Last Stand of Dead Men
The eighth instalment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe - and the follow-up to 2012’s number-one bestseller, Kingdom of the Wicked…
War has finally come.
But it's not a war between good and evil, or light and dark – it's a war between Sanctuaries. For too long, the Irish Sanctuary has teetered on the brink of world-ending disaster, and the other Sanctuaries around the world have had enough. Allies turn to enemies, friends turn to foes, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie must team up with the rest of the Dead Men if they're going to have any chance at all of maintaining the balance of power and getting to the root of a vast conspiracy that has been years in the making.
But while this war is only beginning, another war rages within Valkyrie herself. Her own dark side, the insanely powerful being known as Darquesse, is on the verge of rising to the surface. And if Valkyrie slips, even for a moment, then Darquesse will burn the world and everyone in it.
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.
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.
Skulduggery Pleasant consists of seventeen primary books, and includes four additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.