Customer Reviews
For young and old! - By: C. Bennett, 04 Dec 2008 
Makes an ideal bedtime story. I read it for my two children aged 6 & 8.
They loved it, Skullduggery has become a firm favourite.
I have read many bedtimes stories to them over the years & as an adult I find some very boring, I've sometimes found bedtime reading such a chore, but not with this book! I also found myself really looking forward to their bedtime, & not for the obvious reasons! haha.
I can't wait until the next book, because its proved very hard to find anything as good to read since we finished reading "Playing with fire".
I would recommend buying this book!
An average - By: Mr. Patrick J. Tutty, 13 Oct 2008 
There's only one word to describe this book - average.
This isn't a brilliant book, but then again it isn't really bad either. It's like getting on a rollercoaster only to discover that it doesn't go as fast as you first thought... Quirky lines & fun loving characters, with a half decent plot is what you should expect to see - if that's your kinda thing then by all means buy it. However if you prefer your books to be unique & have an overly interesting writing technique then i must confess that this book would not suit you... It's snappy & to the point, wastes no timein rushing us into the storyline, i got to the third chapter of the book - then i started to get bored.
Overall buy this if your just looking for an easy half decent read, if not then, really, & i mean really, don't buy it!
a super mega awesome incredible book of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - By: , 23 Sep 2008 I thought it was an incredible book because of the vocabulary, the adventure. I really liked the main character & can't wait to read the second book!
A great TV show, but sadly it's a book... - By: Edmund Prowe, 08 Aug 2008 A lively, energetic, occasionally funny book, but this is TV-written-down, & 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' at that...
It's not exactly that there's much wrong with this book - it's an enjoyable, fairly absorbing read, perfect for keeping an eight-year-old quiet for a day - but it feels as if it'sin the wrong medium. Derek Landy would be a great writer for a TV series('Buffy', 'Angel', 'Charmed', even 'Dr. Who'). He has a great ear for dialogue, especially the wisecrack, some great, vivid ideas, & an assured & compelling ability to sketch charactersin only a few strokes. But sadly the book suffers from being a book: the special effects aren't as impressive as they should be, the fight sequences are long, uninventive & unimaginatively written, & there is nothing at allin the book that wouldn't work as well or better on TV. Second only to being dull - which this isn't - this is the worst crime a children's book can commit; we shouldn't be surprised that children prefer TV if the books we give them are only second-rate TV themselves. It's a great shame, because 'Skulduggery Pleasant' has some fantastic ideas, a nice (if unoriginal) premise, & strong central characters (although I notice, wearily, that the ubiquitous feisty young girl is making an another appearance). The writing style doesn't have much going for it, but there's not much to make you wince, & there's some genuinely laugh-aloud humour that would appeal both to adults & to children. But unfortunately my prevailing impression is of a book that's impatient with being a book, & of a writer who's more excited by film or TV than by books - which means it's a book of missed opportunities, striving after CGI & slick fight sequences, without any real interestin what, finally, should be at the heart of story-telling: good writing.
scary but excellent! - By: J. Rowley, 11 Jun 2008 5 star*****
dont miss it!
once i read one page i always wanted to read the next
ITS SPOOOOOOOOKY!!!
