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Skulduggery Pleasant #5.6
Apocalypse Kings
A brand new Skulduggery Pleasant novella for World Book a hilarious and thrilling standalone story in the internationally bestselling series – perfect for new readers, and essential for Skulduggery fans…Three ancient gods are freed from their prison with only one to destroy the planet and everyone on it.To save us all, Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain must go undercover in a Dublin school. Skulduggery has to blend in with the teaching staff, while Valkyrie has to pass for an ordinary schoolgirl. Above all else, no matter what happens, they both must act completely and utterly normal.We are so dead.
96 pages, Paperback
First published February 18, 2021
67 people are currently reading
1153 people want to read
About the author
Derek Landy
245 books5,248 followersDerek Landy is an Irish writer and screenwriter. In addition to the bestselling children's/YA series of Skulduggery Pleasant books, a supernatural mystery series starring Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and Valkyrie Cain, a young female magician, he has written two screenplays that have been made into films: the IFTA award winning "Dead Bodies" and the IFTA nominated "Boy Eats Girl". Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.
He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List.
Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.
He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List.
Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 143 reviews
August 30, 2021
Apocalypse Kings
By Derek Landy
Another fun adventure of Skulduggery kept me entertained and smiling! A child is left a box from his grandma, who speaks little English, and tells him something about the box right before she dies. The child opens the box and releases 3 gods. They want to destroy the world. This is where Skulduggery comes in. A fun ride!
By Derek Landy
Another fun adventure of Skulduggery kept me entertained and smiling! A child is left a box from his grandma, who speaks little English, and tells him something about the box right before she dies. The child opens the box and releases 3 gods. They want to destroy the world. This is where Skulduggery comes in. A fun ride!
May 1, 2021
Any extra content of the Skulduggery pleasant series that i get i will just need to consume and i am glad that Derek has so many extra little stories to go along with the main series.
Valkyrie and Skulduggery go undercover in a dublin high school as a teenager has opened up a box that contains some apocalypse kings that have been trapped in that box for a very long time. I really found this book to be so enjoyable and one of my favourites of the novella's that i have currently read so far.
Adedayo Akinde is a normal 15 year old teenager who attends the school that the two go undercover in and he has recently just lost his grandmother who was apart of their world. Adedayo was such a nice and fleshed out character even in this novella and i would like to see him pop up again soon and maybe in the main series to help out in anyway possible.
This novella was fun, action packed and an essential part of this story and i really do hope we get to see Adedayo again in the main series because i really do like this character and enjoyed getting to know him!
Valkyrie and Skulduggery go undercover in a dublin high school as a teenager has opened up a box that contains some apocalypse kings that have been trapped in that box for a very long time. I really found this book to be so enjoyable and one of my favourites of the novella's that i have currently read so far.
Adedayo Akinde is a normal 15 year old teenager who attends the school that the two go undercover in and he has recently just lost his grandmother who was apart of their world. Adedayo was such a nice and fleshed out character even in this novella and i would like to see him pop up again soon and maybe in the main series to help out in anyway possible.
This novella was fun, action packed and an essential part of this story and i really do hope we get to see Adedayo again in the main series because i really do like this character and enjoyed getting to know him!
March 12, 2021
"History isn't a list of dates or a collection of events - history is people."
4.5 🌟
This was perfect for a little dose of Skulduggery Pleasant inbetween novels. I can't wait until the next book next month and I think after this it'll be easier.
It was great to see Val and Skul to interact over big parts of the story, I just loooove their chemistry. Though the story of the box was confusing at times, I still enjoyed this immensely. Skulduggery undercover was pure gold!
March 5, 2021
There is something extremely enjoyable about reading a books that reminds me of the fun I had reading a series I had forgotten about. Apocalypse Kings is a perfect example of that bringing me back to the magical world of Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain.
Even though the book is 100 pages long (its more like 75 since the rest if a excerpt from the main series) this is a World Book Day special charting the event in-between two of the major titles from the series.
