The Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales
Terry Pratchett
Clarion Books
Fiction, CH? Collection/Fantasy/Humor
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: One of King Arthur's least promising knights leads a quest to rid Crumbling Castle of a dragon infestation... a race of tiny people, so small they can dwell upon a speck of dust, explore the wild universe within a living room... a boring prince sets out to seek his fortune... an ordinary bus trip takes an extraordinary turn through time... This volume collects fourteen stories written by the legendary author Sir Terry Pratchett.
REVIEW: Long before Discworld debuted and changed the course of fantasy and satire, Terry Pratchett was a teenage journalist who penned numerous little confections like the ones collected here. Some, such as the "carpet people" tales, revisit the same settings and a few of the same characters - those stories would eventually inspire his first published novel, The Carpet People - but many of the rest are just light, often silly amusements. Even then, there are traces of Pratchett's later, more signature style and wit, and every story brims with imagination. If there aren't really any girl characters of note, and if there are hints of some racial stereotypes now and again, well, not only was the author just a teenager, but the stories were written in emulation of older fairy stories, adventure yarns, and once-upon-a-time tales that shared similar blind spots. The whole may not be up to the lofty heights Pratchett would later reach, but are certainly enjoyable and entertaining for what they are.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Odds are Good (Bruce Coville) - My Review
The Bromeliad Trilogy (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
Book of Enchantments (Patricia C. Wrede) - My Review
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Thursday, February 29, 2024
February Site Update
Last day of a short month, and February's eight reviews are now archived and cross-linked on the main Brightdreamer Books site.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Friday, February 23, 2024
How to Survive Your Murder (Danielle Valentine)
How to Survive Your Murder
Danielle Valentine
Razorbill
Fiction, YA Thriller
*+ (Terrible/Bad)
DESCRIPTION: Halloween night, partying teens, a corn maze in Omaha... if anyone recognizes the ingredients to a horror movie, it's Alice Lawrence. The high school junior is obsessed with slasher films, and she and her two best friends are even contemplating starting a podcast about survival lessons one can learn from the "final girl" survivors of Hollywood killers. That's why she doesn't follow her older sister Claire into the maze. But Alice never expected to see her own sister stabbed in front of her eyes among the cornstalks.
One year later, at the trial, a strange woman turns up, implying that maybe Alice didn't see what she thought she saw... that maybe the man on trial is not the real culprit. Alice has been hearing this throughout the hellish year since the worst night of her life, a year in which everything - her dreams of college, her family, even her seemingly-unbreakable friendships - all went to Hell. She knows what she saw, and who she saw. But when Alice hits her head in the courthouse bathroom, she wakes up on that terrible Halloween night - and, this time, she's in the corn maze with her sister. This time, the murder doesn't happen... but another girl dies.
Alice has until midnight to unravel the mystery of what really happened in that corn maze. If she succeeds, she may save the life of her sister, but if she fails, she goes back to the future where Claire is dead and her life isn't worth living. With a murderer stalking the streets of Omaha, she'll have to use every trick she learned from her favorite movies to stay alive - but movies aren't reality, and being the final girl may take more than Alice can muster.
REVIEW: This book wants to be a self-aware thriller in the vein of the Scream franchise (and numerous others), where a teen girl thinks she knows how to survive a horror movie situation only to discover that what looks easy when you're shouting at a character on a screen - Don't put down the knife! Don't go into the basement! Don't split up! Just run, already! - is much more difficult when it's you stumbling over bodies and stalked by a killer or facing the realization that the monster may wear a very familiar face. It really, wants to be that. But either this is an exceptionally meta take on that concept, or Alice really is too ridiculously stupid to be a final girl. I lost track of how many times she stood there, frozen, because fear flooded through her/locked her legs/killed her voice/fill in the descriptor to explain why she doesn't actually do anything useful, or anything at all. She also is a remarkably inept investigator (if what she does counts remotely as an "investigation"), not really thinking through any of the wild conclusions she leaps upon almost at random. I kept thinking of the opening sequence to the parody Scary Movie (the only remotely amusing part of that film, in my opinion), where the girl kept being presented with choices and always took the wrong one: finding a table full of weapons such as a gun and a grenade, she confidently grabs a banana, and when she flees and comes to a fork with signs pointing to Freedom and Certain Death, she hardly pauses before racing to the latter... only this wasn't a parody or an opening sequence, it was the whole of the book, as Alice repeatedly grabs bananas and keeps tripping on her way down the wrong path. The plot helpfully leads her around by her nose, a nose that's often practically pushed into solutions time and again that Alice refuses to see (in addition to freezing up at almost any stressor, she also adopts the winning survival tactic of closing her eyes, because anyone in a survival situation knows that what you don't see can't hurt you). The real culprit's obvious by the halfway point, and most of the distractions and jump-scares feel manipulative and telegraphed even to someone who doesn't watch a ton of slasher movies. There are numerous things that just plain don't make sense by the end, as well as a few last-minute twists that I won't get into for spoiler reasons but which dropped it to the rating it received.
