more...mmm...what word am I looking for? Slog is too extreme. Too much may be what I'm going for here.
And yet the final volume, Armageddon Outta Here, comes out later this year, and I'll be getting my copy in from Great Britain. I kind of wish, though, that I'd found these books after they were all published. Then I could have read them in a binge and wouldn't have experienced some of the problems I encountered, particularly with Last Stand.
Knowing what happened in earlier books is crucial to getting the most out of this one. These books are very much a serial, not a series. I've been reading them over six years. My mind's just not that good. I was lucky if I could put together a vague idea of some of the past events. Reading all eight books, one after the other, would have helped with that.
And while there are many witty characters in Last Stand, they tend to be witty in the same way, sounding a lot alike. Reading the books in a binge might have made the sameness even more obvious or it might have made the characters easier to follow because you could carry them from book to book.
Apart from that, this particular volume in the series is interesting because of all the point of view switches. In the first half of the book, it would be easy to argue that Skulduggery and, more importantly, Valkyrie Cain, aren't the main characters. It could be argued that there is no main character. The early book comes across a bit like World War Z, in which the war is really the character. The point of view switches also slow things down.
Another interesting aspect of the book is the question of just why it's YA. Valkyrie Cain turns 18. She's never had a lot of traditional teen experiences, anyway, though she was often childish acting over the course of the series. In Last Stand, she is all about being a warrior. Character and situation aren't too YA-like. But theme is. Valkyrie (and another character) are evolving, sometimes trying to control who they will become. The themes of transition and life choices mark the book as YA.
So that's it on Skulduggery, until this fall.
By: Gail Gauthier,
on 9/6/2013
Blog: Original Content (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Skulduggery Pleasant, Reader response, 2013, Add a tag
No, this is not an early Halloween post. I just learned that the most recent Skulduggery Pleasant book, Last Stand of Dead Men by Derek Landy, went on sale a little over a week ago. By "went on sale," of course, I mean "went on sale in the UK," since it's not available in this country. However, I am your source for Skulduggeryness in the U.S. of A., at least in terms of talking about this series.
Because the new book just went on sale, this seems like a good time for me to write about the last book, book 7, Kingdom of the Wicked, which I finished a few weeks ago. This is probably my favorite of the last few books in terms of coherent storyline. There may be a reason for this. According to the Kingdom of the Wicked page at the Skulduggery Pleasant website, this series is broken into trilogies. Book 7 started a new trilogy. I'm definitely liking the political goings on with this one.
These books are violent, anyway, and the characters often find themselves in desperate straits. I can recall reading others in the series and wondering how they could possibly survive what was going on. Kingdom of the Wicked has a very extended culminating battle scene. Seriously, it took me three sittings to get through it, and not because I found it disturbing. I started while on a stationary bike, read some more before bed, and finished the next morning. It was long.
I must also say that this book has one of the best surprise cliffhangers I can recall in any serial book.
Question: What happened to the journalist from book 6 who was going to blow the whistle on the world of magic? The author thought better of it?
Also, I so hope Landy isn't working on a romance between protagonist Stephanie/Valkyrie and Skulduggery. Please, please, please don't let it happen. Teenage girl pairing up with paranormal skeleton--such a cliche. I think it's been a few years since I've done a father book post. The Skulduggery and Valkyrie pairing could be a workable father/child relationship. After all, he lost his own child centuries ago. She is his chance to live that relationship.
By the way, the Skulduggery Pleasant website says that Last Stand of Dead Men is the number one selling children's book in the UK right now. I haven't been able to verify that, but the series is supposed to be popular there, so I'll take their word for it.