As such you do not really get to learn anything or have the main story arc progressed any but you do get the see the style and banter that I think help make this series so popular (currently it is up to 13 titles but they will grow to I believe 15 in total).
So if you enjoy the series or if you want to see what it is all about this book is a great little taster while at the same time not really giving much away.
Even though the book is 100 pages long (its more like 75 since the rest if a excerpt from the main series) this is a World Book Day special charting the event in-between two of the major titles from the series.
As such you do not really get to learn anything or have the main story arc progressed any but you do get the see the style and banter that I think help make this series so popular (currently it is up to 13 titles but they will grow to I believe 15 in total).
So if you enjoy the series or if you want to see what it is all about this book is a great little taster while at the same time not really giving much away.
June 6, 2021
A whole lot of Skulduggery awesomeness packed into ~80 pages. I hope Dead or Alive has more of this.
Apocalypse Kings is a great place to start, if you want to try out the Skulduggery Pleasant series. It doesn't spoil anything from the main series, but has all of the humour (it has less action tho).
It's a very cheap way to see if the main series is for you, and it includes the first chapter of Skulduggery Pleasant!
Apocalypse Kings is a great place to start, if you want to try out the Skulduggery Pleasant series. It doesn't spoil anything from the main series, but has all of the humour (it has less action tho).
It's a very cheap way to see if the main series is for you, and it includes the first chapter of Skulduggery Pleasant!
March 4, 2021
“Welcome to World Book Day 2021”
This book Amazing and Funny. I have not read any of the Skulduggery books and so I thought I would try this one as it was advised for World Book Day 2021.
I choose to go with the Audiobook version Which is read by “Kevin Hely” and he has done a fantastic job giving the story with a Irish Accent. I can’t wait to read/Audiobook the whole series.
Great book for anyone of any age. Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
This book Amazing and Funny. I have not read any of the Skulduggery books and so I thought I would try this one as it was advised for World Book Day 2021.
I choose to go with the Audiobook version Which is read by “Kevin Hely” and he has done a fantastic job giving the story with a Irish Accent. I can’t wait to read/Audiobook the whole series.
Great book for anyone of any age. Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
December 10, 2021
Even though the short story was not crucial for the overall experience I quite enjoyed it!
May 15, 2021
A bit too short but fun story.
February 20, 2021
It's that time again! 2021 is the year of Skulduggery Pleasant goodness, what with the release of Dead or Alive in April and the grimoire in June (July?) - and this book starts us off with a bang!
(As a side-note, if you're ever feeling bereft of Skulduggery content, you can check out my Youtube channel, where I have a full Skulduggery Pleasant playlist for all your skeleton detective related needs! I have a full spoiler-free review you can check out here.
Apocalypse Kings introduces us to Adedayo, a young boy who has recently discovered the world of sorcery. At the beginning of the story, his dying grandmother leaves him a mysterious box, in a strange parallel to Val’s own origin story, where her dead uncle essentially leaves her an entire legacy of sorcery to explore. But with the box comes – you guessed it – the end of the world… and along comes everyone’s favourite skeleton detective and his partner to clean up the mess.
Adedayo, a character who is, to my mind, a vastly superior version of Phase Two’s protagonist, Omen Darkly. He’s an average kid, he’s not massively competent, he’s in way over his head – but he gets the job done, and he does it with a lot less complaining and self-doubt, which honestly makes him far more enjoyable as a narrator. I’d happily have read a series with Adedayo as the main character, and I got surprisingly attached to him over the course of 80 pages.
In terms of plot, there’s not much wiggle room to work with here, so it’s not hugely complicated – but it works, it makes sense, and it does a great job of introducing something new that ties in nicely with the older books, considering that this is set somewhere around the middle of Phase One. Oh, and the nostalgia it brings! I miss Phase One so much, and this was really a shining example of some of its primary qualities: the friendship between Skulduggery and Val, the quick wit and the laugh-out-loud-humour Derek Landy brings to every book in this series.
