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Skulduggery Pleasant

Skulduggery Pleasant #1 / 18
by Derek Landy
Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant #1) by Derek Landy
  ★ 7.62 / 27
1★2★3★14★15★66★27★98★59★310★

"So you won't keep anything from me again?"
He put his hand to his chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die."
"Okay then. Though you don't actually have a heart," she said.
"I know."
"And technically, you've already died."
"I know that too."
"Just so we're clear."

Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction.

Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source – the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard.

When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture!

Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.

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☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
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Updated 04/08/2025
Category: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Young Adult
Release date: 2007

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Derek Landy

Derek Landy

In the world of children's fantasy fiction, few characters crash through the pages quite like a wisecracking, sharply dressed skeleton detective—and few authors would dare make that their literary calling card. But Derek Landy did, and in doing so, redefined the limits of what middle grade and teen fantasy could look like.

A former screenwriter from Ireland with a background in martial arts, Landy didn’t arrive in publishing by the usual route. His Skulduggery Pleasant series kicked open the door in 2007 with a swagger, blending fast-paced supernatural action with razor-edged humor and surprisingly tender moments of grief, loyalty, and growth. Readers came for the undead sorcerer; they stayed for Valkyrie Cain, the fierce, flawed teenager at the heart of the story—and for a world that made even apocalypse scenarios feel strangely addictive.

Read more ...

What sets Landy's work apart isn't just the imaginative flair—though there’s no shortage of talking skulls, ancient gods, or magical duels. It’s the tonal alchemy: somehow, he juggles dark themes like betrayal and identity alongside punchy dialogue and playful banter. His writing doesn’t condescend to younger audiences; instead, it trusts them to handle complexity while still having a blast.

Raised in Dublin, Landy was a lifelong fan of horror movies, comic books, and sharp-tongued heroes—elements that bleed naturally into his prose. Before turning to novels, he wrote screenplays, including the horror-comedy Boy Eats Girl, but it was with books that he found the perfect mix of creative freedom and character depth. Skulduggery Pleasant quickly gained a cult following, expanding into an epic multi-book saga that spans over a dozen novels, with spin-offs, prequels, and a deeply loyal fanbase across the globe.

Landy has won multiple Irish Book Awards and has often joked about how he writes like someone who’s just drunk five espressos—but his craftsmanship is anything but rushed. Behind the breakneck pace and supernatural chaos lies a strong moral spine and recurring questions about power, sacrifice, and what it means to stand for something in a collapsing world.

When asked what keeps him writing, Landy once said, “I’m just not done playing in this world yet.” For fans of magical noir, flawed heroes, and fantasy with bite, that’s very good news indeed.

Photo: Hpschaefer / CC BY-SA 3.0

Skulduggery Pleasant

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.


Skulduggery Pleasant consists of sixteen primary books, and includes four additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads — series is set to expand with the upcoming release of two more books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

Hell Breaks Loose (Skulduggery Pleasant #0.5)
not yet rated
Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant #1)
  ★ 7.62 / 27
Playing with Fire (Skulduggery Pleasant #2)
  ★ 7.36 / 19
The Faceless Ones (Skulduggery Pleasant #3)
  ★ 7.50 / 16
Dark Days (Skulduggery Pleasant #4)
  ★ 8.00 / 5
Mortal Coil (Skulduggery Pleasant #5)
  ★ 8.28 / 14
Death Bringer (Skulduggery Pleasant #6)
  ★ 7.80 / 5
The End of the World (Skulduggery Pleasant #6.5)
  ★ 6.00 / 1
Kingdom of the Wicked (Skulduggery Pleasant #7)
  ★ 7.60 / 5
The Maleficent Seven (Skulduggery Pleasant #7.5)
  ★ 8.00 / 1
Last Stand of Dead Men (Skulduggery Pleasant #8)
  ★ 8.50 / 2
Armageddon Outta Here (Skulduggery Pleasant #8.5)
  ★ 9.00 / 1
The Dying of the Light (Skulduggery Pleasant #9)
  ★ 8.50 / 2
Resurrection (Skulduggery Pleasant #10)
  ★ 8.00 / 1
Midnight (Skulduggery Pleasant #11)
  ★ 8.00 / 1
Bedlam (Skulduggery Pleasant #12)
  ★ 8.00 / 1
Seasons of War (Skulduggery Pleasant #13)
  ★ 8.00 / 1
Dead or Alive (Skulduggery Pleasant #14)
  ★ 8.00 / 2
Until the End (Skulduggery Pleasant #15)
not yet rated
A Mind Full of Murder (Skulduggery Pleasant #16)
  ★ 9.76 / 4
A Heart Full of Hatred (Skulduggery Pleasant #17)
  ⧗ 9.40 / 5
Skulduggery Pleasant Book 18 (Skulduggery Pleasant #18)
  ⧗ 9.00 / 2


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