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By: [email protected],
on 7/14/2015
Blog: Perpetually Adolescent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Reviews - Childrens and Young Adult, Cait Drews, Demon Road, young adult, Skulduggery Pleasant, derek landy, Add a tag
By: Gail Gauthier,
on 1/19/2015
Blog: Original Content (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, fantasy, Skulduggery Pleasant, Reader response, 2014, Add a tag
The last few books, including this one, jumped around with points of view. With the other books, I felt that slowed everything. With this one, not so much. I began to feel with this book that when you're using multiple points of view in a book, the book may not be one person's story as much as it is the story of some kind of event in which many people have a point. That was a bit of what was going on here. Instead of being just Valkyrie Cain's story (these books have never really been about Skulduggery Pleasant), The Dying of the Light is the story of how a group of magical folk battle the seemingly unbeatable Darquesse. Valkyrie is a significant part of that, but it's not just her, which is why the point of view switches seemed workable.
Two particularly interesting bits:
- Every now and then, the scene in Dying of the Light switches to what appears to be a totally different story involving an unnamed Irish woman in the U.S., a mortal, and a couple of evil types we know from an earlier book. Oh, and a dog. We're not even sure who the woman is until the end. This is the kind of thing that I would usually become very impatient with. I loved it. Who is she? What's going on here? And when?
- Unlike many fantasy authors, Landy addresses the issue of Christianity. As in, if there is a magical world with gods, as there is in the Skulduggery Pleasant universe (most are insane and Valkyrie has punched one), what about the Judeo-Christian concept of God? I've wondered about that with, say, the Percy Jackson books. If the Greek gods are real, does that mean Baby Jesus isn't? In The Dying of the Light that issue is discussed. "Is there a God?" Valkyrie's mother asks Skulduggery. And her uncle says, "My wife and I go to mass every Sunday...Don't you sit there and tell me there's no God." And Skulduggery doesn't. He just can't tell him that there is.
0 Comments on Another Series That Ends Well as of 1/19/2015 9:39:00 PM
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By: Gail Gauthier,
on 5/12/2014
Blog: Original Content (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: YA, fantasy, Skulduggery Pleasant, Reader response, Add a tag
And yet the final volume, Armageddon Outta Here, comes out later this year, and I'll be getting my copy in from Great Britain. I kind of wish, though, that I'd found these books after they were all published. Then I could have read them in a binge and wouldn't have experienced some of the problems I encountered, particularly with Last Stand.
Knowing what happened in earlier books is crucial to getting the most out of this one. These books are very much a serial, not a series. I've been reading them over six years. My mind's just not that good. I was lucky if I could put together a vague idea of some of the past events. Reading all eight books, one after the other, would have helped with that.
And while there are many witty characters in Last Stand, they tend to be witty in the same way, sounding a lot alike. Reading the books in a binge might have made the sameness even more obvious or it might have made the characters easier to follow because you could carry them from book to book.
Apart from that, this particular volume in the series is interesting because of all the point of view switches. In the first half of the book, it would be easy to argue that Skulduggery and, more importantly, Valkyrie Cain, aren't the main characters. It could be argued that there is no main character. The early book comes across a bit like World War Z, in which the war is really the character. The point of view switches also slow things down.
Another interesting aspect of the book is the question of just why it's YA. Valkyrie Cain turns 18. She's never had a lot of traditional teen experiences, anyway, though she was often childish acting over the course of the series. In Last Stand, she is all about being a warrior. Character and situation aren't too YA-like. But theme is. Valkyrie (and another character) are evolving, sometimes trying to control who they will become. The themes of transition and life choices mark the book as YA.
So that's it on Skulduggery, until this fall.
0 Comments on This Should Have Been Part Of A Binge Read as of 5/12/2014 11:02:00 PM
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By: Gail Gauthier,
on 9/6/2013
Blog: Original Content (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Skulduggery Pleasant, Reader response, 2013, Add a tag
Because the new book just went on sale, this seems like a good time for me to write about the last book, book 7, Kingdom of the Wicked, which I finished a few weeks ago. This is probably my favorite of the last few books in terms of coherent storyline. There may be a reason for this. According to the Kingdom of the Wicked page at the Skulduggery Pleasant website, this series is broken into trilogies. Book 7 started a new trilogy. I'm definitely liking the political goings on with this one.
