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Skulduggery Pleasant #9
The Dying of the Light
The FINAL shocking, heart-wrenching book in the jaw-droppingly stupendous Skulduggery Pleasant series
Valkyrie. Darquesse. Stephanie. The world ain’t big enough for the three of them. The end will come…
The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder.
And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals… and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.
The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive…
Valkyrie. Darquesse. Stephanie. The world ain’t big enough for the three of them. The end will come…
The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder.
And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals… and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.
The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive…
605 pages, Hardcover
First published August 28, 2014
434 people are currently reading
6381 people want to read
About the author
Derek Landy
249 books5,262 followersDerek Landy is an Irish writer and screenwriter. In addition to the bestselling children's/YA series of Skulduggery Pleasant books, a supernatural mystery series starring Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and Valkyrie Cain, a young female magician, he has written two screenplays that have been made into films: the IFTA award winning "Dead Bodies" and the IFTA nominated "Boy Eats Girl". Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.
He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List.
Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.
He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List.
Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 873 reviews
March 10, 2020
(actual rating: 3.5)
So, we're here at last. It's unusual for a book series to stretch on for nine volumes with a coherent storyline, and the plot elements that have been in play since book one finally come to their well-deserved conclusion in 'The Dying of the Light'. It's just a bit of a shame the whole affair was a bit touch and go.
It pains me to give this book such a low rating, but don't get me wrong; there's still three-and-a-half stars of Derek Landy goodness here. DOTL might have been the weakest of the nine, but the series itself still shines.
Which is why I'll finish on the good. So here's the bad.
We were left with a fairly clear goal at the end of 'Last Stand of Dead Men': stop Darquesse. Of course, that simple goal doesn't exactly translate to a 600-page novel, so I was expecting some twists. The thing is, the plot didn't so much twist as zig-zag. Our band of heroes would achieve one goal, which we were apparently meant to believe was the end of the conflict only a fraction of the way into the book, and the cycle would begin again.
They separate Darquesse from Valkyrie. This plan fails. They separate Darquesse from Valkyrie again. This plan also fails. They shunt Ravel into another dimension. A few pages later, he's back again and we're back where we started. The plot starts to feel a bit like a constant stream of fetch quests, as everyone scrambles for one way after another of defeating Darquesse.
Plot elements are introduced and dropped with blinding speed.
Some vampires show up. They go almost unmentioned for the rest of the book. Tanith is miraculously restored to being herself, and her return is treated with all the fanfare of righting an overturned chair. The subplot of her developing a conscience is brutally cut short, rendering Moribund's entire existence moot. Her grief over Ghastly's death is dealt with in a couple of lines.
Eliza Scorn flits in and out, and Doctor Nye makes no appearances at all- strange, given that they have a fairly strong impact on the climax.
Melancholia makes a return, a scant few pages before she's blown to steaming bits.
We're even treated to a bizarre few pages where it seems like Darquesse just chooses to be one of the good guys, before that gets dropped as well.
Perhaps the greatest example is the necromancer trials that Skulduggery, and later Scapegrace, must endure. The entire plot device is whipped out at the last minute, fulfilled in order to give Valkyrie a few of invincibility...which she squanders on a pointless fight. The plot moves on.
There's also a degree to which Landy seems to have lost respect for his characters. Saracen Rue, the monster hunters and several others merely stand in the background and act as manpower for most of the story. Vex is barely an improvement, possessed as he is by a remnant for a majority of the tale. Meanwhile, Valkyrie's parents are pushed to the forefront of the action, which results in them utterly losing their mundane charm.
Then there's the ending. At the end of a nine-book series, it wasn't quite what we were expecting, for the most part. It was abrupt, jarringly so. The fates of most of the characters go unrevealed, as if Landy assumes we simply don't care. Valkyrie's shiny new powers are barely given a second thought. The book actually ends with a gritty, unpleasant action sequence with Valkyrie versus random bad guy #54, and by that point I was beyond caring.
Darquesse's defeat was also written in an odd direction; instead of true defeat, she's given exactly what she wanted, then tricked into leaving. It was anticlimactic, especially given that it was accomplished by a group of relatively minor characters displaying abilities that no sensitive has ever been hinted to possess. For this reason, it didn't feel clever or satisfying, which is a low-blow at end of seven years' worth of novels.
That seems like a lot of bad. Here's a bit of good.
The front cover may promise that fun time is over, but there's still fun in droves to be found in DOTL. Scapegrace and Thrasher receive satisfying conclusions to their own stories, and fewer things in fiction have ever been penned that are funnier than Clarabelle's improvised tale of Lewis Holmes, master of unarmed combat.
The action scenes read splendidly, as always, and each interaction is full of wit and gravity in equal measures. Gordon is given the ultimate send-off, and Billy-Ray Sanguine somehow ends up as one of the book's greatest and just plain coolest characters. Put simply, everything you love about Landy's writing is all here.
'The Dying of the Light' was far from the perfect ending. Perhaps a novella is planned to wrap things up, or maybe we're going to be left in hope while Derek Landy laughs at us. It seems like the sort of thing he'd do (like showing us Ghastly in a vision so we're all expecting him to pop back. Seriously, jerk move).
However, I stand by my rating of 3.5 stars. There's more than enough here to wrap up the story, bowl us over with fantastical fight scenes give us a few laughs along the way.
To quote the skeleton detective and his partner from 'Death Bringer':
"This wasn't the ending we wanted," Skulduggery said.
"No it wasn't," Valkyrie replied. "It was the one we got, though."
Let's just accept and enjoy it for what it was.
So, we're here at last. It's unusual for a book series to stretch on for nine volumes with a coherent storyline, and the plot elements that have been in play since book one finally come to their well-deserved conclusion in 'The Dying of the Light'. It's just a bit of a shame the whole affair was a bit touch and go.
It pains me to give this book such a low rating, but don't get me wrong; there's still three-and-a-half stars of Derek Landy goodness here. DOTL might have been the weakest of the nine, but the series itself still shines.
Which is why I'll finish on the good. So here's the bad.
We were left with a fairly clear goal at the end of 'Last Stand of Dead Men': stop Darquesse. Of course, that simple goal doesn't exactly translate to a 600-page novel, so I was expecting some twists. The thing is, the plot didn't so much twist as zig-zag. Our band of heroes would achieve one goal, which we were apparently meant to believe was the end of the conflict only a fraction of the way into the book, and the cycle would begin again.
They separate Darquesse from Valkyrie. This plan fails. They separate Darquesse from Valkyrie again. This plan also fails. They shunt Ravel into another dimension. A few pages later, he's back again and we're back where we started. The plot starts to feel a bit like a constant stream of fetch quests, as everyone scrambles for one way after another of defeating Darquesse.
Plot elements are introduced and dropped with blinding speed.
Some vampires show up. They go almost unmentioned for the rest of the book. Tanith is miraculously restored to being herself, and her return is treated with all the fanfare of righting an overturned chair. The subplot of her developing a conscience is brutally cut short, rendering Moribund's entire existence moot. Her grief over Ghastly's death is dealt with in a couple of lines.
Eliza Scorn flits in and out, and Doctor Nye makes no appearances at all- strange, given that they have a fairly strong impact on the climax.
Melancholia makes a return, a scant few pages before she's blown to steaming bits.
We're even treated to a bizarre few pages where it seems like Darquesse just chooses to be one of the good guys, before that gets dropped as well.
Perhaps the greatest example is the necromancer trials that Skulduggery, and later Scapegrace, must endure. The entire plot device is whipped out at the last minute, fulfilled in order to give Valkyrie a few of invincibility...which she squanders on a pointless fight. The plot moves on.
There's also a degree to which Landy seems to have lost respect for his characters. Saracen Rue, the monster hunters and several others merely stand in the background and act as manpower for most of the story. Vex is barely an improvement, possessed as he is by a remnant for a majority of the tale. Meanwhile, Valkyrie's parents are pushed to the forefront of the action, which results in them utterly losing their mundane charm.
Then there's the ending. At the end of a nine-book series, it wasn't quite what we were expecting, for the most part. It was abrupt, jarringly so. The fates of most of the characters go unrevealed, as if Landy assumes we simply don't care. Valkyrie's shiny new powers are barely given a second thought. The book actually ends with a gritty, unpleasant action sequence with Valkyrie versus random bad guy #54, and by that point I was beyond caring.
Darquesse's defeat was also written in an odd direction; instead of true defeat, she's given exactly what she wanted, then tricked into leaving. It was anticlimactic, especially given that it was accomplished by a group of relatively minor characters displaying abilities that no sensitive has ever been hinted to possess. For this reason, it didn't feel clever or satisfying, which is a low-blow at end of seven years' worth of novels.
That seems like a lot of bad. Here's a bit of good.
The front cover may promise that fun time is over, but there's still fun in droves to be found in DOTL. Scapegrace and Thrasher receive satisfying conclusions to their own stories, and fewer things in fiction have ever been penned that are funnier than Clarabelle's improvised tale of Lewis Holmes, master of unarmed combat.
The action scenes read splendidly, as always, and each interaction is full of wit and gravity in equal measures. Gordon is given the ultimate send-off, and Billy-Ray Sanguine somehow ends up as one of the book's greatest and just plain coolest characters. Put simply, everything you love about Landy's writing is all here.
'The Dying of the Light' was far from the perfect ending. Perhaps a novella is planned to wrap things up, or maybe we're going to be left in hope while Derek Landy laughs at us. It seems like the sort of thing he'd do (like showing us Ghastly in a vision so we're all expecting him to pop back. Seriously, jerk move).
However, I stand by my rating of 3.5 stars. There's more than enough here to wrap up the story, bowl us over with fantastical fight scenes give us a few laughs along the way.
To quote the skeleton detective and his partner from 'Death Bringer':
"This wasn't the ending we wanted," Skulduggery said.
"No it wasn't," Valkyrie replied. "It was the one we got, though."
Let's just accept and enjoy it for what it was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2017
ETA: Still mulling over a Goodreads review, but in the meantime, here is my Amazon review (as spoiler-free as possible).
