Dark Days
The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 4
Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Fiction, MG/YA Action/Fantasy/Horror/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: After cultists succeeded in opening a portal to the realm of the Faceless Ones, malevolent godlike entities that once ruled the Earth and have long wished to return to their former home (which would not bode well for pretty much anything currently inhabiting the planet), the living skeleton Skulduggery Pleasant, his apprentice Valkyrie Cain, and a handful of allies managed to drive the monstrous, madness-inducing beings back where they belonged... only Skulduggery was dragged through before the portal could be closed. That was nearly a year ago, and while most everyone in Dublin's magical community considers him gone (or as good as gone; if he hasn't succumbed, he's likely been driven insane by the Faceless Ones), Valkyrie will not rest until she gets her friend and teacher back, even accepting the tutelage of a necromancer to learn tricks that no elemental can teach her. At last, she stands on the cusp of victory - which, of course, means something is about to go terribly wrong, because that's when things always go terribly wrong.
Two hundred years ago, the sorcerer Dreylan Scarab was imprisoned for assassination, but confinement has not reformed him. Instead, the first thing he does on his release is organize the Revengers' Club, consisting of people with a bone to pick with the Dublin Sanctuary. A pack of villains like this isn't going to cooperate for long, but they only need to work together long enough to bring down the Sanctuary... and take down their mutual enemies, Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain. As if that weren't bad enough, every seer in the area has started getting visions of a new, darker danger on the horizon: a potentially world-ending mage known only as Darquesse - and, if the seers are right, that woman will not only slaughter Valkyrie's family, but her and Skulduggery too.
REVIEW: Taking up about a year after the previous volume ended, the reader finds a Valkyrie Cain who has only grown more powerful and more determined without Skulduggery around, willingly dabbling in necromancy despite how that force is viewed by most magic users and finding an unexpected talent there. If she had any misgivings about spending so much time among magicians in earlier adventures, those were sucked through the portal after Skulduggery; she's spending even more time out of the house in her laser-focused pursuit of a way to re-open the portal and rescue the living skeleton, relying more and more on the mirror image decoy to cover for her with family even though it's been glitchy. Not even her parents announcing that she's about to become a big sister is enough to get her to stay home and invest more time in her mundane life, not when she has a mission (and when the magical world continues to draw her like a magnet; she can try blaming her however-long-ago ancestor, the last of the Ancients, for the attraction, but at this point it's nearly an addiction). Even her closest friends are concerned for her, but she won't hear a word of caution. It goes without saying that she succeeds (just as it also goes without saying that success is hard-won by the skin of her teeth), but that's only the start of bigger problems as the Revengers' Club and their campaign of, well, revenge sweeps through the magical community of Dublin. The returned Skulduggery is not the same as he was, but then neither is Valkyrie the same girl he left behind, far more of a partner than an assistant or apprentice. They still make a formidable team, each using their new powers and resilience to great effect as the stakes inevitably ratchet higher with every chapter.
Baddies from previous books return as Revengers' Club members, naturally... and, as before, the Sanctuary magicians are not exactly pure as the driven snow in their histories and intentions; there's a very good reason so many people hold such hard feelings towards them, and the attacks are in no small part composed of metaphoric chickens coming home to roost. Corruption in power has been a theme since the start, and here it comes to a head for the Dublin Sanctuary in quite catastrophic ways. Add that to the visions that put Skulduggery, Valkyrie, and the other Dublin mages at the heart of the possible end of the world in a few years (as close as they can guesstimate; Valkyrie looks a few years older, at least), and things can only go from bad to worse.
As before, there's still humor threading through several moments and interactions, but the horror elements are only growing stronger as Valkyrie grows up. At around 15 now, the girl and the series are wading into Young Adult territory with both feet; indeed, she's getting involved in her first fledgling romance with a side character, even though her greater destiny and probable doom constantly lurks over her shoulder. Everyone she loves, and even people she dislikes, go through the wringer here on the way to a tense climax that creates lasting ramifications for all concerned and altering the trajectory of the series.
If this entry has a slightly lower rating than previous outings of Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain, it's a very near thing, and partly due to it feeling a little rushed and overwhelming at times, standing at a pivot point in the larger arc (at least, that's what I assume, given events). It's shorter than the others, and could've used a slight bit more breathing space between All The Things happening and all the characters that come together. The ending twist is also a touch telegraphed. Still, this remains a highly entertaining and exciting series, one where the main characters aren't bubble-wrapped and actually experience consequences from their mistakes - and even their victories. I'm looking forward to reading (or listening) on.
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