SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT, by Derek Landy, follows the story of a twelve-year-old girl named Stephanie Edgley. The book starts out at the time when Stephanie’s uncle, Gordon (who happens to be a fantasy author), is murdered. Stephanie’s family is under the impression that Gordon was not murdered, but Stephanie believes otherwise. Soon after Gordon’s funeral, Stephanie and her parents are invited to the reading of Gordon’s will, along with Gordon’s other, very unpleasant brother Fergus and his even more unpleasant wife, Beryl. When they arrive at the reading of the will, they find that one of Gordon’s friends, Skulduggery Pleasant, has been invited to the reading. When Skulduggery arrives, Stephanie recognizes him from the funeral … anyway, she recognizes the wide-brimmed hat, frizzy hair, scarf, sunglasses, and overcoat that conceal his features, and then the reading begins. To Stephanie’s (and Beryl’s and Fergus’s and her parents’) surprise, Stephanie inherits Gordon Edgley’s house. After the reading, the Edgleys’ car breaks down, and Stephanie pleads with her parents to let her stay at her newly inherited house while they get the car fixed. Although reluctant, her parents give in, and Stephanie goes into her uncle’s study and reads his newest story. Later, Stephanie gets a call on her cell phone from her mother notifying her that she and Stephanie’s father have taken a little longer than expected while going to repair the car and will be home late. Stephanie asks her mom if she can spend the night at Gordon’s old house and finally convinces her mom to let her stay. Later that night, the phone rings. Stephanie picks up the phone and a man demands to know her name. Stephanie refuses to give the man her name, and he hangs up the phone. Moments later, the man is pounding on her door, demanding that she open it. The man tells her that he needs to search for something in the house for his master, and if she does not open the door, then he will kill her. Stephanie still refuses, and the man bashes in a window and busts into the house. He pins her up against a chair and asks her where she hid “the key.” Bewildered, Stephanie fails to answer, and just then Skulduggery Pleasant bursts into the house and slams into the man. The man and Skulduggery launch into a fight. After a short while of throwing each other into chairs, walls, and sofas, Skulduggery directly confronts the man by summoning a ball of fire and hurling it at him. Although the ball hits the man and flares all around him, he is not burned. The man taunts Skulduggery and Skulduggery draws a revolver and shoots the man in the arm. Howling in pain the man retreats from the house. Stephanie (who is currently in shock) notices that Skulduggery’s frizzy hair was a wig. She looks up at Skulduggery and notices that his skin is bleached white. At first she thinks that Skulduggery Pleasant is albino, but when she looks closer (now that he is not wearing his disguise), she notices that Skulduggery Pleasant is a skeleton. If you want to know what mission the mysterious man was on or who Skulduggery is, then read SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT by Derek Landy!
I think that SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT is one of the best books that I have ever read. It blended together a mix of tragedy, humor, fantasy, (a bit of) reality, science fiction, action, and suspense. It really appeals to all readers … I’d say ages 12 and up because I identify with the characters and they are written more toward my age group (and also on the book it says 10 and up). I enjoyed the book because the author’s writing style appealed to me too, and I also enjoy all of the genres that I mentioned SKULDUGGERY contained. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes the Leven Thumps series (by Obert Skye) or any other modern fantasy book.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Saugerties, NY USA