---
I am done. Finished. Read it.
I'm not even going to try coherence right now, and I really don't want to give anything away at this point, where most people haven't had the chance to read it yet - anything at all, not even in spoiler tags - so right now, I'm just going to leave this here with WHOAH.
Yeah.
This was a fitting ending to my favourite series ever.
An actual review to follow at some point. Right now I've done eight straight hours of reading and it's 2 AM and I need sleep.
---
I am done. Finished. Read it.
I'm not even going to try coherence right now, and I really don't want to give anything away at this point, where most people haven't had the chance to read it yet - anything at all, not even in spoiler tags - so right now, I'm just going to leave this here with WHOAH.
Yeah.
This was a fitting ending to my favourite series ever.
An actual review to follow at some point. Right now I've done eight straight hours of reading and it's 2 AM and I need sleep.
September 17, 2014
Dying of the Light? More like Dying of the Fangirls!
One thought played over and over in my mind as I finished the final page of The Dying of the Light: it can't be over! It just can't be!
This series has been such a big part of my reading experience - of my life. The first Skulduggery Pleasant book came out in 2007. 7 years of my life since then have been filled with a deep, abiding love for this series with its spot-on dry humor, brilliant characters and amazingly detailed plot.
And now...it's over!
I can't believe that we've reached the final Skulduggery book. A true testament to this series' brilliance is how readers can see, looking back, how much the characters have developed since the beginning - especially Valkyrie. The changes are subtle, but there - and they make the characters feel all the more real.
The Dying of the Light has everything the Skulduggery Pleasant books are known for and more - from bloody battles, pointless arguments, and cool weapons, to unexpected twists, heartbreaking ultimatums, and unsatisfying endings.
That ending was so unsatisfying!
I needed a full chapters-worth of writing to end that book. A chapter filled with information like:
- What happened to all our fave characters?
- What happened to all our not-so-fave characters?
- What happens next?
- Does Skulduggery ever part ways with his hat?
Those kind of important questions needed to be answered. Instead, we get an ending that is about as satisfying as the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Or Allegiant.
Unsatisfying ending aside, this book was one hell of a ride.
There was so much to process in this book. And the twist is truly flawless. So flawless, that Derek Landy manages to fool the reader into believing the lie too, for a few heart-wrenching moments.
In those moments all you can think is: would Derek Landy really be that sadistic?
And the thing is, no one knows with Derek Landy. He's such an unpredictable author, that if he decided to kill off all the characters and repopulate his world with bunnies, you wouldn't even be surprised.
Especially if those bunnies turned out to be man-eating.
So if you're dying for a good read, be sure to pick up The Dying of the Light!
Sorry for the terrible pun. It was punny at the time ;)
One thought played over and over in my mind as I finished the final page of The Dying of the Light: it can't be over! It just can't be!
This series has been such a big part of my reading experience - of my life. The first Skulduggery Pleasant book came out in 2007. 7 years of my life since then have been filled with a deep, abiding love for this series with its spot-on dry humor, brilliant characters and amazingly detailed plot.
And now...it's over!
I can't believe that we've reached the final Skulduggery book. A true testament to this series' brilliance is how readers can see, looking back, how much the characters have developed since the beginning - especially Valkyrie. The changes are subtle, but there - and they make the characters feel all the more real.
The Dying of the Light has everything the Skulduggery Pleasant books are known for and more - from bloody battles, pointless arguments, and cool weapons, to unexpected twists, heartbreaking ultimatums, and unsatisfying endings.
That ending was so unsatisfying!
I needed a full chapters-worth of writing to end that book. A chapter filled with information like:
- What happened to all our fave characters?
- What happened to all our not-so-fave characters?
- What happens next?
- Does Skulduggery ever part ways with his hat?
Those kind of important questions needed to be answered. Instead, we get an ending that is about as satisfying as the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Or Allegiant.
Unsatisfying ending aside, this book was one hell of a ride.
There was so much to process in this book. And the twist is truly flawless. So flawless, that Derek Landy manages to fool the reader into believing the lie too, for a few heart-wrenching moments.
In those moments all you can think is: would Derek Landy really be that sadistic?
And the thing is, no one knows with Derek Landy. He's such an unpredictable author, that if he decided to kill off all the characters and repopulate his world with bunnies, you wouldn't even be surprised.
Especially if those bunnies turned out to be man-eating.
So if you're dying for a good read, be sure to pick up The Dying of the Light!
Sorry for the terrible pun. It was punny at the time ;)
September 5, 2018
Very fun read. 10/10 would recommend.
Here we go again. The sarcasm and wittiness is as on point as ever.
1000 subplots and adventures are included in this novel. And I loved everyone of them. The ending was so creative and something I didn’t see coming. I also loved the way Landy told this story overall.
Valkyrie breaks my heart in this one. You can feel her pain. I hope in the next book she allows herself to grieve and heal. Skulduggery should be able to help her a lot with that.
The people that died..some of it did upset me. Especially with one death and the guilt associated with it.
Skulduggery is such a tortured soul. What he must have went through in those tests - a strong man would never survive that. But his love for Valkyrie my god.
Here we go again. The sarcasm and wittiness is as on point as ever.
1000 subplots and adventures are included in this novel. And I loved everyone of them. The ending was so creative and something I didn’t see coming. I also loved the way Landy told this story overall.
Valkyrie breaks my heart in this one. You can feel her pain. I hope in the next book she allows herself to grieve and heal. Skulduggery should be able to help her a lot with that.
The people that died..some of it did upset me. Especially with one death and the guilt associated with it.
Skulduggery is such a tortured soul. What he must have went through in those tests - a strong man would never survive that. But his love for Valkyrie my god.
Read
October 30, 2014(27/9)
So I just finished the book. And I'm feeling kind of emotional. In a good or bad way? I'm not sure, actually.
Attempt at a review up tomorrow (really just an essay made out of feelings)
(25/9)
YES! I have it! Let the angst and tears begin.
_______________________
This series only brings me pain.
So I just finished the book. And I'm feeling kind of emotional. In a good or bad way? I'm not sure, actually.
Attempt at a review up tomorrow (really just an essay made out of feelings)
(25/9)
YES! I have it! Let the angst and tears begin.
_______________________
This series only brings me pain.
February 18, 2020
I think my heart has been ripped out
EDIT (01.01.15):
THE PAPERBACK COVER IS OUT!!!!!!!!ASDFGHJK!!
Also: Guess who got the Black edition for 200€?
______________________
EDIT (20.08.14):
_____________________________
EDIT (04.07.14):
"The cover for The Dying of the Light has already been revealed (to much gasping and weeping and general emotional trauma), but Waterstones will also be stocking a special, signed, limited edition of 5,000 copies with an alternate — almost photo-negative — cover.
Behold the awesomeness.
You can pre-order this limited edition, while stocks last, from any Waterstones branch as of right now. Printed over silver foil, it will shimmer and shine, dazzle your friends and stun your enemies.
And finally, your life will be complete.
Derek Landy, for Waterstones.com/blog"
_____________________
EDIT (03.07.14):
"Oh, and speaking of TDOTL, tomorrow I shall be revealing an awesomely cool limited edition alternative cover.
And it ROCKS."
_______________________
EDIT (20.06.14):
Guess who is back from holidays?
And who saw the cover of TDOTL?Me,me,me!
___________________________________
EDIT (14.05.14):
"(...)On a cheerier note, I've seen Tom Percival's rough sketch of the cover, and it will literally KILL YOU with feels.
Which, now that I think of it, probably isn't a cheerier note at all."
________________________
EDIT (14.04.14):
The whole day i was like
And now...
WE HAVE THE TITLE!
The Dying of the Light<
_____________________
EDIT (13.04.14):
Tomorrow we will get the title
Outside I'm just like :
And inside I'm like this:
______________________
EDIT (08.04.14):
"The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive..."
But really...
___________________________
EDIT (28.03.14):
I thought for a momenent this was a cover...
I was almost happy.
Almost.
Because this book will only bring me pain and misery.
And because I, and therefore WE, are on the home stretch, this blog is going to be choc-a-block with announcements and reveals over the next few weeks. By the end of THIS week, for example, we'll be revealing the cover for the Armageddon-Outta-Here short story collection. Next week, we'll reveal the full, WRAPAROUND cover for the collection (it's awesome). And the week after that? We'll be revealing the title for the ninth, and last, Skulduggery Pleasant book.
I.CAN'T.FUCKING.WAIT!
________________________________
EDIT (12.02.14):
"Oh, and speaking of Book 9, I have just reached the 75,000 word mark. Judging by this, the finished book will be at least 100,000 words, which is Mortal Coil length, and could be longer. LSODM will stay the longest, I reckon, simply because of the massive amount of characters involved. But because most of those characters are now DEAD, Book 9 allows me a smaller, more intimate story — while remaining as heart-rendingly traumatic as anything I've written before.
And speaking of heart-rendingly traumatic, I've actually written the last few chapters. Not to completion, of course, but I've written enough to know what happens, and how it ends, and who lives and who dies, and all I can say is...
I am MEAN."
________________________________
Still haven't read LSODM (I am too chicken...No,i am not. I will start a re-read. Every month one book. That's it. Really.Lies! I'm way too chicken!)
But i want this book.
And a Title.
And a Cover.
NOW!
Expected publication: August 28th 2014
August 28th 2014
EDIT (01.01.15):
THE PAPERBACK COVER IS OUT!!!!!!!!ASDFGHJK!!
Also: Guess who got the Black edition for 200€?
______________________
EDIT (20.08.14):
_____________________________
EDIT (04.07.14):
"The cover for The Dying of the Light has already been revealed (to much gasping and weeping and general emotional trauma), but Waterstones will also be stocking a special, signed, limited edition of 5,000 copies with an alternate — almost photo-negative — cover.
Behold the awesomeness.
You can pre-order this limited edition, while stocks last, from any Waterstones branch as of right now. Printed over silver foil, it will shimmer and shine, dazzle your friends and stun your enemies.
