Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men - spoiler-free review

It's a challenge in a review not to just recount the plot. Especially in this review - this book's got a heck of a lot of plot - and it's book eight of nine in a bestselling fantasy series, chances are you haven't read all of them. So I'm trying be as spoiler free as I can (as author Derek Landy would wish) for this, the latest, heaviest, and perhaps best book in the series. Here goes...

For those who aren't clued up, these books are a lively mixture of strong characters, misguided villians, cool magic, and dry wit. The main characters are the titular Skulduggery, who's a skeleton and a detective. His associate Stephanie starts off as a normal teenage girl before discovering a crazy world and becoming Valkryie Cain, sorcerer. And if you really haven't read it before - stop reading this and pick up the first book!

This latest book, titled Last Stand of Dead Men, is over twice the length of the first. It's an epic in every respect - this is Derek Landy's war novel. Previous books paid homage in their own way to monster movies, superheroes and horror, and Lord of the Rings-style battles and quests is a great fit anyway (even if some of the characters think otherwise!). It's also a thriller on an international scale, where allegiances are hidden and danger is everywhere. As the tagline says, "no one is safe".

It's the penultimate in the series, and so many things from previous books finally come together and are explained - probably even more than I noticed. The plotting in this book is outstanding, and must have been a massive undertaking. Many, many characters return (as ever) or get namechecked, and taking into account brand new ones, there must be well over a hundred in this book. It's a good sign that we even feel for the characters that haven't had seven books in which to cement themselves.

As the page count has risen, so has the violence. I started noticing it when reading the fifth book - well, it was about a zombie apocalpyse - and it's particularly strong in this book, being about war and all that. Not just fantasy violence - there's some brutal, visceral battling going on. It's not necessarily a bad thing - Derek Landy writes fight scenes extraordinarily well, and it's not trivialised or dealt with unnecessarily. In fact, it's become one of the themes of the book - what makes these characters do all these (often horrible) things?

In this book especially, I realised just how well rounded a creation our heroine Valkyrie Cain is. Which is probably a nicer way of saying she goes through hell in this series - in fact, both her and Skulduggery do, but he's more enigmatic. Partly because he doesn't even have a proper face, but partly because we see the world through Valkryie's eyes, for better or for worse. They're heroes, but they also have a lot of flaws and (sorry) skeletons in the cupboard.

If this all sounds dour and dark, then don't worry. One of the most likeable things about these books is the humour, the wisecracks and sarcasm that Skulduggery and Valkyrie share especially, which keeps the characters feeling real. In particular, each character has a different sense of humour, as with different motivations, so that even if some are deliberately used as comic relief (oh, joyous Scapegrace), we still care. It's not uncommon to find yourself laughing at an exchange, before gasping at a sudden burst of action - and if that's not a thing to look for in a book, then what is?

That's not to say this book is a bundle of laughs - there's definitely a grim tone to this one, as war and impending battles overshadow every page. But just like the previous in the series, it's so readable, thrilling, and very alive, that you can't help but get sucked in. Definitely recommended.