My favourite thing about this story is that it’s just so FUN. As time has gone on, the Skulduggery Pleasant series has grown progressively darker, and I love that about it! I love that I can depend on this series to grind my heart under its boot and destroy me emotionally! But I also miss the time when it was 80% banter, when the threats were lower level, when it wasn’t all devastating character deaths and PTSD, and this little snippet brought so much of that back. I’d say at least half of this story is just pure, unhinged silliness, and I had a massive grin on my face the whole time.
The promised premise – Skulduggery and Val clowning around, trying to blend in with a normal school environment – absolutely delivers and it was every bit as amazing as I knew it would be. From Skulduggery talking nonsense with a bemused schoolteacher to Val aggravating all the adults around her by refusing to be put in her place, it was just an absolute delight, honestly. It really throws their shared weirdness into sharp relief, and emphasises how Val has been totally messed up by hanging out with Skulduggery throughout her formative years. They’re freaks! Happy, cheerful, completely oblivious freaks, but freaks nonetheless, and I adore them for it. If you’re a Doctor Who fan, and you enjoyed the series 2 episode ‘School Reunion,’ you’ll find this one has similar vibes. It’s sheer, unapologetic nonsense, and I loved every second.
If anything, my only complaint is that there wasn’t enough! Obviously that couldn’t be helped; it’s a World Book Day novella, it was always going to be concise, and in fairness Derek Landy does a great job of making it work whilst also giving us time to breathe and just kind of sit with the whole thing. But now I miss Skulduggery and Val even more, and I really can’t wait to start my reread of Phase 1, which I’ll be starting very soon! (You can check out my Patreon for details.)
I did also find a few moments where the weirdness was maybe pushed a *teensy* bit too far. It’s a very thin dividing line and it dances right on the cusp throughout, and for a couple of moments, I thought things went a bit too far. I’m not sure exactly when this is set, other than that Val is around sixteen, and I wonder if it’s sometime around Dark Days, when Skulduggery had just come back from the other dimension and was a tad more unhinged than usual – just because there were a few pieces of dialogue that I personally thought were a bit much. That being said, I’m sure it’s difficult to backtrack to a version of the characters from a decade ago, so I can’t be too picky about any discrepancies.
To sum up, this was funny, silly, a real breath of fresh air and honestly, well worth waiting around all day for! 4.5/5 stars.
(As a side-note, if you're ever feeling bereft of Skulduggery content, you can check out my Youtube channel, where I have a full Skulduggery Pleasant playlist for all your skeleton detective related needs! I have a full spoiler-free review you can check out here.
Apocalypse Kings introduces us to Adedayo, a young boy who has recently discovered the world of sorcery. At the beginning of the story, his dying grandmother leaves him a mysterious box, in a strange parallel to Val’s own origin story, where her dead uncle essentially leaves her an entire legacy of sorcery to explore. But with the box comes – you guessed it – the end of the world… and along comes everyone’s favourite skeleton detective and his partner to clean up the mess.
Adedayo, a character who is, to my mind, a vastly superior version of Phase Two’s protagonist, Omen Darkly. He’s an average kid, he’s not massively competent, he’s in way over his head – but he gets the job done, and he does it with a lot less complaining and self-doubt, which honestly makes him far more enjoyable as a narrator. I’d happily have read a series with Adedayo as the main character, and I got surprisingly attached to him over the course of 80 pages.
In terms of plot, there’s not much wiggle room to work with here, so it’s not hugely complicated – but it works, it makes sense, and it does a great job of introducing something new that ties in nicely with the older books, considering that this is set somewhere around the middle of Phase One. Oh, and the nostalgia it brings! I miss Phase One so much, and this was really a shining example of some of its primary qualities: the friendship between Skulduggery and Val, the quick wit and the laugh-out-loud-humour Derek Landy brings to every book in this series.
My favourite thing about this story is that it’s just so FUN. As time has gone on, the Skulduggery Pleasant series has grown progressively darker, and I love that about it! I love that I can depend on this series to grind my heart under its boot and destroy me emotionally! But I also miss the time when it was 80% banter, when the threats were lower level, when it wasn’t all devastating character deaths and PTSD, and this little snippet brought so much of that back. I’d say at least half of this story is just pure, unhinged silliness, and I had a massive grin on my face the whole time.