And finally, your life will be complete.
Derek Landy, for Waterstones.com/blog"
_____________________
EDIT (03.07.14):
"Oh, and speaking of TDOTL, tomorrow I shall be revealing an awesomely cool limited edition alternative cover.
And it ROCKS."
_______________________
EDIT (20.06.14):
Guess who is back from holidays?
And who saw the cover of TDOTL?
___________________________________
EDIT (14.05.14):
"(...)On a cheerier note, I've seen Tom Percival's rough sketch of the cover, and it will literally KILL YOU with feels.
Which, now that I think of it, probably isn't a cheerier note at all."
________________________
EDIT (14.04.14):
The whole day i was like
And now...
WE HAVE THE TITLE!
The Dying of the Light<
_____________________
EDIT (13.04.14):
Tomorrow we will get the title
Outside I'm just like :
And inside I'm like this:
______________________
EDIT (08.04.14):
"The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive..."
But really...
___________________________
EDIT (28.03.14):
I thought for a momenent this was a cover...
I was almost happy.
Almost.
Because this book will only bring me pain and misery.
And because I, and therefore WE, are on the home stretch, this blog is going to be choc-a-block with announcements and reveals over the next few weeks. By the end of THIS week, for example, we'll be revealing the cover for the Armageddon-Outta-Here short story collection. Next week, we'll reveal the full, WRAPAROUND cover for the collection (it's awesome). And the week after that? We'll be revealing the title for the ninth, and last, Skulduggery Pleasant book.
I.CAN'T.FUCKING.WAIT!
________________________________
EDIT (12.02.14):
"Oh, and speaking of Book 9, I have just reached the 75,000 word mark. Judging by this, the finished book will be at least 100,000 words, which is Mortal Coil length, and could be longer. LSODM will stay the longest, I reckon, simply because of the massive amount of characters involved. But because most of those characters are now DEAD, Book 9 allows me a smaller, more intimate story — while remaining as heart-rendingly traumatic as anything I've written before.
And speaking of heart-rendingly traumatic, I've actually written the last few chapters. Not to completion, of course, but I've written enough to know what happens, and how it ends, and who lives and who dies, and all I can say is...
I am MEAN."
________________________________
Still haven't read LSODM (I am too chicken...No,i am not. I will start a re-read. Every month one book. That's it. Really.
But i want this book.
And a Title.
And a Cover.
NOW!
Expected publication: August 28th 2014
August 28th 2014
April 23, 2016
Once upon a time, a girl was sitting in a module for her graduate writing program. This module was on the differences between middle grade, young adult, and new adult fiction. Many books were mentioned in the middle grade section, one of which was Skullduggery Pleasant. The professor summarized the series by describing it as a story about a teen girl who teams up with a talking skeleton and solves mysteries. I thought “sounds cool. Maybe I’ll try it someday.” Alternatively, I also thought that the skeleton was also twelve years old and that there would be some kind of forbidden dead/living romance.
Five months later, I picked up Scepter of the Ancients. I read. I liked, but I didn’t love. I kept reading, though. Stephanie was cool. Skullduggery was amusing, and the story was well done. So I read Playing with Fire and The Faceless Ones and Dark Days and Mortal Coil.
And then I read Death Bringer.
And then Skullduggery’s big secret was revealed.
And then I sat up straight, jaw hanging open, and wondered what exactly I’d stumbled into.
I finished Death Bringer and gave it 5 stars. Then I read Kingdom of the Wicked and gave it 5 stars.
I’m legally blind, and I get most of my books in a blind-friendly format. Last Stand of Dead Men wasn’t available. I bought the paperback and scanned it into my computer. This took two days, and I have done this for only one other book in my lifetime. That is how much I was now paying attention.
Then I read LSODM and gave it 5 stars. Then I went back, reread the first five books, and changed my ratings from 4 to 5 stars.
Then I waited a month and a half for The Dying of the Light, scanned it, read it in 2 days, and gave it 5 stars.
And now I just can’t.
This series…this series. There aren’t words, so let me say that it’s everything I’ve ever wanted. A female main character who makes mistakes but is still a good person. A world with real consequences. A non-romantic main relationship. That, more than anything, is why I’m unable to think clearly right now. There isn’t a thing Skullduggery and Valkyrie wouldn’t do for each other, not a freaking thing. “Till the end.” That’s the power of friendship. That’s the power of love. That’s the power of a bond that runs deeper than any romance ever could. That’s the kind of relationship I read for, and this is that brought to its most pure.
It’s over, and there aren’t enough words.
I will reread and reread this series. I will never get tired, and I will always want more. But I know that more would ruin what I have here. Derek Landy, thank you for these books, these characters.
“The sparrow flies south for winter.”
Five months later, I picked up Scepter of the Ancients. I read. I liked, but I didn’t love. I kept reading, though. Stephanie was cool. Skullduggery was amusing, and the story was well done. So I read Playing with Fire and The Faceless Ones and Dark Days and Mortal Coil.
And then I read Death Bringer.
And then Skullduggery’s big secret was revealed.
And then I sat up straight, jaw hanging open, and wondered what exactly I’d stumbled into.
I finished Death Bringer and gave it 5 stars. Then I read Kingdom of the Wicked and gave it 5 stars.
I’m legally blind, and I get most of my books in a blind-friendly format. Last Stand of Dead Men wasn’t available. I bought the paperback and scanned it into my computer. This took two days, and I have done this for only one other book in my lifetime. That is how much I was now paying attention.
Then I read LSODM and gave it 5 stars. Then I went back, reread the first five books, and changed my ratings from 4 to 5 stars.
Then I waited a month and a half for The Dying of the Light, scanned it, read it in 2 days, and gave it 5 stars.
And now I just can’t.
This series…this series. There aren’t words, so let me say that it’s everything I’ve ever wanted. A female main character who makes mistakes but is still a good person. A world with real consequences. A non-romantic main relationship. That, more than anything, is why I’m unable to think clearly right now. There isn’t a thing Skullduggery and Valkyrie wouldn’t do for each other, not a freaking thing. “Till the end.” That’s the power of friendship. That’s the power of love. That’s the power of a bond that runs deeper than any romance ever could. That’s the kind of relationship I read for, and this is that brought to its most pure.
It’s over, and there aren’t enough words.
I will reread and reread this series. I will never get tired, and I will always want more. But I know that more would ruin what I have here. Derek Landy, thank you for these books, these characters.
“The sparrow flies south for winter.”
February 20, 2021
Violence?"Skulduggery said. "Violence is never the answer, until it's the only answer.
What a brilliant way to end the first half of the series and i think this is where the series originally ended before the continuation that follows for it.
Plot: A very action packed last book along with the sarcasm and wit that has made this series what it is today and this one didn't disappoint me at all. Valkyrie and Skulduggery have been fighting against Darquesse for sometime now and things have really started to come to a head in this one.
Valkyrie's parents now know about the magic and what their own daughter is and i'm glad that they actually know all about the world so that Valkyrie doesn't have to hide what she's been doing and how they reacted was such a them way to react i loved that scene.
All the fight scenes in this blockbuster book were all well written and i couldn't even put down the book during these scenes because if i did i was surely going to miss something important. I have enjoyed over the course of 9 books how much humor and sarcasm Derek has put into these books and that's one reason why i always have come back to them.
The ending of this book has left me with so many unanswered questions and now that i know there is a continuation for this series i hope that a lot of them will be answered. I've come to love these characters and this world so much over the passed 3 years now that i've been reading it and it's like i've gone on this massive journey with them and grown alongside them.
Honesty is, honestly, the best policy,” said Saracen. “But when honesty doesn’t work, lie, and lie convincingly.
I have enjoyed all the moments that Derek made me want to scream at the top of my lungs and scream in triumph for those moments when the main characters won against all odds and i take my hat off to Derek for making me feel all those emotions.
What a brilliant way to end the first half of the series and i think this is where the series originally ended before the continuation that follows for it.
Plot: A very action packed last book along with the sarcasm and wit that has made this series what it is today and this one didn't disappoint me at all. Valkyrie and Skulduggery have been fighting against Darquesse for sometime now and things have really started to come to a head in this one.
Valkyrie's parents now know about the magic and what their own daughter is and i'm glad that they actually know all about the world so that Valkyrie doesn't have to hide what she's been doing and how they reacted was such a them way to react i loved that scene.
All the fight scenes in this blockbuster book were all well written and i couldn't even put down the book during these scenes because if i did i was surely going to miss something important. I have enjoyed over the course of 9 books how much humor and sarcasm Derek has put into these books and that's one reason why i always have come back to them.
The ending of this book has left me with so many unanswered questions and now that i know there is a continuation for this series i hope that a lot of them will be answered. I've come to love these characters and this world so much over the passed 3 years now that i've been reading it and it's like i've gone on this massive journey with them and grown alongside them.
Honesty is, honestly, the best policy,” said Saracen. “But when honesty doesn’t work, lie, and lie convincingly.
I have enjoyed all the moments that Derek made me want to scream at the top of my lungs and scream in triumph for those moments when the main characters won against all odds and i take my hat off to Derek for making me feel all those emotions.
June 20, 2018
Um ehrlich zu sein... Ich bin etwas enttäuscht. Ich hatte irgendwie mehr erwartet.
Klar, es war spannend und ich musste mir die eine oder andere Träne verdrücken, aber so im Großen und Ganzen... Mir hat da der 8. Band tatsächlich etwas besser gefallen. Da konnte ich das Buch kaum aus den Händen legen, was ich vom 9. Band leider nicht behaupten kann. Besonders die Kapitel aus der Sicht von Danny haben mich immer wieder rausgebracht und teilweise gelangweilt. In dem Moment haben sie einfach keinen Sinn für mich ergeben.
Auch das Ende fand ich ein wenig meh... Ich dachte, da würde jetzt noch die ganz große Sache kommen. Aber sie kam einfach nicht.
