Skulduggery Pleasant is not your typical detective – he’s actually a skeleton who also happens to also be a very powerful magician. He fought in a huge magical war hundreds of years ago when he was killed, but came back to life to help win the war. Now, he’s working to solve the murder of a good friend, and has acquired a small sidekick in the form of that good friend’s niece. These two must join forces not only to find the murderer, but to discover exactly why the murderer needed Skulduggery’s friend dead, before a new magical war is begun.
On one hand, this was good. On the other hand, I’ve been hearing so much raving about it from Rachel that I expected it to be better. I expected it to be on the same level as Horatio Lyle or Jolted, and it fell short of that.
I think this is partially due to my over-exposure to urban fantasy – and there was a lot of that going on. It could have also been partially due to my extremely high expectations. And it could have been partially due to the fact that I really didn’t like whats-her-name. In fact, all of the characters seemed rather lackluster. Skulduggery was the only entertaining character in the book. But he did make up for the fact that I didn’t like anyone else. He’s so … Okay, it’s like this. You know how Howl is so hilarious because he is so over-dramatic? Skulduggery is so hilarious because he’s got such a big ego, but also because he’s got a very dry sense of humour.
There were a bunch of extras at the back of the book – an interview with Skulduggery, and a short story about Skulduggery. The interview was perhaps my favourite part of the book. As I said, he is quite full of himself in a totally amusing way:
Why would I want to change anything? Am I not perfect that way I am? Thank you, I think so too.
The Bottom Line: It was alright – had good points and bad – but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. While I enjoyed Skulduggery himself, it wasn’t enough to make me really want to read any more in the series. That said, I can see how a lot of people really enjoy it. The characters just didn’t really do much for me, and as I’m very much a character-driven reader, that made a huge difference in the book for me.
Aw, I am sad you didn’t like this. I loved Skulduggery. :)
Kailana
August 6th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
I wasn’t a huge fan either, but I did enjoy most of it. Funny story – my husband picked this up from Chapigo’s Fantasy section when it came out in hard cover. I guess they miss-tagged it when it first came out, because once it was in paperback we noticed it was in the YA section — as was the sequel! I thought it seemed a little young for the regular fantasy section. :)
Cat
August 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I like how everything I recommend from here forward will be judged based on the following criteria:
is it as good as Jolted?
is it as good as Horatio Lyle
I think I read Skulduggery in the perfect mood and that is why he and I have a special relationship…. and hyped him up so much. Like Alex Rider, he is a hero I have seen a lot of boys get jazzed up about —so I think that made m bias too!
Tee hee.
You need to stop reading some urban fantasy for the while.
rachel
August 10th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Kelly – I’m pretty sad that I didn’t like this too, actually, haha.
Cat – yeah, it definitely seems young for the regular fantasy section. It seems a little odd that they would place it there.
Rachel – everything is going to be judged by that now. Just so you’re warned. You’ve given yourself something to live up to. And yes, I can see a lot of boys getting into the Skulduggery books. And yes, I really do, but that is more than half of what is on my shelf.
Court
August 10th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
i think u suck . skulduggery rules
tytyfgyygf
February 1st, 2010 at 12:09 am
You have some great points- the characters weren’t as developed as some people would have liked, and maybe not very entertaining. But overall, it was a great story and I loved it. The plot is very intriging and I got hooked easy! And skulduggery has his own twist of humor, I think, which makes him unique and a very unusual character. (That and he’s a skeleton) Everyone could use some unusual every once in a while! ;D
Mandy
February 10th, 2010 at 9:04 pm