What I personally wanted most from HBL was to see Skulduggery 300 years before we actually meet him. I wanted to see how different he was from the velvet-voiced, suave, intelligent, smooth Detective that we all know and love. Suffice to say, I was not disappointed. Seeing a Skulduggery Pleasant that had only been a skeleton for 13 years, even less time to mages than it might be to us, so incredibly fuelled by a particular kind of anger and desire for revenge I can't begin to articulate, so much so that his friends physically pin him to the ground to stop him from doing something dangerous, was everything to me. When anyone asks who my favourite character in the series is, it seems to be the basic answer to say Skulduggery. But it's the complexity about him that we see more of in HBL that makes Skulduggery my favourite character. This is probably my favourite part of this book. However, the emergence of Lord Vile seventeen years before his five-year-long reign (even though it technically didn't happen in the end) and the revelation that Skulduggery had been practising Necromancy since he was teenager, almost cheapened Vile for me once again. It also makes me think about just how Skulduggery became Vile, especially when Abyssinia arrived on the scene, with the knowledge that Skulduggery "...liked the power too much, and someone like [him] would do terrible things with it." At this point, I just want a comprehensive biography of Skulduggery's life. Hopeless' characterization of them all were spot on and left me quite speechless with a sense of "damn, bro". You cannot read this book if you haven't read at least Phase 1 (books 1-9) of the main Skulduggery Pleasant series. I mean, you *can*, of course, but you probably wouldn't enjoy it. Because it doesn't exactly give you much information on the characters or the events this short novel depends on. Playing with Fire – With Serpine dead, the world is safe once more. At least, that’s what Valkyrie and Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, and dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland. With Baron Vengeous after the deadly armour of Lord Vile, and pretty much everyone out to kill Valkyrie, the daring detective duo face their biggest challenge yet. But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home…?

Hell Breaks Loose (Skulduggery Pleasant) by Derek Landy Hell Breaks Loose (Skulduggery Pleasant) by Derek Landy

The fact that it is one day after the release date and this book is already controversial says a lot to begin with, but I would like to start by saying; I do not dislike this book. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. I think that we all came up with a vision in our heads over the last 15 books of what a prequel would look like, and what we got, at least in my case, went quite far from what I expected. I don't think that that is a good or a bad thing, but it does seem to be classic Derek fashion. I think this is also the best place to point out the cruel, cruel irony and foreshadowing to Ravel's betrayal: Ravel came with him. Ghastly could tell that he had a question, his friend's face was just too honest to disguise it. I felt like I just read an AU fanfic written by the author himself… and while it was quite trippy, I’m not entirely mad? Hella confused and a little bit disappointed but to be very honest, I’m a diehard SP fan so this review … will be way too biased. When it comes to SP, all rationality dies and so do I.

This is the story of the 400-year-old detective named Skulduggery Pleasant who is a walking and talking skeleton, and his partner Stephanie Edgley who goes by the name Valkyrie Cain. After this Sister Rapture and Sister Stone are devastated. But THEN we find that Sister Stone is in fact Valkyrie (ik, SURPRISE!!) from the future. And she had some vision that this dude (i still don't remember his name) would change reality or something. My memory is terrible. But future Skulduggery told future Valkyrie to go to the past and kill this dude whose lifeline is attached to the murde Derek 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. Written by Irish playwright Derek Landy, Skulduggery Pleasant is a series of horror/comedy/fantasy novels following the adventures of an undead sorcerer and detective and his partner. In fact, I really enjoyed a lot of it. The whole idea of a prequel worked surprisingly great: Lots of characters you know and love - but with a twist, because it's set in the early 18th century and much of the later character development hasn't happened yet. (Also, you get to revisit some favourites that got killed off, which is awesome.) The whole thing centers around the Dead Men, so hilarity happens.

Hell Breaks Loose Signing Events - Skulduggery Pleasant UK Hell Breaks Loose Signing Events - Skulduggery Pleasant UK

I liked the insight into the Dead Men and some of the surrounding characters (e.g. Corrival Deuce or Sagacious Tome) a lot. My only question, however, is (and I'm assuming that Ravel put his plan in action by this stage or at least started to plan his plan) why did Ravel not panic when Valkyrie is hostile and obviously upset towards him, and later tells him that "The Sanctuaries don't interfere in the mortal world." very sharply. Surely this is enough clues to tell him that his plan failed, or at least be worried that Valkyrie would tell the others what he was going to do? Later, the Dead Men are having dinner while waiting for Meritorious at an inn. Ghastly ponders the lives of mortals and sorcerers, his ex Anselm and then accompanies Hopeless while he frees a trapped cat. It is revealed that Hopeless was a Knife in the Darkness, an assassin and that he seemingly has a different personality for different people, explaining why he was said to have many faces. They reach the cat and discuss whether Skulduggery will kill Serpine or not, now they are not that far away. Hopeless also says that of the Dead Men, Skulduggery is the most notorious, Anton is the scariest, Skulduggery, again, is the darkest. In addition, Dexter is the most honest, Saracen is the most charming, Ravel’s the most loyal and Ghastly is the most decent. Skulduggery is different in this story, and it is in my opinion very accurate considering what he has been through so very recently.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. Resurrection – A lot has changed. Roarhaven is now a magical city, where sorcerers can live openly. Valkyrie Cain has been out of action for years, recovering from the war against her alter-ego Darquesse, which nearly destroyed her and everyone else. Some things never change though: bad people still want to do bad things, and Skulduggery Pleasant is still there to stop them. A lot of that is due to the fact the second Valkyrie arrived I knew that the implications on the entire series would be too great if this book didn’t end with the entire events of this book becoming irrelevant to the timeline. So while Derek was busy killing everyone I loved, I knew it would be fine in the end, they weren’t dead for good, so part of me didn’t really care? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I quite liked this book. But apparently not everyone else did, and i am wondering why. Maybe it's been too long since i read the previous books, but i really enjoyed this book. There was the usual writing and plot twists that i loved. Skulduggery was slightly different, but it just shows character development (in the other books). Set only 13 years after Skulduggery’s family and wife are murdered and set in Italy, 1700’s, we see Skulduggery in a completely different light than we usually do: he’s darker, brooding and incredibly impulsive. His wit and humour is quite flat, unlike how we first met him all those books ago in the first of the series, which honestly, is a contrast I’m genuinely happy and excited for.

