Skulduggery Pleasant and Lord John Grey reviews

Skulduggery Pleasant, the title character in the book by Derek Landy, is a magically animated skeleton, who investigates magic-related crimes, with the help of his sidekick, 12 year old Stephanie Edgeley, aka Valkyrie Cain.  To begin with, the book was a bit clunky, taking a while to find its feet and get all its exposition out of the way, but the characters are very appealing and the plot was action-packed once it got going.  It was, however, surprisingly violent, and I'm not sure the throwaway comments about the consequences of this violence really counterbalanced it.  Still, there are far more violent things out there aimed at kids, with not nearly as much of a moral compass, so who am I to judge?  Skulduggery himself makes for a great hero - dry, sarcastic and a lot of fun, but with a streak of tragic rage just to keep him interesting - and Stephanie is a very sympathetic heroine, keeping the story grounded and providing a solid centre.  I definitely plan to read more of these.


My latest audiobook, finished at the gym this morning, was Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon.  It wasn't as good as the previous Lord John book I listened to, being too focused on his relationship with Percy and not focused enough on a coherent plot.  There were various story threads that ran throughout the book, most of which were connected together in some fashion, but it all seemed a bit scattershot, and much less of a solid mystery story than the previous one.  Still, Jeff Woodman's rich tones brought the characters to life beautifully (I could listen to him read the phone book and find it enjoyable), and Lord John himself was still an appealing hero.  I have more of his stories on my ipod, and will listen to them all in time, but I think a different style of book and reading is in order in the meantime.