Younger readers might also enjoy the bitey pirates in Black Heart (Vampirates) by Justin Somper or,of course, Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. My thanks to to the nice people at Harper Collins for sending the book. It comes recommended by Bookbag to any keen reader of ten and up. This reviewer, together with her entire family, enjoyed it immensely. The writing, as ever, is crisp and snappy and deceptively clever.

There are some scenes with her 'reflection' that give some real pause for thought.īut mostly, The Faceless Ones is a rip-roaring supernatural adventure with a tongue that visits its cheek regularly. The relationship between Skulduggery and Valkyrie is becoming more complex, and Valkyrie/Stephanie is gradually coming to understand the full implications of living a double life. I'm particularly enjoying the morally ambiguous China Sorrows. Gradually, we're getting some more flesh put on the bones - well, not Skulduggery's, obviously, what with him being a skeleton and all - of the supporting characters. By the time the adventures are over, you're almost as out of breath as you imagine the heroes to be. There's just as much kick-tastic, magic-tastic, sword-tastic otherworldly crime-fighting as ever and the jokes are equally gruesome. This series isn't losing its pace or enthusiasm at all. and off we go for some more magical mayhem. But as the situation worsens, it becomes increasingly obvious that not only is something even more serious than murder afoot - the end of the world, for instance - but that someone, somewhere, is a traitor. However, they're still persona non grata as far as the Sanctuary is concerned and their investigations are hampered by the incompetent Detective Crux. Teleporters are being picked off one by one and Skulduggery and Valkyrie suspect the worst. You'd think they'd have learned by now, but oh no. And they're at it again trying to bring back the Faceless Ones. They always think they have something all the others haven't. The supernatural people in Ireland suffer from the most dreadful hubris you know. You've seen it all before: some bad guy wants to bring about the end of the world, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie fight valiantly to stop it happening. Things are beginning to darken in this series, as Stephanie/Valkyrie begins to fully understand the tensions between her two lives. Summary: More wise-cracking high jinks from the skeleton detective and his newly-magical sidekick.

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy