4.5/5.
To me, this series is an old, comfortable sweater – in the best way possible. Let me explain. Out of the many middle-grade/YA books I read as a kid (Harry Potter, CHERUB, Rangers Apprentice, etc.), Skulduggery Pleasant is the only series that continues to this day.
That’s special.
By the time I opened this book – number 12 in the series – Landy had the weight of 11 previous (amazing) novels to draw from. And how he drew from them …
There’s so many excellent twists and fantastic world building in this. You’d expect that. It is a bestselling YA fantasy novel, after all. What you might not expect is the level and depth of characterisation. By the time this book begins, readers understand the protagonists are not purely good people – but out of all the SKP books, this one tugs at that string in an exquisite manner.
My only criticism was that the ending felt slightly weak, with the final conflict resolved more easily than expected. However, a large part of that was due to the first half being fantastic. Almost the complete reverse of the previous book, where the second half was insanely better than the first.
All together, this was another amazing book by one of my favourite authors. Can’t wait to see where the next book goes!
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