These books are violent, anyway, and the characters often find themselves in desperate straits. I can recall reading others in the series and wondering how they could possibly survive what was going on. Kingdom of the Wicked has a very extended culminating battle scene. Seriously, it took me three sittings to get through it, and not because I found it disturbing. I started while on a stationary bike, read some more before bed, and finished the next morning. It was long.
I must also say that this book has one of the best surprise cliffhangers I can recall in any serial book.
Question: What happened to the journalist from book 6 who was going to blow the whistle on the world of magic? The author thought better of it?
Also, I so hope Landy isn't working on a romance between protagonist Stephanie/Valkyrie and Skulduggery. Please, please, please don't let it happen. Teenage girl pairing up with paranormal skeleton--such a cliche. I think it's been a few years since I've done a father book post. The Skulduggery and Valkyrie pairing could be a workable father/child relationship. After all, he lost his own child centuries ago. She is his chance to live that relationship.
By the way, the Skulduggery Pleasant website says that Last Stand of Dead Men is the number one selling children's book in the UK right now. I haven't been able to verify that, but the series is supposed to be popular there, so I'll take their word for it.
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By: Ninja Librarian Bill,
on 8/23/2011
Blog: Boys Rock, Boys Read!!! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy, Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why, Kirsten Cappy, Charlie Joe Jackskons Guide To Not Reading Video, Skulduggery Pleasant Playing with Fire, Add a tag
Blog: Boys Rock, Boys Read!!! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy, Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why, Kirsten Cappy, Charlie Joe Jackskons Guide To Not Reading Video, Skulduggery Pleasant Playing with Fire, Add a tag
Hi all in "The Land of Blog" ti's your forever wandering and trustworthy guide Library Ninja Bill with more news on the latest, at least to him, and greatest, a matter surely open to debate, reads out there. Okay got a bunch of good stuff this go-round so let's jump into the deep end of the pool (hope everyone can swim).
First things first. I recently heard from my most excellent friend Kirsten Cappy from the great state of Maine. She had this to share with me so check it out:
Pretty funny right! Thanks Kirsten, you Rock!!!! Can't wait to give this book a spin! Now on to more serious. yea right, business:
Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire by Derek Landy - This is the second book in The Skulduggery Pleasant Series and it is just as fun and full of action as the first. Now is the time to pause reading this review and skip to the next review I made sometime back on another blog. It's all about the first book and some cool stuff. Take your time I promise to wait with this review until you finish that one. All right see you back soon.......Hum, Hum, Hum , Hum, Hummm. Ah back are you? Sounds like great stuff doesn't it? Well, um, now about the second book. Skulduggery is back with his allies Stephanie , or should I say Valkyrie Cain, the kick-butt ninja stylized Tanith Low and others. An old foe of Skulduggery's, Barron Vengeous, has escaped his prison which just happens to be the very same one Skulduggery put him in 80 years ago. He has recruited sinister allies in Billy Ray Sanguine - a Cowboy of the supernatural plains whose power makes everything come undone around him (sounds confusing I know, but man this guy is dangerous), Mr. Dusk - a vampire of the utmost power, and others to bring the Faceless Ones to this dimensional Realm (if you thought Vengeous and his crew was bad, they got nothing on the Faceless Ones). On top of stopping the Barron and his allies from bringing back the Faceless Ones, Skulduggery and crew must defeat the resurrected Grotesquery - a fearsome and vicious creature assembled from various spine chilling monsters, who is also a key to bringing the Faceless Ones into our dimension. Did I mention if the Faceless Ones are brought back to our dimension that it's the end of everything. Oh well, as you can see this book has got it going at 110 ten miles per hour and it won't let you go till it's over!!!! Highly recommended for those 9 and older!!!!!!
All right let's take a trip into Bill's past:
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - Who is the best detective ever? Did you guess Sherlock Holmes or Inspector 
Jacques Clouseau or perhaps The Hardy Boys? Well if you guessed any of those you would be wrong!!!!! The greatest detective ever is none other than
0 Comments on 13 Reasons, Being Pleasant and not Playing with Fire! as of 1/1/1900
By: Susanne Gervay,
on 3/24/2010
Blog: Susanne Gervay's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News, Writing, Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy, Room to Read, fantady, Shearers Bookshop Leichhardt, Add a tag
Derek Landy is Irish, funny, loves writing and is a SUPER STAR!