The promised premise – Skulduggery and Val clowning around, trying to blend in with a normal school environment – absolutely delivers and it was every bit as amazing as I knew it would be. From Skulduggery talking nonsense with a bemused schoolteacher to Val aggravating all the adults around her by refusing to be put in her place, it was just an absolute delight, honestly. It really throws their shared weirdness into sharp relief, and emphasises how Val has been totally messed up by hanging out with Skulduggery throughout her formative years. They’re freaks! Happy, cheerful, completely oblivious freaks, but freaks nonetheless, and I adore them for it. If you’re a Doctor Who fan, and you enjoyed the series 2 episode ‘School Reunion,’ you’ll find this one has similar vibes. It’s sheer, unapologetic nonsense, and I loved every second.
If anything, my only complaint is that there wasn’t enough! Obviously that couldn’t be helped; it’s a World Book Day novella, it was always going to be concise, and in fairness Derek Landy does a great job of making it work whilst also giving us time to breathe and just kind of sit with the whole thing. But now I miss Skulduggery and Val even more, and I really can’t wait to start my reread of Phase 1, which I’ll be starting very soon! (You can check out my Patreon for details.)
I did also find a few moments where the weirdness was maybe pushed a *teensy* bit too far. It’s a very thin dividing line and it dances right on the cusp throughout, and for a couple of moments, I thought things went a bit too far. I’m not sure exactly when this is set, other than that Val is around sixteen, and I wonder if it’s sometime around Dark Days, when Skulduggery had just come back from the other dimension and was a tad more unhinged than usual – just because there were a few pieces of dialogue that I personally thought were a bit much. That being said, I’m sure it’s difficult to backtrack to a version of the characters from a decade ago, so I can’t be too picky about any discrepancies.
To sum up, this was funny, silly, a real breath of fresh air and honestly, well worth waiting around all day for! 4.5/5 stars.
April 2, 2021
Well this was fun. Not a groundbreaking novella but fun to read and written for a good cause.
February 19, 2021
I was literally waiting by my window until this book came. This book was hilarious and my heart is happy. BOOK 14 LETS GO!!!!!
February 25, 2021
Loved it, it's Skulduggery Pleasant after all.
January 24, 2022
hardest ive ever laughed while reading a book
March 12, 2021
52 Book Challenge 2021
#1 Set in a school.
One of the World Book Day 2021 novellas. In the Skulduggery Pleasant series.
Technically, this novella comes after other books in the series, and you'll definitely start out more sure footed with the characters if you've already read at least one of the Skulduggery Pleasant books, but it's not completely necessary. To be fair, if you have never read any of the books, it could be just enough to tempt you start start at the beginning and catch up with the novels by working your way through the whole series.
It's a fun, romp of a quick read, with quirky characters, and although the novella doesnt really flesh them out much, if you read the other books in the series, you'll get their backstories and theyll seem a lot more 3-dimensional. If the tween/early teen in your life isnt really much if a one for reading, this might interest them enough to entice them to flipping through the pages of the Skulduggery Pleasant books, and who knows? Maybe itll kick-start a love of reading that will last the rest of their lives!
#1 Set in a school.
One of the World Book Day 2021 novellas. In the Skulduggery Pleasant series.
Technically, this novella comes after other books in the series, and you'll definitely start out more sure footed with the characters if you've already read at least one of the Skulduggery Pleasant books, but it's not completely necessary. To be fair, if you have never read any of the books, it could be just enough to tempt you start start at the beginning and catch up with the novels by working your way through the whole series.
It's a fun, romp of a quick read, with quirky characters, and although the novella doesnt really flesh them out much, if you read the other books in the series, you'll get their backstories and theyll seem a lot more 3-dimensional. If the tween/early teen in your life isnt really much if a one for reading, this might interest them enough to entice them to flipping through the pages of the Skulduggery Pleasant books, and who knows? Maybe itll kick-start a love of reading that will last the rest of their lives!
