Skullduggery Pleasant
by Derek Landy
Not many people know about this book, and that’s a shame. It’s quickly paced, unique, creative, surprisingly funny, and very fun to read. Plus, your hero is a walking, talking skeleton who wears a suit and does magic. What’s not to love? Actually, rereading it again, I’ve picked up on a few things that I’m not so fond of. Firstly, as descriptive as the book is, I wished there were more lavish descriptions that used higher forms of vocabulary. Some of the situations the characters find themselves in are rather mature and suspenseful for our 12 year old protagonist; I just wished the writing was similar. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters and the lore that Landy created are, to put it bluntly, cool. The secret world of magic doers has well thought-out rules and a hierarchy and there own origin story; it shows just how much effort was put into the world. And, of course, Skullduggery is the coolest of them all. I am not ashamed to say that I’ve got a bit of a crush on this fictional skeleton and once you read ‘Skullduggery Pleasant’ you’ll understand why.
- Melissa
