Review: #235
Title: Skulduggery Pleasant
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant - 1st book
Author: Derek Landy
Read Before: no
My Comments: Not quite the adventure I was expecting. The concept itself has a lot of potential, being a skeleton detective, and taking on a new apprentice (or partner). However, the story started off really slow, and once it got to the point where it was discussing the rules of the magic, it felt like many of the details were familiar. It seemed to have combined how magic worked in other novels, as such, it felt uninspired. What’s more, the three names per person concept (true name, given name, and the name you take) have been done before in other novels. The plot itself isn’t too outstanding, one thing that did throw me off, was that the protagonist, Stephanie, didn't develop some awesome power herself (yet) to help defeat the antagonist. The latter third of the book was where all the interesting bits happen, the plot moved faster, was more intense, but the climax left much to be desired. It felt more like there should have been more, that there should have been something impressive, but it was simple and left you a bit hanging. I expected more humour. If I had to be frank with myself, there isn’t that crux that makes this a definite read. Actually, I found the short story at the end of the book, The Lost Art of World Domination to be quite an amusing read, even though like some of the other elements in the book, done before by other authors.
Rating: 6/10