February 21, 2021
Overall Rating: 3 Stars
I love Skulduggery. It is my favourite series of books. The only reasons this is rated so low is purely the size of the book. It is a neat little story wrapped up in a bow that is nothing of consequence. It just does not have the time to delve deeper into the characters or the plot. It’s witty and fun and everything you can expect from a Skulduggery book and I fully commend Landy on writing another world book day book.
Characters
The characters briefly met are good. Adedayo is a kid who has just learnt he is a magician and was given a box by his grandma. He is fun and even stands up to Skulduggery and Valkyrie telling them they don’t fit in with normal people.
Skulduggery and Valkyrie are their usual level of fun and weird. They have their usual hilarious bater and Skulduggery his usual amount of aloofness.
Atmosphere
As usual, a completely crazy world to be thrown into.
Writing
Landy’s skill is like no other. The quick qit and action packed plot is so easily and cleverly written it is like absorbing directly into your head.
Plot
There is not a lot of time in this book for a fully formed plot to develop, which means that the ending is slightly rushed, but in the spirit of world book day, it can be forgiven.
Intrigue
Good, clean fun with a lot of action for 80 pages.
Logic
The plot flows and doesn’t have any blinding gaps in it. Although, not surprising as there isn’t time to really have a plot to not make sense.
Enjoyment
Honestly, I would enjoy reading Landy’s shopping lists, so anything involving Skulduggery is always loved by me.
Overall, this book is what it is. It is supposed to entice children into reading, and if I’d never seen this world before, I would be intrigued enough to know more. Knowing more, this book is a fun little side story with a side look into the characters I already love.
“You will never not be weird.”
I love Skulduggery. It is my favourite series of books. The only reasons this is rated so low is purely the size of the book. It is a neat little story wrapped up in a bow that is nothing of consequence. It just does not have the time to delve deeper into the characters or the plot. It’s witty and fun and everything you can expect from a Skulduggery book and I fully commend Landy on writing another world book day book.
Characters
The characters briefly met are good. Adedayo is a kid who has just learnt he is a magician and was given a box by his grandma. He is fun and even stands up to Skulduggery and Valkyrie telling them they don’t fit in with normal people.
Skulduggery and Valkyrie are their usual level of fun and weird. They have their usual hilarious bater and Skulduggery his usual amount of aloofness.
Atmosphere
As usual, a completely crazy world to be thrown into.
Writing
Landy’s skill is like no other. The quick qit and action packed plot is so easily and cleverly written it is like absorbing directly into your head.
Plot
There is not a lot of time in this book for a fully formed plot to develop, which means that the ending is slightly rushed, but in the spirit of world book day, it can be forgiven.
Intrigue
Good, clean fun with a lot of action for 80 pages.
Logic
The plot flows and doesn’t have any blinding gaps in it. Although, not surprising as there isn’t time to really have a plot to not make sense.
Enjoyment
Honestly, I would enjoy reading Landy’s shopping lists, so anything involving Skulduggery is always loved by me.
Overall, this book is what it is. It is supposed to entice children into reading, and if I’d never seen this world before, I would be intrigued enough to know more. Knowing more, this book is a fun little side story with a side look into the characters I already love.
April 19, 2021
I picked up this book for free following World Book day, and despite not knowing anything about the series (especially considering how it’s labeled as #5.6 in the series), easily found my footing and enjoying Adedayo’s story. He discovers he is magic at age fourteen, and shortly thereafter his Nigerian grandmother comes to live with his family. She teaches him about magic in the short time before she passes away. Upon her passing, he receives a mysterious magic box that no one can open. Until one night, he wakes in the middle of the night just knowing how to open it.
So he opens it.
And releases the three Apocalypse Kings, who have been waiting millennia in the box to defeat the Faceless Ones (who, by the way, have mostly disappeared from the human world in their absence anyway) by destroying all of their food source: human souls.
