[Note: This is a review for the entire "Skulduggery Pleasant" series, from Book 1-9 and all the short stories, spin-offs and novellas.]
In total, the entire series about the living skeleton and his student/partner is more than 5000 pages long. That's an awful lot.
Derek Landy is probably one of very few YA authors who actually succeeds in getting about ten different genres in one single book. Not imagine what he does with about ten books. It's amazing, really. There aren't many authors who can do what he does, and actually pull it off.
5000 pages of text mean a lot happens. When you've finished the series (I succeeded in reading it in one week) you'll probably have forgotten about half of what happened in the first books. The list of characters keeps on developing until right at the end - if anyone would count them, they'd probably strand someone above one hundred, I guess. And those characters have enough time to develop, which means there's always something happening. Certainly since Landy has a lot up his sleeve and you can never be entirely sure when someone is really dead or not. When he starts with gods, portals, human-possessing 'things' and parallel worlds, anything becomes possible - especially with Landy's own, personal writing style.
It's virtually impossible to say anything about it without spoiling, so you'll just have to read it. It's really worth it - I doubt I've ever read anything like it.
I'll just say this - it's a good ending. It really is. I was afraid of it, but there's no need to be.
Valkerie. 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...
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Start a discussionThe series
Imagine a world just beneath our own—a world where ancient magic pulses through forgotten alleyways, secret organizations wage silent wars, and the only thing standing between humanity and chaos is a trench-coated skeleton with a razor-sharp wit. That’s the stormy heart of Skulduggery Pleasant, a genre-bending fantasy series that smashes together dark magic, quickfire dialogue, and the kind of world-building that lingers long after the last page.
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At its center is an unlikely duo: Skulduggery, a fire-throwing sorcerer and detective who also happens to be very, very dead, and Valkyrie Cain, a seemingly ordinary girl whose plunge into the magical underground reveals dangerous power and a destiny she never asked for. Their partnership—equal parts banter, loyalty, and mutual exasperation—drives a story that evolves far beyond its early mystery roots.
What begins as a supernatural whodunit spirals into a sweeping, multi-arc saga about identity, corruption, and the fine line between hero and villain. The tone dances between laugh-out-loud absurdity and moments of unsettling darkness, often within the same chapter. It’s this unpredictability—this refusal to fit neatly into one genre box—that makes the series so addictive.
Over the years, the series has built a fiercely loyal readership. With each installment, the stakes rise, the world deepens, and the characters grow—sometimes into heroes, sometimes into something much darker. Beneath the spells and snark, there’s a steady undercurrent of moral complexity, asking what happens when the people saving the world start breaking it, too.
For fans of modern fantasy with a gothic twist, crackling dialogue, and characters who feel real in their flaws as much as their powers, this series doesn’t just entertain—it lingers, like smoke from a spell still hanging in the air.
#0.5 · 2023Hell Breaks Loose 
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#16 · 2024A Mind Full of Murder 
#17 · 2025A Heart Full of Hatred 
#18 · 2026A Soul Full of Shadows What did you think of this book?
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