(As a closing note, I still maintain that Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th was a much funnier horror parody than Scary Movie, and that's a hill I'm willing to die on.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Like Never and Always (Ann Aguirre) - My Review
My Sister, the Serial Killer (Oyinkan Braithwaite) - My Review
13 Minutes (Sarah Pinborough) - My Review
Danielle Valentine
Razorbill
Fiction, YA Thriller
*+ (Terrible/Bad)
DESCRIPTION: Halloween night, partying teens, a corn maze in Omaha... if anyone recognizes the ingredients to a horror movie, it's Alice Lawrence. The high school junior is obsessed with slasher films, and she and her two best friends are even contemplating starting a podcast about survival lessons one can learn from the "final girl" survivors of Hollywood killers. That's why she doesn't follow her older sister Claire into the maze. But Alice never expected to see her own sister stabbed in front of her eyes among the cornstalks.
One year later, at the trial, a strange woman turns up, implying that maybe Alice didn't see what she thought she saw... that maybe the man on trial is not the real culprit. Alice has been hearing this throughout the hellish year since the worst night of her life, a year in which everything - her dreams of college, her family, even her seemingly-unbreakable friendships - all went to Hell. She knows what she saw, and who she saw. But when Alice hits her head in the courthouse bathroom, she wakes up on that terrible Halloween night - and, this time, she's in the corn maze with her sister. This time, the murder doesn't happen... but another girl dies.
Alice has until midnight to unravel the mystery of what really happened in that corn maze. If she succeeds, she may save the life of her sister, but if she fails, she goes back to the future where Claire is dead and her life isn't worth living. With a murderer stalking the streets of Omaha, she'll have to use every trick she learned from her favorite movies to stay alive - but movies aren't reality, and being the final girl may take more than Alice can muster.
REVIEW: This book wants to be a self-aware thriller in the vein of the Scream franchise (and numerous others), where a teen girl thinks she knows how to survive a horror movie situation only to discover that what looks easy when you're shouting at a character on a screen - Don't put down the knife! Don't go into the basement! Don't split up! Just run, already! - is much more difficult when it's you stumbling over bodies and stalked by a killer or facing the realization that the monster may wear a very familiar face. It really, wants to be that. But either this is an exceptionally meta take on that concept, or Alice really is too ridiculously stupid to be a final girl. I lost track of how many times she stood there, frozen, because fear flooded through her/locked her legs/killed her voice/fill in the descriptor to explain why she doesn't actually do anything useful, or anything at all. She also is a remarkably inept investigator (if what she does counts remotely as an "investigation"), not really thinking through any of the wild conclusions she leaps upon almost at random. I kept thinking of the opening sequence to the parody Scary Movie (the only remotely amusing part of that film, in my opinion), where the girl kept being presented with choices and always took the wrong one: finding a table full of weapons such as a gun and a grenade, she confidently grabs a banana, and when she flees and comes to a fork with signs pointing to Freedom and Certain Death, she hardly pauses before racing to the latter... only this wasn't a parody or an opening sequence, it was the whole of the book, as Alice repeatedly grabs bananas and keeps tripping on her way down the wrong path. The plot helpfully leads her around by her nose, a nose that's often practically pushed into solutions time and again that Alice refuses to see (in addition to freezing up at almost any stressor, she also adopts the winning survival tactic of closing her eyes, because anyone in a survival situation knows that what you don't see can't hurt you). The real culprit's obvious by the halfway point, and most of the distractions and jump-scares feel manipulative and telegraphed even to someone who doesn't watch a ton of slasher movies. There are numerous things that just plain don't make sense by the end, as well as a few last-minute twists that I won't get into for spoiler reasons but which dropped it to the rating it received.