‘Skulduggery Pleasant, Dark Days’, is the 4th book in the hugely successful series about a wise cracking detective skeleton, who happens to be dead. It’s the crazy funny funny adventures of Skulduggery Pleasant and a 12 year old girl Valkryrie with speacl powers as they zoom into fantasy and other dimensions. What are they doing? Fighting EVIL.
It’s fun, page turning, zombie-like, written by a funny, talented, Irish larriken – Derek Landy. Do I like Derek? Sure do.
By: Carl,
on 10/29/2008
Blog: Boys Rule Boys Read! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Island trilogy, Skulduggery Pleasant, Add a tag
I can't believe this! We've got two reviews already form our good friend Koko B. Ware from the totally rockin' Guys Read blog. The first is about is about Skulduggery Pleasant, a book that Bill reviewed last week. Here we go:
O man that was a GREAT book. The whole concept of a dead guy whos soul stayed around and a girl getting caught up in this "prophecy" of her uncles. My favorite part of this book was when the troll got slaughtered by um um um... well I forgot her name. And how the main girl cahnged her name to Valkry Kain, because she always was "raising cain".
Island By: Gordon Korman
I have just recently finished this book called Island. Its all about how these kids get sent to a "character building" expierience on a boat called "Pheonix". However, low and behold, the ship wrecks, (kind of expected in a book with the cover of kids struggling for life), catches on fire and the ship mate called "Rat-Face" takes the lifeboat and food rations with him. Therefore leaving the 6 kids ( Luke, Ian, J.J., Charla, Will, and Lyssa ) to die. Yet fate has different plans for the, if you may, "lucky" children. The six kids cling on to a raft composed of the roof of the captains steering deck and struggle for life until they reach an island. The, now four kids, two are lost on the voyage" try to find a way off the isalnd by signal fires and the like. One day they see a sea plane pass overhead. When they go to check out the docking place of the aircraft they quickly realize these are not life savers but takers! When Will one of the survivers awakens from the deep grasps of unconsiousness, he goes deep into the jungle in fear, for he thinks the other three are trying to hurt him because he has no recolection of the shipwreck and he believes that he is missing his trip on the sunken boat. He doesn't realize he is in grave danger so he better gain memory or he will possibly wind up as one of the illegal traders, one shot point blank... in the center of the head. Well I could go on and on about this book, but why dont you go check out this book at your library, because the series will provide hours of intense, edge of your seat action and suspense.
P.S. WHERE'S MY FREE BOOK!!! :) :) :)
Thanks, Koko B. Ware! The Island trilogy is just too intense for words! Have you read the other two books? They're even better. Take a look at my review here. All you guys out there, go check out the Guys Read blog. As I said, they rock!!
Where's your free book? Well, I've emailed your fearless leader to ask how I could get one to you. So sit tight and it'll get there. You don't mind if I pick, do you? I can't just go out into the library and pull something off the shelves, but we do have of good guy stuff here in our "prize boxes" and I'll do my best to pick one you'd like.
The great and powerful CARLMAN
PS to cyber kid--I checked that Archers, Alchemists, etc. book. Looks good!
2 Comments on Wow! All You Guys Are Quick!, last added: 11/7/2008
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By: Jennie,
on 7/9/2008
Blog: Biblio File (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Fiction, Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy, Juvenile, Add a tag
Hmmm... it turns out it's been, like, over a week since I actually reviewed a book. We'll say I've been too busy. Last Tue-Thur night last week, I slept. So sick. Luckily, it was the sleepy kind, so I didn't have to be consciously miserable all that much. Then we had company for the holiday weekend and then... well, hi! I'm blogging!