Mich hätte es auch total interessiert, wie es denn jetzt den ganzen anderen Charakteren ergangen ist. Chiner, Tanith, Scapegrace, Fletcher. Kein Wort wurde mehr über sie verloren. Echt schade.
Trotzdem oder vielleicht gerade deswegen, werde ich die Reihe auf jeden Fall weiterfortsetzen. Mir sind die ganzen Figuren einfach so sehr ans Herz gewachsen, dass ich auf ein Wiedersehen mit ihnen nicht verzichten kann <3
Klar, es war spannend und ich musste mir die eine oder andere Träne verdrücken, aber so im Großen und Ganzen... Mir hat da der 8. Band tatsächlich etwas besser gefallen. Da konnte ich das Buch kaum aus den Händen legen, was ich vom 9. Band leider nicht behaupten kann. Besonders die Kapitel aus der Sicht von Danny haben mich immer wieder rausgebracht und teilweise gelangweilt. In dem Moment haben sie einfach keinen Sinn für mich ergeben.
Auch das Ende fand ich ein wenig meh... Ich dachte, da würde jetzt noch die ganz große Sache kommen. Aber sie kam einfach nicht.
Mich hätte es auch total interessiert, wie es denn jetzt den ganzen anderen Charakteren ergangen ist. Chiner, Tanith, Scapegrace, Fletcher. Kein Wort wurde mehr über sie verloren. Echt schade.
Trotzdem oder vielleicht gerade deswegen, werde ich die Reihe auf jeden Fall weiterfortsetzen. Mir sind die ganzen Figuren einfach so sehr ans Herz gewachsen, dass ich auf ein Wiedersehen mit ihnen nicht verzichten kann <3
September 7, 2014
...The Review (August 31, 2014, edited September 6, 2014)
I remember when I first saw Skulduggery Pleasant. I first saw it at my local library, and I thought it looked intriguing. The skeleton with the glasses, and the girl with wavy hair (that's how I thought back then) made the cover look like some little fun horror story that I would read and quickly forget. Years passed, with me looking up at that purple skeleton book with the really weird name, Skulduggery Pleasant. Then, nine years later after I had first saw it when I was 7, just went "well, let's just see what this is all about.
I. Was blown. OUT. This was the book series I was looking for, this was the best thing I had read since Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, and the Bartimaeus Trilogy times two. After that, I went straight to the library, put on hold every book after book one and hungrily devoured everything related to SP. I fell in love with the Skeleton Detective, with Valkyrie, with China (but really, who doesn't love China? Even in the books, she's irresistible.) with Ghastly, with Tanith and with Mr. Bliss. I liked him especially. He was so much in line with what I aspired to be, it really hurt to see him dead.
I guess I could count myself lucky that I had waited so long to pick up this book because I don't think I could have survived the wait. I don't know how you guys survived, but I for one am glad you did; I found friends in you guys. *cue tear-wiping* Isn't this adorable?
Anyway, this book, the Dying of the Light, was the death-knell of mediocrity, because every single piece of it was exceptional in every way. The characters, grown over a period of way-too-long years, have become so three-dimensional that it can be easily imagined, which makes for wonderful reading experiences the likes of which can only be replicated by the Oculus Rift. (I wonder why they haven't made movies for that already...)
I can't go any further without going into the Spoiler Zone, but suffice it to say that this book will kill your feels. You more than likely won't be able to feel anything for a few weeks and....well let me warn you to keep a few boxes of tissue nearby. Why? One word: Leather. Just don't throw the book out the door. Why?
"Doors are for people with no imagination."
(Previous review under spoiler tag)
Pre-review (ETA August 27, 2014)
The Day of Truth, the Last day that I will most likely retain my sanity, because when this book comes out, I will...well you probably already know....
Tomorrow, we will be getting the last (and arguably the most anticipated) book of the month: The Dying of the Light. Derek...please don't kill my feels.
Pre-review Edited August 19, 2014)
This is the back cover. THIS is the BACK. COVER.
The suspense.....I want to read it now, Derek. Right. Now...
Pre-review (Edited June 17, 2014)
...Oh no. I am this close to hulking out, Derek. So very close...
But OMG!!! This cover.....this is going to kill me, I can feel it.
*goes on an extremely prolonged anger/depression management session*
Pre-review(Edited April 14, 2014)
We have a title, ladies and gentleman. A title that is both foreboding and very disturbing...
Pre-review (April 13, 2014)
The Happy:
Tomorrow, the title will be revealed! *happy jig* And....that's it for the happy...because there is nothing...no literary elixir (Except maybe Percy Jackson) that will make me happy again after this.
The Sad(and darn near total misery):
If I ever get this book....this is going to hurt so badly. *puts hand over watery eyes* This is my favorite book series of all time, my best literary find since Percy Jackson....The fact that It will be all over...I..I'm sorry, I need a moment...
*lowers head*
(This program will resume once the understatement of the millennium is amended. In the meantime, cry out in fear and sing your praises to the Golden God, for Derek Landy is the only one who can mend your broken souls. Which he probably won't do.)
I remember when I first saw Skulduggery Pleasant. I first saw it at my local library, and I thought it looked intriguing. The skeleton with the glasses, and the girl with wavy hair (that's how I thought back then) made the cover look like some little fun horror story that I would read and quickly forget. Years passed, with me looking up at that purple skeleton book with the really weird name, Skulduggery Pleasant. Then, nine years later after I had first saw it when I was 7, just went "well, let's just see what this is all about.
I. Was blown. OUT. This was the book series I was looking for, this was the best thing I had read since Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, and the Bartimaeus Trilogy times two. After that, I went straight to the library, put on hold every book after book one and hungrily devoured everything related to SP. I fell in love with the Skeleton Detective, with Valkyrie, with China (but really, who doesn't love China? Even in the books, she's irresistible.) with Ghastly, with Tanith and with Mr. Bliss. I liked him especially. He was so much in line with what I aspired to be, it really hurt to see him dead.
I guess I could count myself lucky that I had waited so long to pick up this book because I don't think I could have survived the wait. I don't know how you guys survived, but I for one am glad you did; I found friends in you guys. *cue tear-wiping* Isn't this adorable?
Anyway, this book, the Dying of the Light, was the death-knell of mediocrity, because every single piece of it was exceptional in every way. The characters, grown over a period of way-too-long years, have become so three-dimensional that it can be easily imagined, which makes for wonderful reading experiences the likes of which can only be replicated by the Oculus Rift. (I wonder why they haven't made movies for that already...)
I can't go any further without going into the Spoiler Zone, but suffice it to say that this book will kill your feels. You more than likely won't be able to feel anything for a few weeks and....well let me warn you to keep a few boxes of tissue nearby. Why? One word: Leather. Just don't throw the book out the door. Why?
"Doors are for people with no imagination."
(Previous review under spoiler tag)
Pre-review (ETA August 27, 2014)
The Day of Truth, the Last day that I will most likely retain my sanity, because when this book comes out, I will...well you probably already know....
Tomorrow, we will be getting the last (and arguably the most anticipated) book of the month: The Dying of the Light. Derek...please don't kill my feels.
Pre-review Edited August 19, 2014)
This is the back cover. THIS is the BACK. COVER.
The suspense.....I want to read it now, Derek. Right. Now...
Pre-review (Edited June 17, 2014)
...Oh no. I am this close to hulking out, Derek. So very close...
But OMG!!! This cover.....this is going to kill me, I can feel it.
*goes on an extremely prolonged anger/depression management session*
Pre-review(Edited April 14, 2014)
We have a title, ladies and gentleman. A title that is both foreboding and very disturbing...
Pre-review (April 13, 2014)
The Happy:
Tomorrow, the title will be revealed! *happy jig* And....that's it for the happy...because there is nothing...no literary elixir (Except maybe Percy Jackson) that will make me happy again after this.
The Sad(and darn near total misery):
If I ever get this book....this is going to hurt so badly. *puts hand over watery eyes* This is my favorite book series of all time, my best literary find since Percy Jackson....The fact that It will be all over...I..I'm sorry, I need a moment...
*lowers head*
(This program will resume once the understatement of the millennium is amended. In the meantime, cry out in fear and sing your praises to the Golden God, for Derek Landy is the only one who can mend your broken souls. Which he probably won't do.)
October 22, 2024
Während ich viele Szenen geliebt habe und etwas traurig über das Ende 💔 dieses Parts der Geschichte bin, fand ich es irgendwie nicht so innovativ wie die delulu Person besiegt wurde. Ich habe etwas größeres erwartet. 4.25 Sterne ✌🏼
July 4, 2018
3-3.5 stars, I think?
Wooooow, it took me way too long to finish this. I want to blame my reading slump, but I have to admit that this is probably my least favourite book of the series so far. I've thankfully taken notes down as I read, so there'll definitely be a proper review coming later, I swear but this was pretty disappointing. I still enjoyed it because it's Skulduggery Pleasant, but... Mm, I was expecting more from this one.
I have Resurrection and Midnight waiting and I'm super excited to see what happens next, but I'm going to be taking a little break from the Skulduggery Pleasant world. Have a heap of books to get through for Tome Topple and I think zooming through 7 books in a series warrants a little breather lmao
Wooooow, it took me way too long to finish this. I want to blame my reading slump, but I have to admit that this is probably my least favourite book of the series so far. I've thankfully taken notes down as I read, so there'll definitely be a proper review coming later, I swear but this was pretty disappointing. I still enjoyed it because it's Skulduggery Pleasant, but... Mm, I was expecting more from this one.
I have Resurrection and Midnight waiting and I'm super excited to see what happens next, but I'm going to be taking a little break from the Skulduggery Pleasant world. Have a heap of books to get through for Tome Topple and I think zooming through 7 books in a series warrants a little breather lmao
July 28, 2021
Star Rating: —> 5 HUNDRED MILLION GAZILLION STARS!
OH. MY. GOD.
TRULY SPEECHLESS RN & SO GRATEFUL THAT LANDY DECIDED TO CONTINUE THE SERIES, INSTEAD OF THIS STAYING THE LAST BOOK.
