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quippeThe 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 …
It’s several weeks after SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT - KINGDOM OF THE WICKED. The international Sanctuaries, convinced that the Irish Sanctuary murdered Grand Mage Strom are moving it. They want a power sharing arrangement, power-sharing in this case meaning that they take more control over the Irish Sanctuary’s affairs. The Irish Elders are standing firm, but with no allies and their own control weakened after recent events, it’s clear that war is coming and there’s no guarantee that they will win.
But Skulduggery and Valkyrie don’t have time to worry about that. They’re investigating why Charivari is leading the Warlocks against sorcerers and the answers they’re finding are very disturbing – so disturbing that they point to treachery in the deepest levels of the Sanctuary and a conspiracy that’s been a century in the making. Even worse than that, Valkyrie can feel the influence of the Darquesse rising in her mind – she wants to come out, she wants to help her, she wants to see the world burn …
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.
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.
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 …
It’s several weeks after SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT - KINGDOM OF THE WICKED. The international Sanctuaries, convinced that the Irish Sanctuary murdered Grand Mage Strom are moving it. They want a power sharing arrangement, power-sharing in this case meaning that they take more control over the Irish Sanctuary’s affairs. The Irish Elders are standing firm, but with no allies and their own control weakened after recent events, it’s clear that war is coming and there’s no guarantee that they will win.
But Skulduggery and Valkyrie don’t have time to worry about that. They’re investigating why Charivari is leading the Warlocks against sorcerers and the answers they’re finding are very disturbing – so disturbing that they point to treachery in the deepest levels of the Sanctuary and a conspiracy that’s been a century in the making. Even worse than that, Valkyrie can feel the influence of the Darquesse rising in her mind – she wants to come out, she wants to help her, she wants to see the world burn …
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.
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.
