Last Stand of Dead Men - Derek Landy Review

Blurb: War has finally come. Not between good and evil, but between Sanctuaries, and if Skulduggery and Valkyrie are to stop it they must team up with the rest of the dead men.

At the same time, war rages within Valkyrie herself, as Darquesse is on the verge of rising.

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #8. See my review of   #7, Kingdom of the Wicked, here. 

I waited SO long to buy this one (no, seriously - months after its release date) and while that meant I had to hide from spoilers for way too long, I'm glad. This way I only have four months to wait until Skulduggery Pleasant #9, The Dying of the Light, comes out! (There had better be a signing near me. The joys of living in the same country as the author). 

And before we get started, what a snarky little author he is. 

 Would you guess from that picture how much he likes to torture both his characters and his readers? 

(If not, you're about to find out). Probable spoilers for the early books, but none for Death Bringer or Kingdom of the Wicked (unless you're telepathic). 

The plotlines covered in LSODM are (1) Darquesse (2) War between the Sanctuaries (3) Fletcher (4) Scapegrace and Thrasher (5) the Warlocks (6) the Reflection (7) the Dead Men. That is a hell of a lot of plotlines, Derek. 

(1) As you may know, I love reading about Darquesse. She's just so much fun (especially against Lord Vile). It's like ... wish-fulfilment, in a twisted way. Vicariously being a nigh-indestructible, insanely powerful, teenage girl. (I am one of these things. Guess which one). Her plotline gets pretty dark here - we're constantly aware of Darquesse's presence in Val's mind - and it loses a lot of the Skulduggery-Valkyrie banter. But such is war.

(2) Basically, the Supreme Council (all the other sanctuaries) is at war with the Irish, African and Australian Sanctuaries (the Cradles of Magic stick together). In all the other books we tended to have Skul and Val fighting a single enemy/small group of people who want to, like, take over the world or something. It's manageable, you know? This time they're fighting against their own sorcerers ... and it's really harsh. Difficult to read, I mean. There are no holds barred, lots of casualties. AND TREACHERY GODDAMNIT. 

(3) Fletcher gets more screen time in this book (man, am I happy about that). He's put in plenty of danger and I'll say no more about that. But at least (minor spoiler) a certain Myra is out of the picture. God, I hated her. Val may be a horrible person, but FALKYRIE. 

(4) Scapegrace and Thrasher ... how I love these guys. I'm pretty sure they're immortal by now. They've been humans, an incompetent Killer Supreme, zombies, disembodied heads, gender-swapped and now the Dark and Stormy Knight and the Village Idiot. Derek just seems to keep riffing on the abundant comic relief they provide. Strangely enough, we also feel for them (when we're not laughing at Scapegrace). Well played, Mr. Landy.

(5) I can't say too much about the Warlocks without spoiling but they're really powerful, very angry and present a huge damn threat. (Which is awful for the good guys because come on, don't they have enough on their plates already?).

(6) The Reflection was involved  in the HUGE MASSIVE SHOCK ending of Kingdom of the Wicked, and now she's back with an even larger role. (Note I said 'she', not 'it'). She calls herself Stephanie and sees herself as a distinct person. While Valkyrie ... does some stuff... during the last part of the book, the story is told from her point of view. I didn't really like that, actually. It felt kind of discordant to be bonding with her. 

(7) The Dead Men thing completely broke my heart. I cried. Seriously. At one point, I genuinely cried. There's something that happens halfway through (hint: it involves treachery) and, while I was left in a state of shock by the actual event, what really got me was the other Dead Men's reactions to it. Also, what a twist. I can't decide whether I love or hate Derek right now. 

I think what struck me most in this was how much foreshadowing Derek has done. I re-read #3, the Faceless Ones, recently, and the Reflection stuff was hinted at there. (Also the golden eyes thing. You got us good there, Derek. How dare you.)

Off to cry. 

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Just finished Geek Girl #1 by Holly Smale (not in my usual genre but I really enjoyed it), so that'll be reviewed soon enough. Also, I'm finishing my book's second draft today, woo! And I have an exciting Angry Robot book to start reading on Netgalley, so I'm looking forward to that. 

KOTW - Darquesse & Vile vs. Kitana, Sean and Doran

Here's an analysis of Darquesse and Lord Vile vs. Kitana, Sean and Doran in Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked, as requested by commenter Caspar Melville on my post about Darquesse vs. Lord Vile.

Warning: Spoilers for both Death Bringer and Kingdom of the Wicked.

Firstly, each character's traits.

Doran is one of those characters everyone despises. He is a stupid, mindless thug. But he's strong. Kitana gets a little more respect (ruthlessness commands respect). She's a crazy, spoilt brat who reminds me so much of Opal Koboi from Artemis Fowl. Sean's a prat and I'm sorry, but Elsie is a loser. She could've been a heroine, but she wasn't. And that is a credit to Derek Landy's writing, because she's a realistic person. At least she walked away and didn't directly take part in the mad rampage.

Apart from Elsie, they're all freaking psychopaths.