Book 10, Resurrection, arrives tomorrow... which feels like an eternity at the moment...
What a f*cking book.
OH. MY. GOD.
TRULY SPEECHLESS RN & SO GRATEFUL THAT LANDY DECIDED TO CONTINUE THE SERIES, INSTEAD OF THIS STAYING THE LAST BOOK.
Book 10, Resurrection, arrives tomorrow... which feels like an eternity at the moment...
What a f*cking book.
March 12, 2019
"Until the end."
*sobs silently* This "final" book always gets me. I am deeply in love with this world, the characters and the writing they're presented in. Apart from "I am freaking glad that there are more books!" I don't have anything to add.
May 28, 2017
I first read this book back in 2014 when It was released and to be able to come back to it in 2017 to reread it and still have it wreck me emotionally is a true testament to how great this book really is.
I lost count of how many times I cried while reading (even though I knew what was going to happen) and one point I closed the book and said very loudly "No, No that's okay Derek I didn't need my heart! just destroy it!"
Now with Resurrection coming out and this not being the final book I have so many questions that need answering, Derek has left a lot of things unresolved and up in the air.
I can't wait to get some answers!
I lost count of how many times I cried while reading (even though I knew what was going to happen) and one point I closed the book and said very loudly "No, No that's okay Derek I didn't need my heart! just destroy it!"
Now with Resurrection coming out and this not being the final book I have so many questions that need answering, Derek has left a lot of things unresolved and up in the air.
I can't wait to get some answers!
September 8, 2014
disappointed, sigh*
March 7, 2016
So I found Armageddon Outta Here in a bookshop and immediately pulled it out and flipped to the back to get that promised chapter from The Dying of the Light. It's the second chapter. And it was nice... In fact I was surprised by how normal it was. Same old same old Skulduggery Pleasant. Except for that one major difference that just kept nagging on me the whole time and made me feel sick somewhere in my stomach. God, I don't want to follow this character. I can't stand this character. Derek Landy, don't make me feel sympathetic towards this character, not after Dead Men...
In this way I guess me and Skul are gonna have a lot in common during this last book. Man I can't wait to see what happens. I literally have no expectations and have no idea what could happen.
I really can't wait.
***
Oh God Derek!! You complete and utter...! (Incoherent grumbling) And Skulduggery! You heartless, loveable jerk! How could you do that to me? To Valkyrie?
God I nearly died several times in this book.
Wow, so I finally finished it. This is the end. I've been dreading this moment since I first bought the book (and even a little before that), and now that it's over and the only other series I'm currently reading will also release its final installment this year, I am desperately scrambling around for another fantasy-series for me and my sister to read (she's still got her Land of Stories books - I said I'd check them up after I finished everything else I want to read, but I don't think I'll see it as anything too special; looks a lot like Magic Tree House slash Inkheart.)
I haven't been with this series for nearly as long as most people - in fact I've technically only been a fan for around a year and a half (2 years?) - and my review is waaaaaayyy late since I had to wait eleven months after the initial release of The Dying of the Light before getting a copy (1. because I'm very picky and I only like paperback editions - but the cover is gorgeous and so worth it! 2. because books get released over here like 3 months after they get released in the US) but my love for Skulduggery Pleasant and all its glory can't be any less than a lot of other fans who've made it this far. In fact this finale alone has bumped up the series on my top-ten-favorite-series list to number 3, surpassing The Cirque du Freak and How to Train Your Dragon (at least until the last book for Httyd gets released later this year).
Gosh what a ride this series has been. The characters, the action, the suspense, the magic... It's the only series I have on here where I've rated every book five stars, and that's not to say I see them as completely flawless (particularly not this book) or that I didn't have a few problems here and there with them (mostly with this book), or that there weren't a few I didn't like as much as the rest (I suppose the weakest for me would be Playing With Fire), but those five star ratings were all based on my honest raw feelings of exhiliration and enjoyment after finishing each one (and there were some I started on the same day I'd finished the last, and each took around a two-to-three-day span [apart from this one, since me and my sis were reading it together and she likes to do other things with her time - had I been reading it alone I probably would have finished it in two days max, it was so unputdownable]). It's the one series where I'd finish each book and my immediate thought is not about what it did wrong, but what it did right. Where I'd take a deep breath, smiling widely, and think "ah, that was amazing".
The Dying of the Light though... it's very hard to express exactly what I feel about this book, especially considering that it is THE LAST. Before I get into that...
It's funny that only after finishing this last installment did I recognize the pattern in which these books diligently follow - you'll have a bad guy wanting to destroy the world / summon demons from another dimension and have them destroy the world / kill a whole load of people, and to do these things they need some sort of mystical magical artifact and/or the knowledge of a specific person, and Skul and Val will be sent to intercept said magical artifact/person before they do (finding out where its kept by tracking down and talking to a few people and gathering up the things for their plan of action), and they'll usually fail in the process (often the plan will be interrupted by a magical monster and/or unprecedented back-up from the bad-guy's side and maybe someone gets captured) forcing them to come up with an alternate plan that involves either locating another magical object to counter the one previously stolen, or coming up with a final back-up plan to use upon rendezvousing with the enemy at the site of their evil plot. This plan will also usually fail at first, but then after more fighting, after a lot of kicking and biting and scratching and desperate reaching of fingers, the heroes just manage to succeed by the skin of their teeth, with a trump card they'd been holding back, or else a really lucky break. While all of this is going on there'll be a subplot panning out in the background (and I don't mean Scapegrace and Thrasher), maybe another villain or imminent-doom approaching that are less pressing for time.
In other words, it's just non-stop action and dialogue almost all the way through. And I love that. For awhile now I've come to really notice (and nitpick) while reading books when authors explain or tell even a little more than they necessarily should - I've gotten quite attached to the show-don't-tell method of story-telling. Maybe it's due to the large amount of manga I've been reading the past two years. I do think Skulduggery Pleasant would make a truly awesome manga/anime.
Apart from Last Stand of Dead Men, which took place during a civil war between Sanctuaries and so had to be a little more complicated, all the SP books work on this cycle of events, and the last book is no different. The only real difference is that this time, the stakes are much higher.
But while the rest of the books all seemed well self-contained and wrapped up, I felt like a lot was left hanging loose in DOTL, and those loose ends are probably more apparent to me here because it is THE LAST.
When writing a finale for a long fantasy series there are a number of things that need ticking:
1. Every important character that has made an appearance in the series so far (and is not dead, but you don't even have to let that stop you) needs to come back for one last bow. Of course it's important to make sure their inclusion serves some sort of purpose, however small. check
2. When the book is finished, the reader needs to feel like there is nothing else at all they want to know about what happens after, to any of the characters. Yes, I know this doesn't always have to be the case and may just be greedy and unimaginative on my part, since there are some series that do work best with endings that are left open for interpretation (e.g. The Dark Tower series - still iffy on that ending though), but if you are going to leave a few things open-ended, at least do it in a way that the readers can feel satisfied with how the overall ending looks. And besides, if you've been scrupulous in tying off the loose ends in your plot in all the previous books, it'll only feel like a cop-out to not do so here. check...ish
3. The climax has to overshadow every other climax in the series in terms of size, epicness, danger and importance. check
4. The reader has to feel all sorts of feels. Multiple times. (And this doesn't always necessitate killing off a bunch of characters either.) check
5. When the villain is defeated / ultimate goal of the story is finally reached, it has to be done in a way that makes sense, is not predictable, and feels satisfying. This is the goal you've been aiming for throughout the whole series after all. check...ish
6. There has to be at least one or two throw-backs to previous books, preferably the very first, just for that extra sense of nostalgia. check
As far as finales go, DOTL gets an A, if you're going to go by that list. But there are two major things I felt were slightly wrong with this book, so much that it made me hesitate in giving it five stars and is forcing me to rename my "bad-endings" shelf to the more specific "dissatisfying-endings" shelf (I don't think I've read anything I could really say constitutes the "bad ending" label, unless you count the entirety of the final Narnia book [although that was more due to an oversight on what the series was actually about on my part]).
The first problem I had with this book was that, looking at it in hindsight, there were a lot of plot lines that, rather than left hanging loose, sort of just led to nowhere...
Of course I can't go into too much detail without giving stuff away, but I'll just mention the few specific ones I can recall. For one, the renegade sorcerers who got magically boosted in the last book and went running loose. That problem didn't really serve too much to the story as more than... well, as a problem that the characters temporarily had to face. Another would be the reflection, and while we're on the reflection, let me just say that my greatest fear while reading this book was that Derek would have the audacity to attempt to make me sympathize with it. I hate the reflection (note that when I say I hate the character I do not mean I hate its inclusion or part in the story, just that I hate her as a person). Well he... I'm not gonna say he succeeded in making me like it, or even acknowledge it as a person - in fact if anything this book just increased my annoyance with it - but given that it's been there since book one and the last two books have sort of been building up its character and its (alright, her) emotions and dreams, I kind of expected a bigger pay-off at the end where she was concerned. I mean I'm happy I didn't have to put up with her for the whole book like I'd thought I'd have to, but even as a character I hated, I found her ending a little unfair (and by that point my feelings towards her had actually turned to neutral). On another note, are we never going to fully address what she did at the end of Kingdom of the Wicked? Specifically is no one ever going to let Valkyrie's uncle and his family know what she did?
My sister countered my points here by saying that in real life, not everything is going to tie in or lead to the final climax and not everything is going to go according to your original plan, and I guess that she's right. But there are just some things that happen here that take up way too much time from the book, and trick you by presenting things that you think might have a larger impact on the outcome but then just get sort of tossed aside (one of these things literally does get tossed aside, and the cost that went into getting this thing was so much and so traumatizing for the protagonist that it really made me frustrated with this book for the first time ). I'm not going to let this bother me too much though, except for that last in parenthesis, because all the rest of the books did much of the same, and the only reason it was okay for them was because there were always other books following them to cover their tracks, and also because all these little side-trips and plans gone off course didn't make the book any less entertaining.
