Review: #542
Title: Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying of the Light
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant - 9th and final book
Author: Derek Landy
Read Before: no
Comments: Here it is, the finale to the Skulduggery Pleasant series where everything has been building up to this point . Darquesse is loose upon the work and it's time for Skullduggery and gang to somehow save Valkyrie from her alter ego. The mystery of exactly how he is going to do that keeps you going and anticipating the ending. There were a few times where it drags a bit, as this is a long book and it goes through cycles of Darquesse seemingly being able to be overcome only for the plan to fail. It rises to a crescendo in the final battle where the vision seems inevitable and the only outcome seems to be the one where everyone dies. Granted, many more characters die, characters that you care for and had grown to known. There is also a section where it was confusing in how it links to the story, starting with the prologue and eventually a chapter here and there, it is only until the ending where it is somewhat revealed what it is getting at, and frankly, it's quite disappointing and disjointing. The author throws in his classic one-liners with some of the most amusing and funny dialogue since Kingdom of the Wicked. The author also plays on words, leading you to believe one thing but in actuality, it plays into the technical and literal meaning of words in order to resolve a subplot. As mentioned, the plot can be unfocused and is frequently distracted. It seems to meander from place to place, slowly arriving at the destination. It makes an effort to retread many previous locations and characters, at times making it feel contrived. In the end, what's important is that The Dying of the Light is a satisfying finale to a good series, you'd actually hope for more stories to come after finishing the last page.
Rating: 8/10