30 Days of Books ~ Day 15

Day 15 ~ Favourite Male Character

Hard question... But, I went with one of my favourite series based around a male skeleton. I LOVE Skulduggery Pleasant! For starters, a series based around a walking, talking skeleton was pretty original at the time that I started this series. And, then... He is just so fun! I used to say he was my book boyfriend... And, yes, he is a skeleton. lol The quick wit and humour that these books are written with has made this one of my very favourite series. And, it mostly comes down to Skulduggery Pleasant! If you haven't tried this series, you should!

Skulduggery Pleasant - Book 4: Dark Days by Derek Landy

It's the fourth Skulduggery Pleasant adventure! only Skulduggery Pleasant himself is lost on the other side of a portal, with only some evil gods for company. Can he possible survive? (Yes, all right, he's already dead. But still.) What can we say, without giving too much away? Not much, is the answer. But what we CAN say is that this book is hilarious, it's tense, and it's packed with all the eye-popping action, crackling one liners and imaginative set pieces you've come to expect. There's a new threat to our plucky heroine, of course. But that's not all. There's also the little fact of the Big Bad, the uber-baddy who's going to come along and really, really destroy the world. (Really.) And what we learn about that villain in this book will literally make your jaw fall off and your hair go white with shock. (Not really.) Will Skulduggery make it out of the Faceless Ones' dimension? Who knows. The problem is, he may not have much to come back to!

If I was making a list of my current favourite series you would definitely find Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. There is just something about a skeleton main character that intrigued me since book one and hopefully will for as long as the series is published. I keep going to say things and then remembering that if you haven't read any of the other books in the series it is a spoiler... It is hard to review books from a series. I can safely say that this is the funnest group of characters I have encountered in a while. They are all over the place for personality and it all just works. Skulduggery is still why I read the series, but the other characters are growing on me. I just don't think I would have been interested in this series in the first place if it wasn't about a skeleton. Nothing else is necessarily all that original, so I was happy that Landy found a fresh idea.

I really like the combination of action and humour in this series. You get on the edge of your seat and then something entirely off the wall happens and you wind up laughing aloud and hoping that there is no one around who will think you are crazy. If you are crazy, though, then you would fit right in with this series! So, maybe it is okay if people catch you randomly laughing. Landy is also capable of keeping the sub-plots going. Even if you think it is minor, he mentions it and develops it in someway. I hate when authors forget about their own subplots and then you get to the end of the book and still don't entirely know what happened. I have high hopes that by the time this series comes to an end everything will be addressed, if not entirely wrapped-up. This series doesn't really struck me as the type where everything can be resolved in a neat little package when the finally book is reached.

So, since there are a lot of people that read this blog that STILL haven't discovered the wonder that is Skulduggery, I am just going to say that this was another great book and you really must read it! Then, there is the fears that I am crazy and no one will understand my love attraction to this series, but that is the price you pay when people are slacking off and missing out on greatness. Okay, maybe I wouldn't go quite that far, but you still should give this series a try and be very excited that book five will be out next month!

Thanks to Harper Collins for once again supplying me with a copy! (Did I mention you really should try this series?)

This book counts for the RIP Challenge, but I haven't officially signed up yet. Must do that!

The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy (Skulduggery Series, Book 3)

Valkyrie screamed, sprinting toward Skulduggery.

He looked up and reached out to her, but it was too late. . . .

If you've read the other Skulduggery Pleasant books by Derek Landy (and you really should have read them by now), you've seen it all before: Some bad guy wants to bring about the end of the world, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie fight valiantly to stop it from happening. A few people get hurt, sure, but everything's all right in the end.

Well, not this time.

The third book in the Skulduggery series by Derek Landy. It actually came out last year, but I get wrapped up in library due dates and get slack at reading my own books. I really like this series. It's a lot of fun! Skulduggery is currently one of my favourite characters in fiction at the moment. You take a walking, talking skeleton and make him a detective and you apparently have a hit on your hands. It helps that Skulduggery's personality is interesting at times.

The books do tend to be a bit predicable, but not in a bad way. While you know that something bad is going to happen and that Skulduggery and Valkyrie will be mixed up in it, you don't always know exactly what surprises that Landy has waiting for you. It is also nice that there are stories started back in the very first book that are still being told in the newest. I hate when an author starts something and then seems to forget all about it, because I remember and I want to know what happens.

Something different about this book was that the ending was a bit of a cliffhanger. Normally everything is mostly wrapped up by the end of the book, but in this one you really are going to want to have book four handy so you can find out what happens! I have to admit that Valkyrie can annoy me at times. She's only a kid, when you think about it, and it comes across sometimes in ways that bother me. I think it would be worse if the story didn't move to other people once in a while. If it was just her I would probably not like this series at all! As it is, I really only love it because I really like Skulduggery. The books are original, too. They might be a bit predictable at times, but they still present original ideas and have original characters. That is something that is hard to do in fantasy nowadays.

Overall, this was another fun book in the series. I would say more, but I don't want to spoil the previous two books. All I will say is give this series a try!

Thanks to Harper Collins Canada for sending me this book!