my German copy of the faceless ones arrived and turns out

I have always been a big fan of the Skulduggery Pleasant universe and book series and so it's always nice to have new releases following the end of a Phase of the main books even though this wasn't anything incredible or innovative, it did keep me entertained and having a good time whilst I read it. The plot twist, honestly, took me by surprise. I heard something was "odd" about this book beforehand, but I didn't really speculate what it could be. While a proper prequel might have been lovely, the time-travel aspect did not diminish the fun - at least not to me. I fell off Skulduggery Pleasant during the second phase due to a mix of time and not vibing with the new stories, but I was attracted at the idea of a prequel focusing on Skulduggery's adventures with the Dead Men- I distinctly recall hearing about Derek Landy mentioning this would be a story years before Valkyrie entered the picture, and I thought a standalone novel would be a fun side-adventure, given how long the fanbase had been asking for a story focused on the Dead Men. Also, my god what a dedication. These books are known for funny dedications, but we've never had one that terrified me to my very soul.)With the help of Skulduggery, Valkyrie wants to stop evil forces threatening the world, but also find justice for her uncle’s death. Would give 1.5 stars if available. Spoilers are mentioned. tldr review- good first half that is tainted by proxy with a second half that feels like I've read the premise better in fanfiction. I also don't really like reading about Valkyrie anymore. I think the character's grown to a point where no other magic is necessary, because hey, Valkyrie can do ALL the magic and in-universe rules don't apply to her. That takes almost all tension away, because you can guess that when in doubt, Valkyrie will just discover that she can do another awesome thing (see: time travel, healing herself, being a Sensitive...). The strongest parts of this story for me were Ghastly and Skulduggery. To really hear things from Ghastly'd perspective after so long was refreshing. Valkyrie's appearance in the book was unnecessary, and felt out of place. It was fun seeing the Valkyrie and Skulduggery interact as the dynamic between them is always great, but i think it took away focus from the dynamics between the dead men.

Hell Breaks Loose: Review (SPOILERS) : r/skulduggerypleasant Hell Breaks Loose: Review (SPOILERS) : r/skulduggerypleasant

I was hoping to see Skulduggery without Valkyrie, to learn more about the Dead Men and read a story that had a real impact on who Skulduggery is today, perhaps one of the many stories hinted at in the books, something that made the Dead Men, the Dead Men, y’know? And this isn’t that. Really, this is less a prequel and more a time travel adventure. Revelling in the dark comedy, action set-pieces and unforgettable characters that are a hallmark of the Skulduggery Pleasant series, this standalone novel transports readers to early eighteenth-century Italy where our heroes are forced to save the Lord of the Dark Sorcerers' Waterstones, Books You Need to Read in 2023 - I loved seeing an earlier time period than we're used to with this series, and seeing a younger version of Skulduggery and the rest of the Dead Men - and what really worked for me was this being written from Ghastly's POV, the man doesn't get enough love and seeing his view on everything was fascinating! At some point, Skulduggery kind of just said "we have to kill this one guy here AND in the future to make our problem go away. I know this, but you'd never understand it so I won't explain why". That lead to the big problem of "we only have one of these magic knives that can kill him but the magic knife is only magic for one cut" - for the sole reason that there wouldn't be a big problem otherwise, I guess.We've been owed a book in Ghastly's perspective since LSoDM, and I missed him a lot. I loved getting to know Ghastly better, including the appearance of his mother, Rustica Strife, in all her glory! She was a really charismatic, loving character and her and Ghastly clearly have a great bond, my only complaint would be that we didn't really get to see her legendary skills on the battlefield. It broke my heart to read Rustica and Skulduggery talking and laughing about Ghastly, when in less than twenty years, Vile would be her killer. I really enjoyed Sister Rapture as Ghastly's love interest; we needed a love interest in this book, we really did. Ghastly also proves himself a wonderful and caring friend, especially to Skulduggery, and some of his words hit me so hard. Initially, that's what the novel provides and it does so successfully. It's interesting to explore these relatively uncharted waters in the series, with Landy using the chance to elaborate on some of the cast left by the wayside in the original stories. Ghastly especially gets a lot of time to shine here as he's essentially the viewpoint character for the story, letting us meet his mother and some of his closer friends outside of the Dead Men. I loved Erskine's descriptions ("most loyal", "too honest a face") because it adds even more depth to his character. (I really like him - you can fight me on that.)