Skulduggery Pleasant – Last Stand Of Dead Men by Derek Landy

The Blurb On The Back:

Skulduggery strolled towards Valkerie.
Everything was suddenly quiet and still and peaceful.
She could smell cordite. The smell of gunfire and carnage.
“We’re at war?” she asked.
“So it would seem,” he said.

War has finally come.

Not a war between good and evil or light and dark, but a war between Sanctuaries. Skulduggery and Valkyrie must team up with the rest of the Dead Men if they’re to have any chance of maintaining the balance of power and getting to the root of a vast conspiracy that has been years in the making.

And at the same time, another war rages within Valkyrie herself, as Darquesse is on the verge of rising – and if Valkyrie slips, even for a moment, Darquesse will burn the world and everyone in it …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The eighth in Derek Landy’s best-selling middle grade fantasy series is another action-packed corker that had me gripped from beginning to end. I really can’t speak highly enough about these books. Landy is a master of plot – there is so much going on here, so many plot strands but Landy weaves them together like an expert so that events you think have dropped to the wayside suddenly become very important. At the same time it’s the relationships that matter in this book. There are a lot of ties here, some of family and friendship and others more complicated (e.g. between Skulduggery and China Sorrows). Particularly good here is the fractured relationship between Valkyrie and Stephanie, her reflection who has become sentient in her own right and increasingly wants to take control of what has become her life but the relationship between the Dead Men – the seven sorcerers (including Skulduggery, Erskine Revel and Ghastly Bespoke) is central to this and Landy uses it to put more meat on the complicated history of his world. There are some significant character deaths in the book, some of which hit me worse than others and there are a lot of shifting allegiances. Landy’s action scenes are as excellent and violent as ever and the pace is completely unrelenting. I honestly had a blast from beginning to end and am planning to dive straight into the final book.

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying Of The Light by Derek Landy

The Blurb On The Back:

”You’re wearing it,” Darquesse said, almost excitedly. “The gauntlet! You know what that means, don’t you? The vision is about to come true … “

Valkyrie. Darquesse. Stephanie.
The World ain’t big enough for the three of them.

The end will come.

The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred and lifeless cinder.

And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers and criminals … and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.

The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The ninth and concluding volume in Derek Landy’s bestselling fantasy series is a fitting, action-packed end that ties up loose ends and provides a resolution (albeit not one fans may necessarily want). Front and centre is the relationship between Darquesse, Stephanie, Valkyrie and Skulduggery and I really enjoyed the way Landy draws this out and examines each of their characters in a way that does justice to all of them. Stephanie in particular develops a great deal in this book both through her relationship with Fletcher and the rivalry and envy she feels for Valkyrie but there’s also some surprising developments for Darquesse who is much more than a stereotypical Big Baddie. I was particularly pleased by the role played by Scapegrace and Thrasher who have been through a lot in the series and often provide the silliest laughs but also some surprisingly touching moments. Although there are big character deaths in this book, they weren’t as gut-wrenching for me as in THE LAST STAND OF THE DEAD MEN but there are still some lump-in-the-throat moments involving Tanith Lee and Fletcher. Valkyrie’s family also play a much bigger role in this book although for me, they provided some of the more irritating moments given some of their actions. There is a hell of a lot of action (as you’d expect) but the fight scenes are very well crafted and provide a lot of excitement and pace. The book ends with the potential for Landy to revisit the characters (and I really hope we see them pop up somewhere) but it’s also a satisfying conclusion and while I’m sad this is over, it’s been one hell of a ride.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

The Blurb On The Back:

1867, Canada.

As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a woman steels herself for the journey of a lifetime. A man has been brutally murdered and her seventeen-year-old son has disappeared. The violence has re-opened old wounds and inflamed deep-running tensions in the frontier township – some want to solve the crime; others seek only to exploit it.

To clear her son’s name, she has no choice but to follow the tracks leaving the dead man’s cabin and head north into the forest and the desolate landscape that lies beyond it …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Stef Penney’s debut novel is a gripping and assured historical thriller that deservedly won the Costa First Novel Award in 2006. Penney alternates between first person, third person limited and third person omniscient points of view throughout the text to great effect, although my favourite sections are those told by the enigmatic Mrs Ross as she recounts her life in Scotland (where she spent time in an asylum), her marriage to Mr Ross and her love for Francis. I particularly admired the way she weaves in a historic tragedy that’s still gossiped about in Dove River, namely the disappearance of the Seton sisters and the pall its cast over the lives of some of the cast together with the details she gives about the lives of the main cast. There’s an overriding sadness to the text, each of the characters has suffered loss and each has hopes and ambitions for the future, whether it’s Donald’s love for the beautiful Susannah, Mr Sturrock’s hopes to prove an Indian written culture or Mrs Ross’s desire to exonerate her son. Also great is the description Penney gives of the Canadian wilderness and its effects on her characters and the historical detail she gives to bring life to the period. My only gripes are that one of the revelations is telegraphed a little too heavily and feels out of keeping for the time (especially the reaction of one of the characters to it) and the ending is open, but these are small issues given that the book had me gripped from beginning to end and I can’t wait to read Penney’s next book.