Playing With Fire by Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant Series, Book 2)

From Harper Collins:

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant

Ace Detective
Snappy Dresser
Razor–tongued Wit
Crackerjack Sorcerer
and
Walking, Talking,
Fire-throwing Skeleton

—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.

The end of the world?

Over his dead body.

My Thoughts:

I consider the first book in this series to be one of the best books I read this year, so I was very excited to read the second book in the series. I just love Skulduggery. It is refreshing and fun and I continue to look forward to the future books after reading this one. I didn't like this book quite as much as the first book, but it was still a really good book. I know other people have not been quite as enamoured with this series as me, but to each their own. I think, for me, this series is my 'for fun' series. It doesn't matter how well it is written over all as long as I can enjoy the story and the characters while I am reading it. When it stops being fun, then that will be the end of the series for me.

The two main characters in this series are Skulduggery Pleasant and Stephanie Edgley. Skulduggery is the reason that I read these books, but the dynamic between him and Stephanie is also a good sale. They play off each other really well and both bring a lot to the books. Skulduggery is a walking, talking skeleton. Instead of just being a sleuth, though, Stephanie is very slowly learning his backstory. It adds to the overall picture when you understand why Skulduggery is who he is. He is also really humourous and very concerned with how he dresses, which is entertaining on its own. It's always good when a skeleton is a better dresser than those that are living. Stephanie is a twelve-year-old girl that got drawn into all the excitement when her uncle died in the previous book. Skulduggery thought that their time together was over with, but Stephanie is determined to stick around.

This book was another of their adventures and from what I hear, the series has many more adventures forth-coming. Is this the best young adult series out there? Probably not, but I love it and I think that everyone should give it a try. The third book is out now and I can't wait to read it!

My thanks to Harper Collins Canada for the review copy of this book!

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (Skulduggery Series, Book 1)

Books Completed: 88
Completion Date: March, 2009
Pages: 400
Publication Date: April, 2007

Reason for Reading: Rachel recommended it!

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant

Ace Detective
Snappy Dresser
Razor–tongued Wit
Crackerjack Sorcerer
and
Walking, Talking,
Fire-throwing Skeleton

—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.

The end of the world?

Over his dead body.

First off, I should add that I had never heard of this book before until Rachel mentioned it. I am surprised it does not get more blogging press because it is a really fun book! I read a lot of fantasy, so it can get a bit like the same thing over and over again. Landy has managed to write a very fresh novel that has great characters, a fun storyline, and the potential to be a great series. While his author do suffer a bit writing-wise from the whole 'first novel syndrome', it does not take away from the story at all!

Yesterday I did a meme and one of the questions was what fictional character am I secretly in love with. At the time I took the question literally, but I got to think that I probably shouldn't have! I wouldn't say I am 'in love' with lots of characters, but I love lots of characters. That includes both men and women. If you didn't love the characters, you wouldn't go back and read the book, right? Anyway, Skulduggery Pleasant is one such character. He makes the entire book, I must say! The other characters are good, don't get me wrong, but the book would not be the book without him. I love him, so as long as he is a character in the series, I will be reading the books!

The story, though, is told by Stephanie Edgley. Her uncle has just died and when she attends his funeral, her whole world is changed forever! She is an engaging character and she narrates her story well. It turns out that there is more to her family than meets the eye, but it takes the death of her uncle for her to fully understand just what she has been born into. Then, she meets Skulduggery and things are never the same again! Of course, when she first meets him she doesn't know that he is a skeleton. He is just a rather strange friend of her deceased uncle, but as she learns his story we learn more and more about him, too. It will make you love him, I promise! He is funny, entertaining, and compelling. He has also gone through a lot during the course of his, um, life? Okay, so, yes, I love a skeleton! Is that not a good enough reason to read this book? You can check to see if I am crazy or not, right?

There are also secondary characters in this book. Stephanie's parents are both rather loving, but her father is very scatter-brain. When he enters a scene you know that you are going to wind up smiling. Then, there are the people that Stephanie meets through Skulduggery. There is the boxer and tailor that makes Stephanie's 'heroine' outfit: Ghastly Bespoke. There is China Sorrow who has the ability to make everyone that meets her fall in love with her, but I think most people that read this blog will fall in love with her because of the items in her house! Tanith Low is another character. She is a kick-ass fighter that gives a whole new meaning to girl power. Actually, Landy does a very good job of having both great female role models and male characters. It's a nice assortment, so the book can easily work for both sexes.

The thing is, I have only touched on the 'good guys'. There are also the evil forces that are the focus of the entire adventure. The bad characters are just as entertaining as the good, so you have that to look forward to! And, while the characters may not all stay the same, the central theme of what Skulduggery and his friends are trying to accomplish will. So, really, all there is left to be said is you should read this book! I have since read the sequel, so I will review that at some point and time. It is supposed to be a series, so I am really excited! I think I will end up buying them instead of relying on the library. I enjoy a fresh fantasy series for young adults, and as long as it stays like this book, I really am in for a fun series!

Harper Collins Canada has an audio excerpt! You can experience Stephanie's first glimpse of Skulduggery!

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