With their release comes the appearance of a girl named Valkyrie and an undead skeleton named Skulduggery Pleasant. If the hope of the world for surviving the Apocalypse Kings rests on Valkryie and Skulduggery’s abilities to blend in at Adedayo’s school, let’s just say saving the human race from extinction is not a given. Good thing they have Adedayo to help out! That is, as long as he doesn’t ever have to debate (he’s really quite terrible at debating club).
I started reading this because I wanted something short to read while I waited at the vet for my turtle’s appointment, and this fit the bill perfectly. It’s light, it’s fun, it has a sense of danger, it has magic and magical beings, both god-like and undead, and it was just a nice diversion. I’d happily read more of this series (though I have so many on my TBR as it is, it doesn’t get priority).
Favorite quote:
“History isn’t a list of dates or a collection of events – history is people. It’s the decisions they make, and the consequences of those decisions. History is a jigsaw puzzle, and when you have all the pieces in place you can step back and finally see the whole picture laid out before you. History is a mystery waiting to be solved.” – page 32/77 (chapter 8)
So he opens it.
And releases the three Apocalypse Kings, who have been waiting millennia in the box to defeat the Faceless Ones (who, by the way, have mostly disappeared from the human world in their absence anyway) by destroying all of their food source: human souls.
With their release comes the appearance of a girl named Valkyrie and an undead skeleton named Skulduggery Pleasant. If the hope of the world for surviving the Apocalypse Kings rests on Valkryie and Skulduggery’s abilities to blend in at Adedayo’s school, let’s just say saving the human race from extinction is not a given. Good thing they have Adedayo to help out! That is, as long as he doesn’t ever have to debate (he’s really quite terrible at debating club).
I started reading this because I wanted something short to read while I waited at the vet for my turtle’s appointment, and this fit the bill perfectly. It’s light, it’s fun, it has a sense of danger, it has magic and magical beings, both god-like and undead, and it was just a nice diversion. I’d happily read more of this series (though I have so many on my TBR as it is, it doesn’t get priority).
Favorite quote:
“History isn’t a list of dates or a collection of events – history is people. It’s the decisions they make, and the consequences of those decisions. History is a jigsaw puzzle, and when you have all the pieces in place you can step back and finally see the whole picture laid out before you. History is a mystery waiting to be solved.” – page 32/77 (chapter 8)
February 21, 2021
Amazing! This book was amazing. I honestly don't know how Landy managed to get that whole story into less than 100 pages, but he did and I'm not mad. He wove in the inheritance of traditions and feeling disconnected from your family when you can't speak their language. He brought us back the old Valkyrie and let us have some fun with her, right before Dead or Alive comes out and we get a different, more grown-up and mature (but still amazing) Valkyrie. There wasn't much room for character growth with the new characters, heroes and villains, but Landy nailed it, probably better than anyone else could have. He also managed to add in an impressive amount of backstory, which made the story make that much more sense. The only criticism I have is that the defeat of the villain left something to be desired (it was a bit lame) but all in all, I felt that it wasn't really the point of the book. The point was more to reunite us readers who missed teenage Valkyrie so this book still gets five stars. The ending was funny in Landy's classic subtle way, and I enjoyed it a lot.
May 2, 2024
This was a good short novella, I wasn't much of a fan of the new character Adedayo and that's probably because we don't get to spend much time with them and i do hope we see them again in future books! But for me the best parts are the moments skullduggery is pretending to be a teacher, those are my favourite moments and actually made me chuckle a lot. But the rest was just middle of the road, but has me excited for the next main line book in the series 🤗
May 22, 2021
This was fun. Brisk, short and snappy, it has all of Derek Landy’s trademark humour and a nice funny twist at the end. I don’t think I will find the story especially memorable, but it doesn’t really matter. The money I spent on this went to a good cause—World Book Day—and I had fun. I really need to catch up on the last two books in Cycle 2 of the ‘Skulduggery Pleasant’ series...