(As a closing note, I still maintain that Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th was a much funnier horror parody than Scary Movie, and that's a hill I'm willing to die on.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Like Never and Always (Ann Aguirre) - My Review
My Sister, the Serial Killer (Oyinkan Braithwaite) - My Review
13 Minutes (Sarah Pinborough) - My Review
Thursday, February 22, 2024
Age of Swords (Michael J. Sullivan)
Age of Swords
The Legends of the First Empire series, Book 2
Michael J. Sullivan
Del Rey
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once, the humans of Rhuneland looked to the Fhrey as gods, and godlike indeed they seemed to be: tall, elegant, often living three thousand years, masters of all manner of unknowable arts, and bearing both unstoppable metal blades and unbeatable magicks. That was before the coming of the God Killer, the young man Raithe who, helped by an escaping slave, killed a Fhrey lord. He fled to the walled hilltop village of Dhal Rhen, and it was here that humans, a band of renegade outcast Fhrey, a friendly giant, and a young mystic girl who had somehow learned the trick of elven magic threw back the forces of Fane Lothian of the Forest Throne.
That insult will not be allowed to stand unchallenged.
When the fane's reprisal levels the village and calls for genocide against the whole human race, Raithe, newly risen clan leader Persephone, and the rest of Dhal Rhen's surviving citizens flee southward. There, Persephone means to do something no chieftain has managed before: unite all the human clans, even the wild northern warriors, under one keening. It's their only chance against the coming war. But they'll need more than numbers and a leader to win against Fhrey magic and Fhrey weapons. There's not much they can do about the former - only the wildborn girl Suri has ever managed Fhrey-like magic - but the latter may have a solution, across the waters in the stony halls of the dwarfs. But they are a mistrustful race that already lost a war with the elven Fhrey, and handing over armaments to humans will almost certainly bring the wrath of the fane down upon them again. It will take daring, cleverness, bravery, and more than a little deception to get them to part with their treasures.
Meanwhile, back in the Fhrey capital, Prince Manwyndule, the spoiled son of Lothian, chafes under the thumb of a father who still sees him as a child. He longs to exact revenge upon the whole of the human race for striking down his friend and mentor at the battle of Dhal Rhen, even as he seethes over how his former teacher turned traitor to help the upstarts. When he encounters a secret society of other young men and women of his kind who feel, as he does, that the magic-wielding Miralyith tribe are truly the superior of all the Fhrey, akin to the gods themselves, and should be worshiped as such, he faces choices and temptations that could deliver everything he dreams of - or turn into his worst nightmare.
REVIEW: This year, I'm making a conscious effort to follow through on some series I keep telling myself I'll get back to "someday". Having enjoyed Sullivan's Age of Myth (despite not having previously read any of his Riyria books, which this series is evidently a prequel to), I figured this is one of those "get back to it" series worth following up on. I was also in the mood for a nice epic fantasy. Fortunately, this book both scratched that epic itch and lived up to the first volume, making for an enjoyable read (or listen, this being another audiobook).
It picks up more or less where the previous book left off - just as Fhrey magic (and attacking giants) deliver the fane's answer to the battle in the previous book, with lightning and hail and tornadoes. In the aftermath, with barely one stone left atop another in what was Dhal Rhen, chieftain Persephone - who, by chance, encountered a trio of dwarfs while fleeing for her life - only grows more determined that the only way to save her people is to rally the rest of her species against the Fhrey. Several familiar faces return, with a few new ones picked up along the way, as the clan treks southward to the coastal village of Dhal Tirre... but what they find is not the welcome they had hoped, and uniting the clans seems almost impossible from the start, even without the fractious northern clans involved (yet). It doesn't help that most won't take her seriously as a chieftain because of her gender. They'd rather have the God Killer, Raithe, as their keening... but he still rejects all efforts to drop big responsibilities onto his shoulders. As far as he's concerned, the war is already as good as lost: few among the humans even have so much as copper blades, no match at all for the bronze of the Fhrey, even disregarding the problems presented by Fhrey magic. Persephone, however, refuses to give up, a drive that leads her into the forbidden stronghold of the dwarfs with a group of young women, the Fhrey woman Arion (still endeavoring to teach the young mystic Suri how to use her unexpected abilities), and the trio she met earlier, who were not as honest as perhaps they should have been about what awaits the humans. Meanwhile, back among the Fhrey, the spoiled young princeling seethes at still being treated like the child he so often behaves like, making him the perfect patsy when targeted by schemers with their own ideas on the future of the ancient race.
