Review of Skulduggery Pleasant, Book 1

In the book Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Stephanie Edgley faces major changes. When her uncle dies, and a scary killer man breaks into her mansion, and an undead skeleton mage named Skulduggery Pleasant rescues her, and a sorcerer with a scary name threatens to restore evil gods to the planet, what else is she to do but save the world? Well, stay home and live normal, I guess. But that's not what Stephanie does!

Major spoilers in this color. Because I like it better than red.

I've read few books that were better than Skulduggery Pleasant. The dialogue was hysterical. The plot was action-packed. And most of all -- Skulduggery Pleasant.

Skulduggery Pleasant!

I loved him. He was hilarious, charming, unusual, friendly, and the complete opposite of what I expected a horror story's skeletal protagonist to be. A delightful suprise, he wasn't sweet in the way I'm used to admiring, but he was amazingly nice. He was no snob. He treated Valkyrie as a friend and an equal. He didn’t look down on anyone as stupid or unworthy of his attention or conversation. He was a breath of fresh air because I'm tired of the Common Jerk Protagonist. In fact, Skulduggery acted very morally, usually. For instance, even when he'd only known Stephanie for hours, he cared about her, frantically urging her to run from danger when he was trapped and couldn’t help. I can picture so many characters doing so much less, either for want of a heart or for want of an author who cares to show their reaction. This author, however, siezed an opportunity to show Skulduggery's character. He didn't always have the upper hand, and when he didn't, he thought of Valkyrie first. He didn't want anyone -- even near-strangers -- to get hurt. Furthermore, although he saved her quite a bit, he never treated Stephanie like a millstone. And although the book's villain was Skulduggery's archenemy, Skulduggery didn't fight for ulterior motives. He didn't even pretend to. He fought against evil because it was evil and protected people because it was good. For example, Serpine had hurt Skulduggery in the worst possible ways, but Skulduggery didn’t kill him. That would be revenge. He put Serpine under ARREST. That’s what the good guys are supposed to do. Well, I mean he DID kill Serpine, to save Valkyrie, but who cares? He wasn’t going to if he didn’t have to. Overall, Skulduggery led the story as a likable, heroic main character, and it is supreme.

At the same time, Skulduggery wasn't a boring perfect character. He had weaknesses, failings, and flaws. Most are called out, which is more than can be said for the Common Jerk Protagonist. While cordial most of the book, Skul could get crabby when, for example, the Elders chastised him and didn't believe him about Serpine. Actually, Skulduggery is apparently quite unpopular with the magical community, which endears the bony outcast to me all the more. He's also not so scrupulous all the time. He stated he had trouble keeping friends because of his . . . misdeeds (although, just admitting it isn't good enough for me; I hope he actually changes somehow). Nevertheless, he stays friends with Valkyrie, and though he's her mentor, he's not an all-wise, all-powerful type like Professor Xavier who can inexplicably freeze all the humans in a museum. Skulduggery is much more interesting. He himself gets in trouble, has to be saved, and struggles to defeat the bad guys. They pose an actual threat to him even though he’s the veteran crime fighter and Valkyrie is the novice. That makes every obstacle a challenge and much more exciting. He's also NOT the wiser, smarter, more mature of the duo. He and Valkyrie are pretty much on equal footing, except when it comes to martial arts and magic. So he's a nice protagonist, an imperfect hero, a good skeleton, a happy detective, an only semi-wise and semi- powerful mentor, and a moral . . . vigilante? He seems all the more real for breaking all these stereotypes.

Sadly, in a couple parts, Skulduggery acted in ways that contrasted with his caring manner toward Stephanie and annoyed me because he wasn't called out on them. First, he described a partner he had who died on their first mission. "A messy death too,” he said, but not very remorsefully it seemed. This made me think he didn't care. Maybe he stays strong through his heartaches by acting light-hearted. Maybe it doesn't mean he didn't care about his other partner, but it still bugs me that he can talk about it like that. Secondly, later on, Valkyrie was captured by a monster, and Skulduggery was left to attack the villain, which he promptly took off to do. Does Skulduggery care about Stephanie or doesn’t he? One on hand, perhaps stoic Skulduggery was just sticking with the mission -- for the good of the world after all. On the other hand, you’d think he'd worry more about Valkyrie. Then again, maybe he knew she was alright. Who knows?

Stephanie (or Valkyrie Cain, as she comes to call herself) is merely likable. I and many other kids relate to the fact she wanted more than her dull, ordinary life. Other than that, she was nearly perfect and made few mistakes, which isn't relatable. She was mature, witty, independent, smart, and capable. She got herself out of as many scrapes as Skulduggery got her out of, and she got him out of a few. This is all great but not terribly interesting. Though refreshingly competent, Val had few surprising traits, no serious personal or psychological issues, and no vices to overcome. These would help to make her more human, more singular. Still, she was an adequate heroine, not grating like most main characters and the following.

China Sorrows is evil. She put a spell on Stephanie so she couldn’t help Skulduggery when he was captured, and by the second book, everyone seems to have forgotten. Plus, her character is kind of stiff and boring. I'm being totally mature and not holding a grudge about this, but it's the simple truth. She's evil. Just had to say it for it is pure wisdom . . . PLLLBBTT!!! Take THAT, China!

The author crafted a fantastic but rather frightening plot. Well, at least for a sensitive blogger like me. For the good of my nighttime thoughts, I skipped a couple chapters, chapters I will not go into, because I can't, because I skipped them. Regardless, from what I did read, the book was fast-paced and enthralling.

With its humor, action, and amazing characters, Skulduggery Pleasant is the one book you search through 50 to find. Thank goodness I helped you find it! Okay, I probably didn't have much to do with it, but just in case.

8/10