Vile is a warrior fueled by pure, focused hate. He's ruthless, driven and hard to injure, but once he's properly hurt, he has no magic tricks to save him. However, he is an extremely dangerous Necromancer. Darquesse is in possession of her true name, insanely powerful and capable of performing what seems to be raw magic. She's adaptable and her power is constantly growing, but she only comes out when Valkyrie's life is in mortal danger. Also, she's relatively inexperienced when against Vile, but knows far more than Kitana.

Experience and training are really the only things that enable Vile and Darquesse to win against Kitana, Sean and Doran. Without that, counting on raw magic, it's one (Darquesse) against three (Kitana, Sean and Doran). Talented, efficient and deadly as Vile is, he doesn't possess the same calibre of magic as they do. But in the long term, he's better. Because the three teenagers only have their extreme powers because of the sorcerer Argeddion, who knows his true name. Darquesse and Argeddion are really the only two with the power of their own names in the fight, but Argeddion has lent his magic to his three protégées.

And this raw magic is lethal.

Kitana, Sean and Doran, normally ordinary mortals, are able to skip the years of training done by everyone else to even approach their level. They work on pure instinct, like when Skulduggery tries to shoot them and they throw up a forcefield, not having known themselves that they could do that until it happened. Because of this strange new power they become cocky and self-serving, with Doran assuming a tough-guy act just because he can.

Of course, the protagonists still have some advantages, Before they become their evil counterparts, Skulduggery and Valkyrie are able to work together, instead of battling for dominance. Oh, platonic Valduggery, this ship develops so much more in KOTW. It’s inevitable that the tensions in the group of psychopaths tear them apart eventually.

Darquesse is a very high-functioning sociopath, so even though she takes glee in killing, she’s still masterfully good at what she does and doesn’t make stupid mistakes like Kitana – taking unnecessary risks as she becomes even less wary. Even when Darquesse is taken by surprise by their impossible recovery, Vile is there to step in – like a boss. I’m not going to go into the manoeuvres of Argeddion. Suffice to say that Val works around them eventually, even though they are very clever.

In the end, it all boiled down to this: Val and SP are trained, so much more than Kitana and co. would ever consent to being. That enables Darquesse to pull the recovery-from-decapitation stunt, ,and Vile to work around the impossible magic they have. And that’s the thing. It really is impossible magic. So impermanent. It couldn’t last, and our protagonists capitalized on that. It was a  terrifyingly close fight, but they won. And unless Kitana, Sean and Doran wised up and learned that power comes at a price, that they couldn’t expect to be so good at something without working at it, they could win again.

Skulduggery Pleasant - Kingdom of the Wicked

At last, it arrived! Well, not really at last, because I got it and read it about two weeks ago but.. school's very busy. Anyway. I went to the book signing on the first of September in Waterstones and met Derek Landy. He was really cool when I told him I was from his blog and gave him my letter. We got a picture together but I'm not really sure where it is...oops! I'd only bought the book that morning when I reached the shop but the queue was so long that I was on page 150 by the time I met him. So, that was great, I was buzzing as I left. Has anyone reading this met him in the signings, whether in NZ & Australia or Britain & Ireland?

I finished KOTW that night although it's a hefty read. My first impression, apart from 'Oh my God I cannot believe that just happened' (You'll know what I mean when you read it, because I won't spoil it so soon after the release date) was that Death Bringer had been a little better in plot-furthering (is that a word?) - except for the very, very last chapter of KOTW, of course. However, KOTW was very funny, with alternate-universe-people-who-shall-not-be-named, and it was so sweet to see Valkyrie and Carol getting closer. Until the end happened. Am I dialing up the suspense now? Am I forcing you to get off the internet and read it? Good. Serves you right, hehe. One bit I hated, because it really went against my first post (http://darquessedreams.blogspot.ie/2012/06/falkyrie-and-why-they-should-be.html), was the bit where Fletcher makes his big return.. which doesn't turn out to be very big at all. And Derek, why??? I'm all for Fletcher rights, but you can't just write him out of any screen time, it's not fair on the fangirls...Even though he seems happy with ****.

So, actual factual things now. The book starts with Jerry Houlihan, who thinks he's a butterfly. As the blurb says, 'Magic is a disease. Across the land, people are suddenly developing wild and unstable powers. One of these is Kitana. A normal teenage girl who, along with her friends, becomes infected. becomes powerful. becomes corrupted. Wielding the magic of gods, they're set to tear the city apart unless someone stands up against them, Looks like it's going to be another one of those days...'. Mortals all over Ireland are gaining powers and Skulduggery and Valkyrie in their corny-but-cool duo have to find out where this power is coming from, how to stop it and how to stop the infected mortals. Oh yes, and they have about a week to do it. And the 'Supreme Council' of international mages are breathing down the Sanctuary's figurative neck. Things basically just keep going wrong. Like, everything. Valkyrie gets Shunted into a different dimension, which just so happens to contain... certain people who have been mentioned the odd time through the books. At least she comes out alive though. Oh come on, that's not a spoiler. We all know she's going to survive at least until the ninth book. It's almost a scientific inevitability.
My favourite quote, which I can't find in the book at the moment, is something like when Ghastly explains to Valkyrie that 'Yes, we could achieve what ********* dreams of, but we'd have to step over a generation of dead bodies to get there'.