As before, the story doesn't have too much down time, moving along almost from the first page with plenty of action and intrigue, punctuated by moments of emotion and humor and wonder. As in the first volume, there are familiar tropes at play, but for the most part they're interesting and work here, though some of the side characters can feel a bit flat. Overall, though, it makes for a solid continuation of the series, retaining that nice, old-school epic fantasy feel and sense of wonder without feeling at all stale. I'll be looking forward to the third installment.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Elvenbane (Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton) - My Review
Age of Myth (Michael J. Sullivan) - My Review
The Tiger and the Wolf (Adrian Tchaikovsky) - My Review
The Legends of the First Empire series, Book 2
Michael J. Sullivan
Del Rey
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once, the humans of Rhuneland looked to the Fhrey as gods, and godlike indeed they seemed to be: tall, elegant, often living three thousand years, masters of all manner of unknowable arts, and bearing both unstoppable metal blades and unbeatable magicks. That was before the coming of the God Killer, the young man Raithe who, helped by an escaping slave, killed a Fhrey lord. He fled to the walled hilltop village of Dhal Rhen, and it was here that humans, a band of renegade outcast Fhrey, a friendly giant, and a young mystic girl who had somehow learned the trick of elven magic threw back the forces of Fane Lothian of the Forest Throne.
That insult will not be allowed to stand unchallenged.
When the fane's reprisal levels the village and calls for genocide against the whole human race, Raithe, newly risen clan leader Persephone, and the rest of Dhal Rhen's surviving citizens flee southward. There, Persephone means to do something no chieftain has managed before: unite all the human clans, even the wild northern warriors, under one keening. It's their only chance against the coming war. But they'll need more than numbers and a leader to win against Fhrey magic and Fhrey weapons. There's not much they can do about the former - only the wildborn girl Suri has ever managed Fhrey-like magic - but the latter may have a solution, across the waters in the stony halls of the dwarfs. But they are a mistrustful race that already lost a war with the elven Fhrey, and handing over armaments to humans will almost certainly bring the wrath of the fane down upon them again. It will take daring, cleverness, bravery, and more than a little deception to get them to part with their treasures.
Meanwhile, back in the Fhrey capital, Prince Manwyndule, the spoiled son of Lothian, chafes under the thumb of a father who still sees him as a child. He longs to exact revenge upon the whole of the human race for striking down his friend and mentor at the battle of Dhal Rhen, even as he seethes over how his former teacher turned traitor to help the upstarts. When he encounters a secret society of other young men and women of his kind who feel, as he does, that the magic-wielding Miralyith tribe are truly the superior of all the Fhrey, akin to the gods themselves, and should be worshiped as such, he faces choices and temptations that could deliver everything he dreams of - or turn into his worst nightmare.
REVIEW: This year, I'm making a conscious effort to follow through on some series I keep telling myself I'll get back to "someday". Having enjoyed Sullivan's Age of Myth (despite not having previously read any of his Riyria books, which this series is evidently a prequel to), I figured this is one of those "get back to it" series worth following up on. I was also in the mood for a nice epic fantasy. Fortunately, this book both scratched that epic itch and lived up to the first volume, making for an enjoyable read (or listen, this being another audiobook).
It picks up more or less where the previous book left off - just as Fhrey magic (and attacking giants) deliver the fane's answer to the battle in the previous book, with lightning and hail and tornadoes. In the aftermath, with barely one stone left atop another in what was Dhal Rhen, chieftain Persephone - who, by chance, encountered a trio of dwarfs while fleeing for her life - only grows more determined that the only way to save her people is to rally the rest of her species against the Fhrey. Several familiar faces return, with a few new ones picked up along the way, as the clan treks southward to the coastal village of Dhal Tirre... but what they find is not the welcome they had hoped, and uniting the clans seems almost impossible from the start, even without the fractious northern clans involved (yet). It doesn't help that most won't take her seriously as a chieftain because of her gender. They'd rather have the God Killer, Raithe, as their keening... but he still rejects all efforts to drop big responsibilities onto his shoulders. As far as he's concerned, the war is already as good as lost: few among the humans even have so much as copper blades, no match at all for the bronze of the Fhrey, even disregarding the problems presented by Fhrey magic. Persephone, however, refuses to give up, a drive that leads her into the forbidden stronghold of the dwarfs with a group of young women, the Fhrey woman Arion (still endeavoring to teach the young mystic Suri how to use her unexpected abilities), and the trio she met earlier, who were not as honest as perhaps they should have been about what awaits the humans. Meanwhile, back among the Fhrey, the spoiled young princeling seethes at still being treated like the child he so often behaves like, making him the perfect patsy when targeted by schemers with their own ideas on the future of the ancient race.
