This is the best and most satisfying Skulduggery book I've read thus far! Granted, I've only read three. Derek Landy just keeps upping it with each book! Never a dull moment! Like the second book, the other characters came into their own, and as cool and awesome as Skulduggery P is, he needs people to get his back. He needs Tanith Low, Ghastly (all taken names are usually quite cool, because Derek Landy is fabulous.), Kenspeckle, and above all, he needs Valkyrie. His team has saved his butt so many times, one finds it hard to imagine what he'd been doing before he met the girl who was formerly Stephanie Edgley.
And best of all, Landy makes me panic. I swear, he made me tense up a couple of times throughout the book, because behind all the wit and fantastic plotting and epic fight scenes, he has quietly built a cage of emotional involvement to the people in the book around you. And you let him. So now you're stuck at home, worried sick, thinking, oh crap, oh crap, what if he (or she) dies here?! No! We need him/her!
That's right, Derek Landy turns you into a parent. Or perhaps that girlfriend who has just been told that her boyfriend is going to get involved in a gang fight. Or maybe the child of someone who's been admitted to the hospital. Or a pet-owner whose dog/cat is making freaky noises. But I digress.
The notion probably seems silly, until you look at it this way: Every series has at least one immortal character. For the Harry Potter series, you knew without fail that Harry, Hermoine and Ron will survive in the end. For the Twilight series, everyone is an immortal character, except the bad guys. For the Artemis Fowl series, you know that Artemis Fowl, Mulch Diggums and Holly Short will pull through no matter what (I'm not so sure about Butler, though, after what happened in the 3rd book). For the Skulduggery Pleasant adventure, it's Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant (notice how his name is behind hers? Nudge nudge, wink wink). But everyone else in the book probably has a date with Death, because Mr Landy can kill them off at any time...just because he can, and probably because he's Irish. And you know in your heart of hearts, he's toying with this idea to slowly drive you nuts with worry. But that's also what makes him awesome. He isn't afraid to wound his equally-if-not-more-incredble characters, make them scream and run (lots of running in his books), and if the story should lead him that way--kill them off. Derek does seem particularly obsessed with inflicting grievous bodily harm on Tanith Low, though... makes one wonder what he has against hot blondes.
Anyhew, rambling aside, this book has the most epic final battle so far, and it takes an interesting turn that I almost didn't seen coming, had it not been for my friend who spoiled the ending for me. He shall pay. Also, I have given it some thought, and I'd like Katie Mcgrath to play China Sorrows if ever there's a movie, which I'm sure there will be. And as everyone knows, casting the movie version of a book you've read is an undeniable symptom of obsessive fandom. Oh dear.