The most glaring example of this problem however, and I'd have to say most detrimental to this book, would have to be what I took to calling the "Danny chapters". As in after I'd finish a chapter and see Danny's name on the next page I'd tell my sister "Next is a Danny chapter", and she'd always groan and complain and ask to skip it. I'll be honest, I wasn't enjoying these very much myself, but I bore with them because I was sure they'd play a bigger role further down the line. But when we did finally reach the last two chapters, I was disappointed to find that my wait had been almost completely futile. We literally learn only two really important things by the end of these chapters. Granted one of them was such a huge and happy shocker that both me and my sister screamed and laughed when I read it (although I suppose there might be smarter people that saw it coming), but there was absolutely nothing else in those last two chapters that redeemed all those previous ones that kept interrupting the story. I would much rather have preferred an epilogue. I would even have preferred a Scapegrace chapter for every time a Danny chapter appeared (but thank God there weren't nearly as many Scapegrace chapters here as there were in Last Stand of Dead Men).
The other, slightly less troubling problem I have with DOTL has to do with point two on my list, and this might not be a big problem to everybody else... but I just can't stand not knowing what happens to all my favorite characters! There are at least four characters alone I could name whose fates remain a mystery by the end of the book. And that's not even to mention the ambiguity of the future of the protagonists. I mean yes, I guess I could easily imagine what life will be like from this point on, but I still have questions about a lot of things and I just wish Derek had given more of hint on those things instead of wasting so much time on the Danny chapters. I'm just gonna hope that someday he takes it in his head to write another collection of Skulduggery short stories that take place after DOTL. Apart from wanting more glimpses of the future, I really am going to miss seeing Skul and Val.
Aside from those two points, however, the book did practically everything else right in my opinion. My sis and I hadn't put it past Derek to give us the darkest ending he could concoct, or to kill off all our favorite characters (we weren't even a hundred percent sure our protagonists were going to make it...), so there were more than a few times where we got legitimately scared. My sister even started crying during one scene near the end.
The relationship between Skul and Val, the whole soul of the series, is not, I think, explored any more or less deeply than it has been in previous books - I mean we all know by now how much they mean to each other - but there are more displays of emotion and love from both of them, more heartbreaking, tearful scenes between them, and I loved every one. Skulduggery in particular, the biggest enigma in the series, had more of the brittle person he really is beneath that giant ego revealed in this book - you get a closer sense of what losing Valkyrie really does to him, as well as how much he blames himself for all that happened during the war.
I am so glad I'd resisted enough to not spoil a single thing like I usually do (when we first got Deathly Hallows I took to flipping through the book and taking peeks in between the pages - not a good idea at all) and I'm glad I was able to experience the whole thing with my sis. Normally I would have already finished the book first and then reread it aloud to her, or at least read a little ahead. This way, we were both able to feel the same anger, fear, happiness, anxiety, and sadness at all the appropriate parts. And the fact that the book was able to make us feel all these things makes it worth five stars, regardless of how well it works as a finale.
In this way I guess me and Skul are gonna have a lot in common during this last book. Man I can't wait to see what happens. I literally have no expectations and have no idea what could happen.
I really can't wait.
***
Oh God Derek!! You complete and utter...! (Incoherent grumbling) And Skulduggery! You heartless, loveable jerk! How could you do that to me? To Valkyrie?
God I nearly died several times in this book.
Wow, so I finally finished it. This is the end. I've been dreading this moment since I first bought the book (and even a little before that), and now that it's over and the only other series I'm currently reading will also release its final installment this year, I am desperately scrambling around for another fantasy-series for me and my sister to read (she's still got her Land of Stories books - I said I'd check them up after I finished everything else I want to read, but I don't think I'll see it as anything too special; looks a lot like Magic Tree House slash Inkheart.)
I haven't been with this series for nearly as long as most people - in fact I've technically only been a fan for around a year and a half (2 years?) - and my review is waaaaaayyy late since I had to wait eleven months after the initial release of The Dying of the Light before getting a copy (1. because I'm very picky and I only like paperback editions - but the cover is gorgeous and so worth it! 2. because books get released over here like 3 months after they get released in the US) but my love for Skulduggery Pleasant and all its glory can't be any less than a lot of other fans who've made it this far. In fact this finale alone has bumped up the series on my top-ten-favorite-series list to number 3, surpassing The Cirque du Freak and How to Train Your Dragon (at least until the last book for Httyd gets released later this year).
Gosh what a ride this series has been. The characters, the action, the suspense, the magic... It's the only series I have on here where I've rated every book five stars, and that's not to say I see them as completely flawless (particularly not this book) or that I didn't have a few problems here and there with them (mostly with this book), or that there weren't a few I didn't like as much as the rest (I suppose the weakest for me would be Playing With Fire), but those five star ratings were all based on my honest raw feelings of exhiliration and enjoyment after finishing each one (and there were some I started on the same day I'd finished the last, and each took around a two-to-three-day span [apart from this one, since me and my sis were reading it together and she likes to do other things with her time - had I been reading it alone I probably would have finished it in two days max, it was so unputdownable]). It's the one series where I'd finish each book and my immediate thought is not about what it did wrong, but what it did right. Where I'd take a deep breath, smiling widely, and think "ah, that was amazing".
The Dying of the Light though... it's very hard to express exactly what I feel about this book, especially considering that it is THE LAST. Before I get into that...
It's funny that only after finishing this last installment did I recognize the pattern in which these books diligently follow - you'll have a bad guy wanting to destroy the world / summon demons from another dimension and have them destroy the world / kill a whole load of people, and to do these things they need some sort of mystical magical artifact and/or the knowledge of a specific person, and Skul and Val will be sent to intercept said magical artifact/person before they do (finding out where its kept by tracking down and talking to a few people and gathering up the things for their plan of action), and they'll usually fail in the process (often the plan will be interrupted by a magical monster and/or unprecedented back-up from the bad-guy's side and maybe someone gets captured) forcing them to come up with an alternate plan that involves either locating another magical object to counter the one previously stolen, or coming up with a final back-up plan to use upon rendezvousing with the enemy at the site of their evil plot. This plan will also usually fail at first, but then after more fighting, after a lot of kicking and biting and scratching and desperate reaching of fingers, the heroes just manage to succeed by the skin of their teeth, with a trump card they'd been holding back, or else a really lucky break. While all of this is going on there'll be a subplot panning out in the background (and I don't mean Scapegrace and Thrasher), maybe another villain or imminent-doom approaching that are less pressing for time.
In other words, it's just non-stop action and dialogue almost all the way through. And I love that. For awhile now I've come to really notice (and nitpick) while reading books when authors explain or tell even a little more than they necessarily should - I've gotten quite attached to the show-don't-tell method of story-telling. Maybe it's due to the large amount of manga I've been reading the past two years. I do think Skulduggery Pleasant would make a truly awesome manga/anime.
Apart from Last Stand of Dead Men, which took place during a civil war between Sanctuaries and so had to be a little more complicated, all the SP books work on this cycle of events, and the last book is no different. The only real difference is that this time, the stakes are much higher.
But while the rest of the books all seemed well self-contained and wrapped up, I felt like a lot was left hanging loose in DOTL, and those loose ends are probably more apparent to me here because it is THE LAST.
When writing a finale for a long fantasy series there are a number of things that need ticking:
1. Every important character that has made an appearance in the series so far (and is not dead, but you don't even have to let that stop you) needs to come back for one last bow. Of course it's important to make sure their inclusion serves some sort of purpose, however small. check
2. When the book is finished, the reader needs to feel like there is nothing else at all they want to know about what happens after, to any of the characters. Yes, I know this doesn't always have to be the case and may just be greedy and unimaginative on my part, since there are some series that do work best with endings that are left open for interpretation (e.g. The Dark Tower series - still iffy on that ending though), but if you are going to leave a few things open-ended, at least do it in a way that the readers can feel satisfied with how the overall ending looks. And besides, if you've been scrupulous in tying off the loose ends in your plot in all the previous books, it'll only feel like a cop-out to not do so here. check...ish
3. The climax has to overshadow every other climax in the series in terms of size, epicness, danger and importance. check
4. The reader has to feel all sorts of feels. Multiple times. (And this doesn't always necessitate killing off a bunch of characters either.) check
5. When the villain is defeated / ultimate goal of the story is finally reached, it has to be done in a way that makes sense, is not predictable, and feels satisfying. This is the goal you've been aiming for throughout the whole series after all. check...ish
6. There has to be at least one or two throw-backs to previous books, preferably the very first, just for that extra sense of nostalgia. check
As far as finales go, DOTL gets an A, if you're going to go by that list. But there are two major things I felt were slightly wrong with this book, so much that it made me hesitate in giving it five stars and is forcing me to rename my "bad-endings" shelf to the more specific "dissatisfying-endings" shelf (I don't think I've read anything I could really say constitutes the "bad ending" label, unless you count the entirety of the final Narnia book [although that was more due to an oversight on what the series was actually about on my part]).
The first problem I had with this book was that, looking at it in hindsight, there were a lot of plot lines that, rather than left hanging loose, sort of just led to nowhere...
Of course I can't go into too much detail without giving stuff away, but I'll just mention the few specific ones I can recall. For one, the renegade sorcerers who got magically boosted in the last book and went running loose. That problem didn't really serve too much to the story as more than... well, as a problem that the characters temporarily had to face. Another would be the reflection, and while we're on the reflection, let me just say that my greatest fear while reading this book was that Derek would have the audacity to attempt to make me sympathize with it. I hate the reflection (note that when I say I hate the character I do not mean I hate its inclusion or part in the story, just that I hate her as a person). Well he... I'm not gonna say he succeeded in making me like it, or even acknowledge it as a person - in fact if anything this book just increased my annoyance with it - but given that it's been there since book one and the last two books have sort of been building up its character and its (alright, her) emotions and dreams, I kind of expected a bigger pay-off at the end where she was concerned. I mean I'm happy I didn't have to put up with her for the whole book like I'd thought I'd have to, but even as a character I hated, I found her ending a little unfair (and by that point my feelings towards her had actually turned to neutral). On another note, are we never going to fully address what she did at the end of Kingdom of the Wicked? Specifically is no one ever going to let Valkyrie's uncle and his family know what she did?