February 17, 2021
Cute and funny. I had a lot of fun reading this, and it gave me a lot of phase 1 warm fuzzies, but it fell very short compared to the end of the world. The characters and the setting are undeveloped and the ending is straight up rushed crap, lmao. It just... ends!! Which is a shame because I was really into it! I liked Adedayo a lot, and I thought the gods conflict was cool and I wouldn’t mind either showing up in book 14/15, a la Deacon Maybury’s early intro in TEOTW.
One SP release of 2021 down, two to go.
One SP release of 2021 down, two to go.
February 27, 2021
I admit I am already a Skulduggery fan but this all too brief novella cheered up a lockdown afternoon for me immensely! Several laugh out loud moments as always (just love the dry humour in these books) and an intriguing new character introduced.
June 3, 2021
Oh I love Skulduggery, he's so freaking random at time and the banter he has with Valkyrie has me in stitches 😂 this was a fun mini adventure, amusing and light-hearted, thoroughly enjoyed 😁
April 14, 2024
It was okay, nothing as brilliant as his full novels. But still entertaining.
May 30, 2021
A fun story with a few funny moments. Not as strong as the others though.
March 6, 2021
Yeeeeeeeee.
February 27, 2021
Skulduggery undercover as a teacher ... just, that! That on its own is a recipe for chaos! Loved the banter between Val and Skulduggery in this short story, it was so nice being back in the ‘Death Bringer’ era for a short while. I liked Adedayo as a character and I really hope that Derek revisits him and the events of this short story in the future.
February 24, 2022
➽ Rating: 4.0★ 💀 || [12.03.2021-12.03.2021]
Charaktere: ★★★★★
Plot/Spannungsbogen: ★★★☆☆
Unterhaltungsfaktor: ★★★★★
Charaktere: ★★★★★
Plot/Spannungsbogen: ★★★☆☆
Unterhaltungsfaktor: ★★★★★
March 2, 2022
That was fun
April 13, 2021
Finished in one sitting and the first Skulduggery book I've owned :)
Pretty fun to read. How they get undercover in the school is simply hilarious!
Pretty fun to read. How they get undercover in the school is simply hilarious!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2023
This was a fun little short story set in the world of Skulduggery Pleasant that managed to recapture the feeling and writing of the older books really well despite coming out many years later when the series has taken a much darker and more dramatic turn.
It's a short story so it's not going to be particularly detailed but for what it was with it being a World Book Day short story, it manages to tell a concise story that while predictable and slightly cliche, surprisingly builds slightly on the lore of the universe which helps make up for some of the more cliche aspects of the book, particularly towards the end where the villain's themselves have to explain their motivations and their plan to carry out their motivations. This was most likely because of a page limit and it would have taken too long for Skulduggery and Valkyrie to figure it out for themselves so it's not really that big of an issue.
I really liked the humour returning in this as it really did remind me of the Phase One books particularly the earlier ones where it was much more heavy on comedy and humour because it was able to as the series wasn't as serious as it is now and Adedayo, our protagonist for this novella, is given a fair bit of characterisation beyond what is necessary for the plot which makes him stand out more. I mentioned it earlier, but I also really liked the little lore additions added into the universe through this book especially considering it wasn't something done for later books (at least as of now with Phase Two's ending) but for this story alone.
It's a short story so it's not going to be particularly detailed but for what it was with it being a World Book Day short story, it manages to tell a concise story that while predictable and slightly cliche, surprisingly builds slightly on the lore of the universe which helps make up for some of the more cliche aspects of the book, particularly towards the end where the villain's themselves have to explain their motivations and their plan to carry out their motivations. This was most likely because of a page limit and it would have taken too long for Skulduggery and Valkyrie to figure it out for themselves so it's not really that big of an issue.
I really liked the humour returning in this as it really did remind me of the Phase One books particularly the earlier ones where it was much more heavy on comedy and humour because it was able to as the series wasn't as serious as it is now and Adedayo, our protagonist for this novella, is given a fair bit of characterisation beyond what is necessary for the plot which makes him stand out more. I mentioned it earlier, but I also really liked the little lore additions added into the universe through this book especially considering it wasn't something done for later books (at least as of now with Phase Two's ending) but for this story alone.
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