Plus, I have been reading A TON. And, I've been really crabby this week. And who wants to review books when they're crabby? Plus, I don't have any books for upcoming review that deserve a crabby review. Wait, I take that back, I do, but they were so bad that just thinking about them makes me even crabbier and then my head threatens to explode, so I just have Dan make me a mojito instead.
Anyway, this is a very special blog post WITH A CONTEST! It's my first contest, so I hope lots of people enter. Anyway...
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.
AND! Now, for the contest, I have a copy to give away. It's open world wide and to enter, you must email me at kidsilkhaze at yahoo dot com with the subject line "Playing with Fire." If you blog about this contest, email me the link with the same subject line and I'll enter you another time for every time you spread the word. All emails must be received by Wednesday, July 16th at 9pm, US East Coast Time. At that point, I'll throw everyone's name into some sort of container (like my pasta pot) and have Dan draw a name. Unless he's out of town, then I'll just close my eyes and do it myself.
Good luck!
1 Comments on And, occasionally, I review books, last added: 7/10/2008
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By: Erin,
on 3/31/2008
Blog: Miss Erin (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: skulduggery pleasant, derek landy, Add a tag
by Derek Landy
Oh, my. What a fantastic book. Playing With Fire is the sequel to last year's Skulduggery Pleasant, which was short-listed in the Cybils Sci-Fi/Fantasy category. While I liked the first book quite a bit, I liked the second loads more. You'll definitely want to read these in order, though, to get the full benefits of the story.
This book really has it all: magic, action-adventure, humor. (How I'd love to play Valkyrie in a movie of the book!) The dry humor is probably what I love best; I laughed (or, more often than not, smirked) a good deal while reading it. Valkyrie and Skulduggery are fabulous characters. All the harrowing adventures and fights the two of them go through are both intense and super-fun.
These books aren't for the faint of heart: there's plenty of violence and gore, especially in this latter book. (There's also a smattering of swearing.) And there's lots of spiders and needles, which happen to be two of my least favorite things. But I would still highly recommend it. It's un-put-downable, really, and I can't wait for book three to be released.
7 Comments on Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire, last added: 4/1/2008
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By: Mary Burkey,
on 1/14/2008
Blog: Audiobooker (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Jazz, Dooby Dooby Moo, Walter Dean Myers, Odyssey Award, Treasure Island, Bloody Jack, Skulduggery Pleasant, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Jazz, Walter Dean Myers, Dooby Dooby Moo, Odyssey Award, Treasure Island, Bloody Jack, Add a tag
Hooray! The first Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production medalists have been named! As chair of the committee that had the pleasure of choosing the titles, I can say that the decision came after deliberating many wonderful productions. We were amazed that the finest titles also covered a breadth and range of ages and interests. But the truly astonishing fact was discovered only after we had completed the entire process. We all felt the planets aligning when we realized that the author of the first Odyssey winner, Walter Dean Myers, was also the winner of the first Printz Award. It was meant to be.
The winner:
Jazz. By Walter Dean Myers. Narrated by James “D-Train” Williams and Vaneese Thomas. 43min. Live Oak Media. CS, $25.95 (9781430100195); CD, $28.95 (9781430100225).
“Jazz,” a production of Live Oak Media, takes the readalong to new heights as James “D-Train” Williams and Vaneese Thomas perform the work of Walter Dean Myers. Original music accompanies each poem's performance, resulting in a rhythmic representation of mood and tone. Separate tracks for the selections and lively inclusion of a glossary and timeline create a dynamic audiobook; part poetry, part nonfiction, and wholly authentic.
The Honor audiobooks:
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy By L. A. Meyer. Narrated by Katherine Kellgren. 8hr. Listen & Live Audio. CD $37.95. (9781593160944).
Katherine Kellgren’s vocal athleticism takes listeners from the filthy streets of eighteenth century London to the high seas in Meyer’s fast-paced novel about a girl who stows away as a cabin boy.
Dooby Dooby Moo. By Doreen Cronin. Narrated by Randy Travis. 13.36min. Weston Woods/Scholastic. CS $24.95 (9780545042833). CD $29.95 (9780545042819).