My sister countered my points here by saying that in real life, not everything is going to tie in or lead to the final climax and not everything is going to go according to your original plan, and I guess that she's right. But there are just some things that happen here that take up way too much time from the book, and trick you by presenting things that you think might have a larger impact on the outcome but then just get sort of tossed aside (one of these things literally does get tossed aside, and the cost that went into getting this thing was so much and so traumatizing for the protagonist that it really made me frustrated with this book for the first time ). I'm not going to let this bother me too much though, except for that last in parenthesis, because all the rest of the books did much of the same, and the only reason it was okay for them was because there were always other books following them to cover their tracks, and also because all these little side-trips and plans gone off course didn't make the book any less entertaining.
The most glaring example of this problem however, and I'd have to say most detrimental to this book, would have to be what I took to calling the "Danny chapters". As in after I'd finish a chapter and see Danny's name on the next page I'd tell my sister "Next is a Danny chapter", and she'd always groan and complain and ask to skip it. I'll be honest, I wasn't enjoying these very much myself, but I bore with them because I was sure they'd play a bigger role further down the line. But when we did finally reach the last two chapters, I was disappointed to find that my wait had been almost completely futile. We literally learn only two really important things by the end of these chapters. Granted one of them was such a huge and happy shocker that both me and my sister screamed and laughed when I read it (although I suppose there might be smarter people that saw it coming), but there was absolutely nothing else in those last two chapters that redeemed all those previous ones that kept interrupting the story. I would much rather have preferred an epilogue. I would even have preferred a Scapegrace chapter for every time a Danny chapter appeared (but thank God there weren't nearly as many Scapegrace chapters here as there were in Last Stand of Dead Men).
The other, slightly less troubling problem I have with DOTL has to do with point two on my list, and this might not be a big problem to everybody else... but I just can't stand not knowing what happens to all my favorite characters! There are at least four characters alone I could name whose fates remain a mystery by the end of the book. And that's not even to mention the ambiguity of the future of the protagonists. I mean yes, I guess I could easily imagine what life will be like from this point on, but I still have questions about a lot of things and I just wish Derek had given more of hint on those things instead of wasting so much time on the Danny chapters. I'm just gonna hope that someday he takes it in his head to write another collection of Skulduggery short stories that take place after DOTL. Apart from wanting more glimpses of the future, I really am going to miss seeing Skul and Val.
Aside from those two points, however, the book did practically everything else right in my opinion. My sis and I hadn't put it past Derek to give us the darkest ending he could concoct, or to kill off all our favorite characters (we weren't even a hundred percent sure our protagonists were going to make it...), so there were more than a few times where we got legitimately scared. My sister even started crying during one scene near the end.
The relationship between Skul and Val, the whole soul of the series, is not, I think, explored any more or less deeply than it has been in previous books - I mean we all know by now how much they mean to each other - but there are more displays of emotion and love from both of them, more heartbreaking, tearful scenes between them, and I loved every one. Skulduggery in particular, the biggest enigma in the series, had more of the brittle person he really is beneath that giant ego revealed in this book - you get a closer sense of what losing Valkyrie really does to him, as well as how much he blames himself for all that happened during the war.
I am so glad I'd resisted enough to not spoil a single thing like I usually do (when we first got Deathly Hallows I took to flipping through the book and taking peeks in between the pages - not a good idea at all) and I'm glad I was able to experience the whole thing with my sis. Normally I would have already finished the book first and then reread it aloud to her, or at least read a little ahead. This way, we were both able to feel the same anger, fear, happiness, anxiety, and sadness at all the appropriate parts. And the fact that the book was able to make us feel all these things makes it worth five stars, regardless of how well it works as a finale.
September 16, 2014
Wow. I am still half anticipating that Landy will pop up on social media any day now and say - hah! Got yah! And I'll say, yeah, I just knew that couldn't be how you'd end such a great series....however, on the assumption that he is not that clever (or that I'm not), I'm going to go with the premise that this is it, and allow myself to feel sad. It's a different kind of sad from the ending of a much loved series, though, it's more the kind of sad that you get when an idol falls off his pedestal. The higher up you put him, the more he has to fall. It hurts.
(Spoilers from here)
I totally agree with a fellow reviewer's comments on this site about zig-zagging plot lines and stop-n-start rescues. Darquess is separated from Valkyrie but we get a shell of what Valkyrie used to be. She loses her magic and gets her arse kicked left right and centre. We know, though, because she's the heroine of the book, that she will eventually prevail so we trust to our faith in good triumphing over evil. But it seems good is not allowed to triumph in this book, as Landy is not content to kill off favourite characters - he needs to belittle the live ones too. Tanith finally starts to defeat the evil remnant inside her but then she is separated from the remnant. Darquess toys with the idea that doing good is not so bad then she gets her arse kicked for the effort (and obviously changes her mind). Sanguine finally comes into his own and starts being likeable (which is quite a feat given his history) then he is killed. And our heroine, yeah, she gets her arse kicked all the way to the end of the book, has very little to do with the final solution, gets the lamest excuse for a "surge" you could ever have imagined (what a waste of potential plot story THAT was) and is still getting her arse kicked five years later. What the????
But wait, there's more! Not content with ruining our favourites through death or weakness, Landy leaves the messiest threads of plot lines ever in the history of series finales. You know how brilliant JK Rowling was at the end of HP when she cleverly weaves together all those sub-plots and answers all outstanding questions from previous books, even stuff you'd forgotten about, and you are left in awe of her genius? Well, imagine the opposite of that here. The last remaining Dead Men (besides Skulduggery) Vex and Saracen, are both in the final battle. They are both injured. Do they survive? Apparently the answer is supposed to be, who cares. Nye and Eliza, both surely deserving of a come-uppance, are left untouched at the end of the book. The promised "handsome boyfriend" that was supposed to appear in Valkyrie's life never eventuates (and let's face it, he'd have to like a wanna-be heroine who is good at getting her arse kicked) and Valkyrie's parents, who are finally in on the secret life of their eldest daughter (and her having saved the world in previous books when she was actually a kick-arse heroine) have to cope with losing her for five years.
But the worst of it, surely, is Valkyrie's last moment with Skulduggery, when she thinks he is going to die and she tells him she loves him...well, we get to find out later that he wasn't going to die after all and he knew it all along and he was just laughing at her. You know, that's cute an' all but we were there, like, two books ago. Their relationship is supposed to have passed that - Valkyrie is supposed to have matured and earned her equal partner status with Skulduggery but instead he is still treating her like a joke and, let's face it, given the lack of oomph in her "heroine" status at the end of the series, we are kind of laughing at her too and that is just. so. sad.
A very ignoble end for our heroine. No wonder she hid for five years. I would have too. There is no character growth here and it feels like we've gone backwards. There is no neat ending, it's like the book was written in a hurry and Landy was sick of the whole lot of them and frankly couldn't be bothered to hide it.
OK, the three stars then...other than for nostalgic reasons (this series was such a joy to read, after all, until the last book), the sub-story of Scapegrace and Thrasher finally coming into their own was beautifully written (why couldn't Valkyrie get that???). Gordon's final moments were classic and Stephanie's dad was even funnier in this book. I'll remember this series for the brilliance of previous books and the promise in the last one (unfulfilled though it was). And I can honestly say, this series finale was not as bad as the Divergent one. Not saying much, I know, but it started with a bang and ended on a whimper.
(Spoilers from here)
I totally agree with a fellow reviewer's comments on this site about zig-zagging plot lines and stop-n-start rescues. Darquess is separated from Valkyrie but we get a shell of what Valkyrie used to be. She loses her magic and gets her arse kicked left right and centre. We know, though, because she's the heroine of the book, that she will eventually prevail so we trust to our faith in good triumphing over evil. But it seems good is not allowed to triumph in this book, as Landy is not content to kill off favourite characters - he needs to belittle the live ones too. Tanith finally starts to defeat the evil remnant inside her but then she is separated from the remnant. Darquess toys with the idea that doing good is not so bad then she gets her arse kicked for the effort (and obviously changes her mind). Sanguine finally comes into his own and starts being likeable (which is quite a feat given his history) then he is killed. And our heroine, yeah, she gets her arse kicked all the way to the end of the book, has very little to do with the final solution, gets the lamest excuse for a "surge" you could ever have imagined (what a waste of potential plot story THAT was) and is still getting her arse kicked five years later. What the????
But wait, there's more! Not content with ruining our favourites through death or weakness, Landy leaves the messiest threads of plot lines ever in the history of series finales. You know how brilliant JK Rowling was at the end of HP when she cleverly weaves together all those sub-plots and answers all outstanding questions from previous books, even stuff you'd forgotten about, and you are left in awe of her genius? Well, imagine the opposite of that here. The last remaining Dead Men (besides Skulduggery) Vex and Saracen, are both in the final battle. They are both injured. Do they survive? Apparently the answer is supposed to be, who cares. Nye and Eliza, both surely deserving of a come-uppance, are left untouched at the end of the book. The promised "handsome boyfriend" that was supposed to appear in Valkyrie's life never eventuates (and let's face it, he'd have to like a wanna-be heroine who is good at getting her arse kicked) and Valkyrie's parents, who are finally in on the secret life of their eldest daughter (and her having saved the world in previous books when she was actually a kick-arse heroine) have to cope with losing her for five years.
But the worst of it, surely, is Valkyrie's last moment with Skulduggery, when she thinks he is going to die and she tells him she loves him...well, we get to find out later that he wasn't going to die after all and he knew it all along and he was just laughing at her. You know, that's cute an' all but we were there, like, two books ago. Their relationship is supposed to have passed that - Valkyrie is supposed to have matured and earned her equal partner status with Skulduggery but instead he is still treating her like a joke and, let's face it, given the lack of oomph in her "heroine" status at the end of the series, we are kind of laughing at her too and that is just. so. sad.
