Skulduggery Pleasant
October 9, 2007 by Kelly Phillips Erb
Filed under Parenting
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t excited about reviewing this book. It sat on my shelf for a pretty long time. And yes, it’s the cover. It’s not my style. And while I try to be open-minded and read lots of books for the purpose of the blog (and life in general), this just really turned me off.I can’t help it. It looked awfully dark for me. And I’m not a dark person. I am frightfully, annoyingly cheerful most of the time. So the spectre of a skeleton, well dressed though he may be, with “guns” blazing was not terribly appealing.But it’s Halloween. And this is a book blog, not about me (I have another blog for that). And so, I took the plunge, picked up the book and gave it a read.
The book opens, not surprisingly, with a death. The death of a horror writer sets up the plot wherein Stephanie Edgley, all of 12 years old, “inherits” from her dead uncle the responsibility of taking care of Skulduggery Pleasant, a fire-throwing skeleton who happens to be a detective (of sorts). Yeah, you’re going to have to suspend some disbelief here.
Skulduggery explains his existence to Stephanie as “magic” and the two form an unusual friendship. Together, they must fight evil, find a mysterious key and protect Stephanie’s uncle’s treasure.
The book is substantial – 392 pages – so reading it is quite a commitment for a kid. There are quite a few “fight” scenes, the requisite bad guys and some vampires thrown into the mix. The story moves fairly quickly and the dialogue between Stephanie and Skulduggery is often amusing.
Would I have bought it as a kid? Nope. Would I buy it for my kids now (assuming they were 10-15, the target ages for the book)? I dunno. The book is fairly priced ($17.99) for a lengthy hardback so it’s worth it if your children like skeletons/vampires/fantasy “horror light” with a sense of humor. But I don’t think it will make any conversions of those who aren’t into the genre.
It’s no surprise that the book left the door open for a sequel – I’ve heard that up to 9 are in the works. There is also a movie deal.
I read the book as well and I think that it was pretty good.But I do agree it was pretty dark.
Though I am willing to read the sequel and see the movie if there actually is one.By the way 10 years old, read it in three days.it wasn’t much of a commitment to read as you said.
This is the best book I have ever read now im trying to read war and peace
I loved this book so much! I didn’t want to return it to the library! My favourite character would be either Tanith or Skulduggery. I want to see the movie, too. If it is coming out in a movie.
This was so awesome!!!
loved it is there a sequal??
this book is so cool!! my fave character is also Skulduggery or Tanith; i loved the first one , and the second and can’t wait to see the third!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes there is a sequal called playing with fire
yes there is a sweet book called is a sequal called playing with fire and