Music and barnyard chatter enhance Randy Travis’ performance of Cronin’s comic tale of talented farm animals gone wild.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. By J. K. Rowling. Narrated by Jim Dale. 21hr. Listening Library. CS, $90 (9780739360408; CD, $90(9780739360415).
Jim Dale masters and maintains voices for all genders, ages, species, and emotions created by author J.K. Rowling in this final Harry Potter adventure.
Skulduggery Pleasant. By Derek Landy. Narrated by Rupert Degas. 7.5hr. HarperChildren’s Audio. CD, $27.95 (9780061341045).
Rupert Degas fleshes out a cast of characters including a “tweenage” girl, nefarious villains, and a skeleton detective. Music and sound effects mirror the mood of this bone-rattling mystery.
Treasure Island. By Robert Louis Stevenson. Narrated by Alfred Molina. 7hr. Listening Library. CD, $55 (9780739350836).
Stevenson’s pirate classic elegantly unfolds as Alfred Molina’s panoply of accents and the soundscape of the sea place listeners aboard the Hispaniola.
Listen and discover the best in audiobook literature.
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 5/24/2007
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Skulduggery Pleasant, Simpsons Reference, Add a tag
I'm so easily distracted. Wave a piece of shiny aluminum foil in front of my face and suddenly I can't seem to remember what my first name is anymore. Anywho, somehow I got the wrong impression about that new fire-throwing skeleton, Skulduggery Pleasant. When I heard that his movie rights just got sold, I thought that this was old news. Turns out, I was incorrect in my assumptions. Remember, Derek Landy did make a ton of money, but that was just when he signed with HarperCollins in the first place.
So I reread this old Times Online article on the topic and ran into this amusing quote:
"Derek Landy, 31, from Lusk will now follow in the lucrative footsteps of Cecilia Ahern, John Connolly and Eoin Colfer after HarperCollins signed him up to write three children’s books."
And by gum it put them on the map!
Thanks to Dark Horizons for the link.
So I reread this old Times Online article on the topic and ran into this amusing quote:
"Derek Landy, 31, from Lusk will now follow in the lucrative footsteps of Cecilia Ahern, John Connolly and Eoin Colfer after HarperCollins signed him up to write three children’s books."
And by gum it put them on the map!
Thanks to Dark Horizons for the link.
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By: Kelly Herold,
on 5/8/2007
Blog: Crossover (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: book review, Young Adult fiction, middle grade fiction, fantasy, Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy, Add a tag
Okay, adventure junkies, have I the book for you. Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant brings the adventure, the magic, and the page-turning thrills every child over the age of ten desires.
Twelve-year-old Stephanie Edgley had a normal life in Haggard, Ireland, until her uncle passed away:
"Gordon Edgley's sudden death came as a shock to everyone--not least himself. One moment he was in his study, seven words into the twenty-fifth sentence of the final chapter of his new book, And the Darkness Rained upon Them, and the next he was dead. A tragic loss, his mind echoed numbly as he slipped away."
Frankly, I was hooked from this paragraph alone.
At the reading of Gordon's will, Stephanie learns she is her Uncle's heir and she meets a curious thin man named Skulduggery Pleasant. Turns out there's a good reason Skulduggery is thin--he's a skeleton. A skeleton who can also do magic. When Stephanie is attacked on her first night in her Uncle's home, Skulduggery comes to her rescue and they're thrown together in a fight for The Scepter of the Ancients--a magical object Gordon Edgley owned and one that can destroy anything in its path.
Reading this basic plot description might lead you to think that Skulduggery Pleasant is like many a fantasy tale you've read before. But Landy has brought some new touches to the genre. First of all, the warring magicians are not evenly divided into camps of good and evil. There are a fair number of diplomats in the mix as well--magicians who don't see their role as taking either side. This, Stephanie must learn, doesn't mean they are evil, just that you can't call on them for support in a crisis. Secondly, Stephanie and Skulduggery make a great team. Stephanie is an intelligent, snarky girl, and Skulduggery is more amused, than annoyed by her. Take this piece of banter as an example:
"'Is this the same as the way into the Sanctuary?' she asked 'Are you looking for a secret passageway?'