A very ignoble end for our heroine. No wonder she hid for five years. I would have too. There is no character growth here and it feels like we've gone backwards. There is no neat ending, it's like the book was written in a hurry and Landy was sick of the whole lot of them and frankly couldn't be bothered to hide it.
OK, the three stars then...other than for nostalgic reasons (this series was such a joy to read, after all, until the last book), the sub-story of Scapegrace and Thrasher finally coming into their own was beautifully written (why couldn't Valkyrie get that???). Gordon's final moments were classic and Stephanie's dad was even funnier in this book. I'll remember this series for the brilliance of previous books and the promise in the last one (unfulfilled though it was). And I can honestly say, this series finale was not as bad as the Divergent one. Not saying much, I know, but it started with a bang and ended on a whimper.
September 12, 2014
I was fine reading it, managed to not cry, but then I finished it, put the book away and it hit me.
This is it.
That's when the tears came, but I had a quote jump into my head that I think is quite fitting (I have absolutely NO idea who said it :P):
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
I think in my mind I was giving a eulogy to this series after finishing. I just can't believe it's over.
But it will live on forever in my heart :)
(and I still managed to make this sound like a eulogy... oh well)
This is it.
That's when the tears came, but I had a quote jump into my head that I think is quite fitting (I have absolutely NO idea who said it :P):
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
I think in my mind I was giving a eulogy to this series after finishing. I just can't believe it's over.
But it will live on forever in my heart :)
(and I still managed to make this sound like a eulogy... oh well)
August 24, 2018
This turned out to be a very satisfactory culmination and conclusion to the whole Stephanie/Valkyrie/Darquesse (hate that name) story arc and I wonder if Landy didn't intend to stop here, but I notice there are two more Skulduggery books that have been released since...
Anyway, it feels a little long but the twists and mysteries and just exactly what is gonna happen? kept me involved. The bizarre section where Landy goes all E.E. Cummings was a bit of a surprise as were many of the events in a very eventful story.
Anyway, it feels a little long but the twists and mysteries and just exactly what is gonna happen? kept me involved. The bizarre section where Landy goes all E.E. Cummings was a bit of a surprise as were many of the events in a very eventful story.
December 3, 2015
This book. This. Freaking. Book. The most wonderful ending to anything ever. I love this series. I just want to keep rereading it forever.
First read September 2014:
A spectacular ending for an amazing series. I will miss having these adventures, but I'm definitely looking forward to whatever Derek Landy does next.
First read September 2014:
A spectacular ending for an amazing series. I will miss having these adventures, but I'm definitely looking forward to whatever Derek Landy does next.
May 7, 2016
Bittersweet, and perfect, and, dammit, why can't I stop crying right now...
September 7, 2014
To be honest, I can't help feeling kind of...disappointed.
Let me explain myself first before you throw me to the wolves. I felt like the book was rushed, which was not unexpected, given that this is the final book in a very long series and I'm impressed that Derek kept it going and kept it good for so long as it is. It's just that...well, if just one book out of nine had to be the "worst", for want of a better adjective, I would have both wanted and expected it to be the second book. That's usually how it works, and I was pleasantly surprised when, years ago, I read the second book for the first time and was not horribly let down. That said, I do not call this the "worst" book in the series lightly or without quite a lot of guilt, and I would like to say that the worst book in one series is often ten times better than the best book in another series. Even so, I really did feel kind of cheated by this last book, especially by the ending. Is it really necessary to create so many POVs that it becomes impossible to tie up each one's loose ends? And did anyone else feel like at least half of the fighting and the setbacks encountered by Skulduggery and Valkyrie were only there to drag out the book?
Okay, specifics.
Let me explain myself first before you throw me to the wolves. I felt like the book was rushed, which was not unexpected, given that this is the final book in a very long series and I'm impressed that Derek kept it going and kept it good for so long as it is. It's just that...well, if just one book out of nine had to be the "worst", for want of a better adjective, I would have both wanted and expected it to be the second book. That's usually how it works, and I was pleasantly surprised when, years ago, I read the second book for the first time and was not horribly let down. That said, I do not call this the "worst" book in the series lightly or without quite a lot of guilt, and I would like to say that the worst book in one series is often ten times better than the best book in another series. Even so, I really did feel kind of cheated by this last book, especially by the ending. Is it really necessary to create so many POVs that it becomes impossible to tie up each one's loose ends? And did anyone else feel like at least half of the fighting and the setbacks encountered by Skulduggery and Valkyrie were only there to drag out the book?
Okay, specifics.
December 19, 2015
Смъртта на светлината, краят на една чудесна поредица: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...
”Смъртта на светлината” е абсурдна книга. Ако не бях толкова запален фен, щях да кажа, че Дерек Ланди яко е оплел конците, защото действието тече накъсано и хаотично, от битка на битка, авторът мести реалностите както му дойде, а Даркесата сменя тела по-бързо от носни кърпички, нещо, което откровено става нелепо в един момент. ОБАЧЕ. Аз съм фен – и всеки, стигнал до деветата книга, ще да е фен – и критичността ми е сведена до възможния минимум. И макар на едно ниво да съзнавах колко объркващо и неясно е всичко случващо се – особено с намесването на другата реалност, дето властва Меволент и съответно куп вече мъртви герои са си от живи по-живи – то основно се забавлявах, оставяйки Ланди да напомни за всичко вече случило се.
Студио Арт Лайн
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...
”Смъртта на светлината” е абсурдна книга. Ако не бях толкова запален фен, щях да кажа, че Дерек Ланди яко е оплел конците, защото действието тече накъсано и хаотично, от битка на битка, авторът мести реалностите както му дойде, а Даркесата сменя тела по-бързо от носни кърпички, нещо, което откровено става нелепо в един момент. ОБАЧЕ. Аз съм фен – и всеки, стигнал до деветата книга, ще да е фен – и критичността ми е сведена до възможния минимум. И макар на едно ниво да съзнавах колко объркващо и неясно е всичко случващо се – особено с намесването на другата реалност, дето властва Меволент и съответно куп вече мъртви герои са си от живи по-живи – то основно се забавлявах, оставяйки Ланди да напомни за всичко вече случило се.
Студио Арт Лайн
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...
April 14, 2014
Good god good god....
The Dying of The Light
The Dying of The Light
The Dying of The Light......
OMG I CAN'T I JUST CAN'T I NEED IT NOW NOW NOW!!!!!!!!!!
'Starts sobbing and rocking back and forth.'
The Dying of The Light
The Dying of The Light
The Dying of The Light......
OMG I CAN'T I JUST CAN'T I NEED IT NOW NOW NOW!!!!!!!!!!
'Starts sobbing and rocking back and forth.'
April 21, 2020
Want to see more...
Bookstagram
Website
Brilliant as always
Bookstagram
Website
Brilliant as always
September 13, 2022
set in ireland and there's not a single leprechaun in this whole series
January 12, 2021
I decided to review this series as a whole, as I didn’t feel that I had enough to say about each book individually. This review therefore covers the entire Skulduggery Pleasant series up to this point. (I know there is a new series. I’ll read it eventually.)
These aren’t the kind of books I’d usually read but I decided to for two reasons: one, because I started them as a child and never finished them, which bothered me, and two, because I had the box set sitting in a bookcase unread and that was bothering me more.
Despite not being the kind of books I’d usually read, I found they still had a decent amount to offer; Landy is a funny writer, and certainly good at worldbuilding (even if he did keep adding new, previously-unmentioned types of magic whenever he came up with a cool new idea). I was never at risk of boredom, and he managed to pull out enough decent twists and surprises to keep me entertained. Light on character development (I don’t think I could tell you much about the supporting characters aside from their names), but for me the series gets a pass on most counts purely for being a YA(ish) series about magic while NOT revolving around warriors/protectors/rebels etc and choosing to ostensibly focus on detective work, of all things. It’s reasonably inventive, at least. Best character award goes to Ghastly, obviously.
These aren’t the kind of books I’d usually read but I decided to for two reasons: one, because I started them as a child and never finished them, which bothered me, and two, because I had the box set sitting in a bookcase unread and that was bothering me more.
Despite not being the kind of books I’d usually read, I found they still had a decent amount to offer; Landy is a funny writer, and certainly good at worldbuilding (even if he did keep adding new, previously-unmentioned types of magic whenever he came up with a cool new idea). I was never at risk of boredom, and he managed to pull out enough decent twists and surprises to keep me entertained. Light on character development (I don’t think I could tell you much about the supporting characters aside from their names), but for me the series gets a pass on most counts purely for being a YA(ish) series about magic while NOT revolving around warriors/protectors/rebels etc and choosing to ostensibly focus on detective work, of all things. It’s reasonably inventive, at least. Best character award goes to Ghastly, obviously.
November 25, 2021
Two great Skulduggery books in a row! This one has the big showdown against Darquesse, with the whole gang joining forces with several frenemies to take her down.
I started really liking Billy-Ray Sanguine in the last two books; Skulduggery and Valkerie reveal the magical world to her parents; safe to say they aren't thrilled. Scapegrace and Thrasher get their big moment in the sun - er, I mean the Necropolis - as they fight to redeem themselves. There's a totally unnecessary storyline involving a guy named Danny and two bad guys; I didn't get what that was about at all. Tanith comes back to herself fully. Erskine Ravel gets one last chance to fight alongside the good guys in a desperate attempt to defeat Darquesse.
I started really liking Billy-Ray Sanguine in the last two books; Skulduggery and Valkerie reveal the magical world to her parents; safe to say they aren't thrilled. Scapegrace and Thrasher get their big moment in the sun - er, I mean the Necropolis - as they fight to redeem themselves. There's a totally unnecessary storyline involving a guy named Danny and two bad guys; I didn't get what that was about at all. Tanith comes back to herself fully. Erskine Ravel gets one last chance to fight alongside the good guys in a desperate attempt to defeat Darquesse.
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