The sixth entry in the Skulduggery Pleasant series has been released? What? A quick glance at Amazon shows that only the first three books have been released in the United States. You actually have to go to Amazon UK to find books 4-6 of what’s quickly becoming my favorite book series. It’s a shame, but I wonder if the reason that the US hasn’t seen the next three books is because of sales, or because a movie hasn’t been released yet. Movie rights for the series were snatched up before the first book was even released, yet here we are, six books in, and no movie has been released? Maybe the US publisher is waiting until the movie gets released and book sales go up to continue releasing the series?
Or maybe it’s because of how dark the series has gotten, something definitely evident in the newest installment, Mortal Coil. After all, this is Pauloween Horror Nights, and this book wouldn’t be included if it wasn’t perfectly full of horror!
Without getting too much into spoiler territory (especially since the 5th book is so hard to find…but go buy it!), the secret revealed at the ending of the fifth novel comes into play heavily in this book, as a character discovers that they’re going to destroy the world. This character goes about trying to prevent this future from happening, while meanwhile a group of ancient creatures known as Remnants have been unleashed, possessing innocent humans and hunting Skulduggery and friends. Not only that, there’s a giant assassin who’s going around spelling trouble for our group of heroes.
It’s really hard to describe this book without giving too much away, but I’ve really got to say that, if you’re reading this site, you must be reading this book series. Expertly written, with a great mixture of character and action, the Skulduggery Pleasant series is an epic building towards what (hopefully) is going to be a pretty amazing resolution.
The main issue with this series, really, is that it gets darker and more violent with each book. In this book, not one but TWO people get autopsied…while alive. A hero turns evil, and throats are torn out, heads kicked off and exploded, bones broken…it’s pretty horrifying, and AWESOME. But I can imagine that most people won’t be cool with kids under the age of 13 reading this book. So parents who’s kids like the first couple of books…you’ve been warned. I’ve never read a Harry Potter book, but I’d imagine this is a good deal more violent than anything in that series. There are some fantastic creepy bits in the book, and a ton of suspense…even some zombie action!
The newest book clocks in at over 560 pages, and while it does take a while to get going (I kept wondering when the story was actually going to kick in), I never found it boring. There is some great tragedy in this book (a major character dies), and I felt myself really affected by the death – the sign of great writing. It’s a hefty, but brisk, read, and worth the import costs to get your own copy. The hardest part now is that there was only a 6 month wait between books 5 and 6….how long do I have to wait for book seven?