'You watch too many haunted-house movies,' he said.
'But are you looking for a secret passageway?'
'Yes,' he admitted. 'But that's just a coincidence.'"
Landy's talent as a screen writer shows--Skulduggery Pleasant features one great action scene after another. Despite the danger and darkness of Stephanie's new magical world, Skulduggery Pleasant remains a bright Gothic read due to Skulduggery's winsome personality and Stephanie's sense of humor and bravery. Highly, highly recommended for readers ages ten and up.
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I'd like to tell you more about Skulduggery Pleasant, but my 11-year-old child is threatening to leave home unless I hand it over now. You can check out Skulduggery's website and weirdly awesome video here.
15 Comments on Review: Skulduggery Pleasant, last added: 6/24/2007
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 3/22/2007
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Skulduggery Pleasant, Dancing Skeletons Not Penned By Disney, Add a tag
Skeletons, as a rule, are hot. Nobody contests this. Right? I mean, surely I'm not the only one out there.
Glad we got that settled. As I was saying, skeletons are hot and well-dressed skeletons are even hotter. Enter Skulduggery Pleasant. As a fan of book videos, I'm rather taken with Harper Collins' recent addition to the SP website. This isn't a book video. This is a book music video. Watch that skeleton break it down old school style. Go, Skulduggery, go go go!
1 Comments on Kicking It, Skulduggery Style, last added: 3/26/2007
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By: Betsy Bird,
on 2/1/2007
Blog: A Fuse #8 Production (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Robert McGuire, Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy, Getting Autographs Is Difficult To Remember To Do, Time Myers, Add a tag
I would just like to extend a thank you to two talented artists in their field who chose to visit the Donnell Central Children's Room yesterday. Accompanied by a posse of publishers and an agent, up-and-coming Derek Landy is the author of that nice skeleton book all the kids are talking about, Skulduggery Pleasant. I desperately want to start calling it that-jive-talking-skeleton book, but though this sounds good it's not strictly true. Pity. Mr. Landy is a quiet sort, and I never quite had the chance to inform him that the title of his book is doomed to be misspelled Skullduggery Pleasant due to the nature of its subject matter. I gave the group a little tour as well. In the course of the tour I couldn't help but notice that almost all our significant point of interest (Winnie-the-Pooh, Mary Poppins' umbrella, a signed Harry Potter book) are British. Go figure. Now with its up-and-coming release date there was nothing on hand to give Mr. Landy to sign aside from my own much battered, much dog-eared ARC of his book. He did so quite nicely. A lovely time was had by all.
Then a little later in the day we were treated to the appearance of illustrator Robert McGuire. A relatively new up-and-coming artist, Mr. McGuire was bringing some friends of his to the library to view the illustrations he did for Sid Fleischman's The White Elephant (published last year and on NYPL's 100 Books For Reading and Sharing list). My co-worker and I managed to convince him of the necessity of signing our Reference copy for posterity, and even got the name of his 2007 picture book due out in March (The Furry-Legged Teapot by Tim "I Get All the Best Illustrators To Do My Books" Myers).
Thanks to both men. We'll be looking forward to seeing how your books fare this year.
1 Comments on Authorial/Illustratorial Pit Stops, last added: 2/5/2007
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Hey Guys,
Thank you soooo much. I cant believe you actually put my post up. Plus the free book, you guys dont know how cool that is. You know we put that little P.S thing as a joke, but hey i'll take a book any day of the week, hence the membership of GUYS READ. Well I think ill keep comin' back to put up more comment/reviews. Keep on posting.
Your friend, from a different part of NC, Koko B. Ware on behalf of the Guys Read book club
Oh yeah,
I am just now beggining the first and third book. Not really the way that the author intended for it to be ready, but hey, im not your average guy. Im Special ;)
Ur club ROX !!!!!!
Koko B. Ware