As before, the story doesn't have too much down time, moving along almost from the first page with plenty of action and intrigue, punctuated by moments of emotion and humor and wonder. As in the first volume, there are familiar tropes at play, but for the most part they're interesting and work here, though some of the side characters can feel a bit flat. Overall, though, it makes for a solid continuation of the series, retaining that nice, old-school epic fantasy feel and sense of wonder without feeling at all stale. I'll be looking forward to the third installment.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Elvenbane (Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton) - My Review
Age of Myth (Michael J. Sullivan) - My Review
The Tiger and the Wolf (Adrian Tchaikovsky) - My Review
Friday, February 16, 2024
Skulduggery Pleasant (Derek Landy)
Skulduggery Pleasant
The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 1
Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Fiction, MG Adventure/Fantasy/Humor/Mystery
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When popular horror writer Gordon Edgely died, the relative who misses him the most is his twelve-year-old niece Stephanie... but even she never expected to inherit the vast majority of his estate. Soon, it becomes apparent that she inherited more than his house and future royalties: she also inherited enemies she knew nothing about - and an ally she never expected, when she's saved by the living, walking skeleton named Skulduggery Pleasant. A detective by trade, Pleasant was a close friend of her eccentric uncle, whose books were inspired by the hidden world of adepts and sorcerers and other magical beasts and beings amongst humanity. One of those sorcerers apparently got it into his head that Gordon knew something about a long-lost artifact, a scepter with ties to elder gods long cast out of this world, and that sorcerer is convinced that he left the key to finding that scepter with his heir. Though Stephanie knows of no such key, her denial won't stop the man's monstrous servants from torturing her and killing her very, very dead - unless she and Skulduggery Pleasant can unravel the mystery themselves and beat the villain Serpine to the scepter.
REVIEW: I've heard of this series now and again, and I see it go through the library shipping center on a reasonably regular basis, but for some reason it never made it onto the reading list until now. Whatever I was expecting, what I found was a highly enjoyable, often witty magical adventure with a strong heroine and one of the most fun characters - the titular Skulduggery Pleasant - I've read since Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus the djinn.
The tale starts not unlike several other middle grade fantasy/adventure stories, with a relative's death and an unexpected inheritance, followed by the revelation of a magical "world". Unlike many of those stories, Stephanie actually has a supportive family, if one unaware of the existence of magic; to them, Uncle Gordon was just considered eccentric, possibly a touch delusional, and kept strange, potentially dangerous company. But family isn't going to help the girl survive henchmen who can be lit on fire and barely get singed... and Stephanie, who has always been encouraged to find her own path in life (for all that Mom and Dad couldn't possibly have anticipated this particular path), realizes early on that she doesn't want them to help her in this anyway. This is her path, her adventure, her destiny, and if she can't manage it without them then she doesn't deserve it at all. The magical world's dangers are apparent even before she realizes it's magic going on, but something about it calls to her despite the risks. For his part, Skulduggery Pleasant sees enough potential in her that his attempts to sideline her in the dangerous investigation are minimal; if she isn't put off by being chased through the night by a monstrous killer, there's not much that'll turn her aside, though he is never anything but honest with her about what's ahead and the risks of mingling with magicians. The hidden world of mages has less in common with Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic and more with adult urban fantasies, or Nnedi Okorafor's Akata Witch: magicians are an insular community, eccentric but also potentially dangerous, and nothing is bubble-wrapped or blunted for the sake of newbies of any age. Stephanie gets a trial by fire (literally, at times) as she steps into this world, where it's often hard to tell friend from foe (and the same person can be both in different circumstances) and where the stakes are life and death, not just for her but for the world at large if Serpine gets his hands on the scepter. There are shades of/nods to Lovecraft around the edges, with ancient races and "Faceless Ones" who once ruled in chaos and darkness. Through it all, Skulduggery Pleasant is a steadfast, clever-tongued presence, though one with his own agenda. Despite her age and inexperience, Stephanie makes a solid partner for him, and generally doesn't do stupid things for the sake of being stupid (or for the sake of plot).