*****
Four point eight stars. I'm being picky here because I have the rest of the series to compare to. It was very, very good. But Kitana had better stay far away. And Doran. Oh, and there is a cliffhanger about as bad as the one after Dark Days. Wow.

I'll leave it at that so as not to spoil your enjoyment. And Derek, if by some chance you see this, I accidentally gave you the unfinished letter. You see, I had two, and then... yeah, that was sort of the draft version...

I know some people who complained that they didn't like the first book. They think this means that they won't like the rest of the series. Perhaps not the first three for those in my year, but they are amazing from the second trilogy onwards. Go on, read it. I dare you.

A Changing Valkyrie - The Good, The Bad, the Evil

As usual, there are spoilers for Death Bringer in this post. You have been warned. This will probably be the last Skulduggery post because June is almost over and Harry Potter's next on the agenda, but if there's anything you want me to discuss, comment below. In this post I'll be talking about Valkyrie's character arc and how she's changed through the series. Of course, that's a good thing - imagine how boring a book/series would be if there was no character development - but it's important to notice her progress through the series.


In the first book Stephanie is presented as a fairly normal teenage girl although she is said to be different from her classmates. She faints when she discovers that Skulduggery is a skeleton and is moderately innocent - but wouldn't you faint if you were talking to a living skeleton? She is described as being like Gordon and is adventurous. In China's apartment she makes the big decision to fully become part of the magical world and takes the name Valkyrie Cain, which was a pivotal moment in her life. Would you have made that choice? I like to think I would have but I can't be sure - I'm a very bad liar. She is shown to be stubborn and determined by her refusal to stop looking for Gordon's murderer.

In Playing With Fire we see her wishing she was more powerful. At the start of the book there is also a laugh-out-loud dialogue between her and Skulduggery after Vaurien Scapegrace tries in vain to kill her, during which Valkyrie wonders if Skulduggery hung back to 'test the rookie'. He replies that no, the reason she was almost killed was because he was tying his shoelace. On a different note entirely, wasn't the chapter, ''The Terrifying Brain-Sucker of London'' hilarious? Probably my favourite chapter of the whole series except for anything to do with Darquesse. two books.

The Faceless Ones gives us a scene where Valkyrie was able to kill two gods with the Sceptre because they were confused by her Ancient blood. We see that she hasn't become entirely cynical yet because she trusts Paddy/Batu. Yet again, she shows no respect for authority and goes out to fight anyway. Near the end Wreath throws her his cane and she is shown to have a natural aptitude for Necromancy. This lets her help fight a third Faceless One and drive it back into the portal.We get a look at the benefits of Valkyrie's Ancient blood when she is able to touch a black crystal  without being turned to dust. This was to prove useful in the next book.  Her talent leads Wreath to offer her Necromancer training at the end of the book. He says she will need more power if she is to rescue Skulduggery from the world of the Faceless Ones.

In Dark Days we are shown just how taken in she is by Skulduggery and how big a part  of her life he is. China even thinks about telling Fletcher why he doesn't have a hope because Valkyrie is stuck in Skulduggery's orbit when the latter are in the alternate dimension. Disappointingly for Valkyrie she doesn't even get a hug at first despite her efforts. She does get one later though in a very cute moment. I have a question for all of you. How long does it take to become an Infected? Because Valkyrie was bitten by Dusk and I know she was treated by Kenspeckle but shouldn't she have become Dusk's slave before that? We also hear in this book the rumours about a mysterious being called Darquesse who is going to destroy the world. Hmm, I wonder who that could be?

Mortal Coil gives us our first real look at Valkyrie as Darquesse. A Remnant tries to possess her but is unable to do it properly - instead it just knocks down a 'wall' between Valkyrie and her true name and lets Darquesse emerge. We see that she is indiscriminate about who she kills and has no fondness for any of her followers. ('She wondered how long he [Tesseract] would be saying that when she started pulling out his spine'). Skulduggery and Tanith calm her down and Valkyrie re-asserts herself. Unlike most people who are possessed by a Remnant she remembers everything.


In Death Bringer Valkyrie is very competent and quite powerful in herself, without Darquesse. But in this book we also see the mean side of her. not just the evil side - we see the mean aspects of her pesrsonality as told by Fletcher in the break-up.She is selfish and self-absorbed, as well as thinking that she can do wrong.  The evil witch-queen of Dublin puts in an appearance at the start of the book and the end. We learn more about what makes Darquesse come out - when the Jitter Girl has her hand in Valkyrie's brain and when Valkyrie gets Melancholia to try to kill her. Valkyrie has changed a lot from the girl we saw at the start of the book. I saw an interesting opinion on http://www.skulduggeryforums.net/ - that the books are slowly becoming villain-protagonist centred.  Anyone have any Valkyrie-> Darquesse theories? Comment below. While I don't think it's that extreme, Valkyrie and Skulduggery are certainly no saints.