The story moves quickly from the start, with a significant bruise and body count by the time it reaches the climax. Part of me almost wonders if Skulduggery Pleasant was originally intended to be the Harry Dresden-like star of his own grown-up fantasy series; I'm almost certain he could've carried one. Still, he works very good here, and Stephanie steps up to her role and future rather than stooping down to it, if that makes any sense; again, there were times I almost wondered if her age was rolled back a bit, maybe for marketing purposes. In any event, I greatly enjoyed this story and am looking forward to continuing the series.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer) - My Review
Stoneheart (Charlie Fletcher) - My Review
The Amulet of Samarkand (Jonathan Stroud) - My Review
The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 1
Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Fiction, MG Adventure/Fantasy/Humor/Mystery
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When popular horror writer Gordon Edgely died, the relative who misses him the most is his twelve-year-old niece Stephanie... but even she never expected to inherit the vast majority of his estate. Soon, it becomes apparent that she inherited more than his house and future royalties: she also inherited enemies she knew nothing about - and an ally she never expected, when she's saved by the living, walking skeleton named Skulduggery Pleasant. A detective by trade, Pleasant was a close friend of her eccentric uncle, whose books were inspired by the hidden world of adepts and sorcerers and other magical beasts and beings amongst humanity. One of those sorcerers apparently got it into his head that Gordon knew something about a long-lost artifact, a scepter with ties to elder gods long cast out of this world, and that sorcerer is convinced that he left the key to finding that scepter with his heir. Though Stephanie knows of no such key, her denial won't stop the man's monstrous servants from torturing her and killing her very, very dead - unless she and Skulduggery Pleasant can unravel the mystery themselves and beat the villain Serpine to the scepter.
REVIEW: I've heard of this series now and again, and I see it go through the library shipping center on a reasonably regular basis, but for some reason it never made it onto the reading list until now. Whatever I was expecting, what I found was a highly enjoyable, often witty magical adventure with a strong heroine and one of the most fun characters - the titular Skulduggery Pleasant - I've read since Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus the djinn.
The tale starts not unlike several other middle grade fantasy/adventure stories, with a relative's death and an unexpected inheritance, followed by the revelation of a magical "world". Unlike many of those stories, Stephanie actually has a supportive family, if one unaware of the existence of magic; to them, Uncle Gordon was just considered eccentric, possibly a touch delusional, and kept strange, potentially dangerous company. But family isn't going to help the girl survive henchmen who can be lit on fire and barely get singed... and Stephanie, who has always been encouraged to find her own path in life (for all that Mom and Dad couldn't possibly have anticipated this particular path), realizes early on that she doesn't want them to help her in this anyway. This is her path, her adventure, her destiny, and if she can't manage it without them then she doesn't deserve it at all. The magical world's dangers are apparent even before she realizes it's magic going on, but something about it calls to her despite the risks. For his part, Skulduggery Pleasant sees enough potential in her that his attempts to sideline her in the dangerous investigation are minimal; if she isn't put off by being chased through the night by a monstrous killer, there's not much that'll turn her aside, though he is never anything but honest with her about what's ahead and the risks of mingling with magicians. The hidden world of mages has less in common with Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic and more with adult urban fantasies, or Nnedi Okorafor's Akata Witch: magicians are an insular community, eccentric but also potentially dangerous, and nothing is bubble-wrapped or blunted for the sake of newbies of any age. Stephanie gets a trial by fire (literally, at times) as she steps into this world, where it's often hard to tell friend from foe (and the same person can be both in different circumstances) and where the stakes are life and death, not just for her but for the world at large if Serpine gets his hands on the scepter. There are shades of/nods to Lovecraft around the edges, with ancient races and "Faceless Ones" who once ruled in chaos and darkness. Through it all, Skulduggery Pleasant is a steadfast, clever-tongued presence, though one with his own agenda. Despite her age and inexperience, Stephanie makes a solid partner for him, and generally doesn't do stupid things for the sake of being stupid (or for the sake of plot).
The story moves quickly from the start, with a significant bruise and body count by the time it reaches the climax. Part of me almost wonders if Skulduggery Pleasant was originally intended to be the Harry Dresden-like star of his own grown-up fantasy series; I'm almost certain he could've carried one. Still, he works very good here, and Stephanie steps up to her role and future rather than stooping down to it, if that makes any sense; again, there were times I almost wondered if her age was rolled back a bit, maybe for marketing purposes. In any event, I greatly enjoyed this story and am looking forward to continuing the series.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer) - My Review
Stoneheart (Charlie Fletcher) - My Review
The Amulet of Samarkand (Jonathan Stroud) - My Review
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