Skullduggery Pleasant Books In Order

Publication Order of Skulduggery Pleasant Books

Skullduggery Pleasant is a fantasy novel series written by bestselling Irish author Derek Landy. The books are themed on the adventures of a skeleton detective, named Skulduggery Pleasant and a teenage girl named Valkyrie Cain/Stephanie Edgley together with other friends.

The main plot of the entire series details the struggles of Valkyrie in trying to stop the whole world in from evil forces that threaten it, trying to get justice for the death of her uncle and the efforts to retain the darkness within.

The series made a triumphal entry into the publishing world after the release of the first novel in the series Skulduggery Pleasant in 2007. The debut novel received positive reviews both from reader and critics. The subsequent books were released subsequently each year afterward but except the fourth and the fifth novels Dark Days & Mortal Coil which were published in 2010.

The author Landy was first contracted to write a trilogy, with a promise that any further books would highly depend on how the books sold in the market. The success of these novels led to the extension of the deal to a total of six novels in 2011.

In 2011 the author announced in a video blog that even though the first of Skulduggery Pleasant series, a second series of the Skulduggery series would commence with the publication of Resurrection in June 2017.

Skulduggery Pleasant (2007)

In the debut novel of the series, we meet Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton. He may lose his skull again and again, and he is more than he appears to be. In fact, the current skull he is got is a prize from a poker match that he won. Pleasant might be long dead but is a magician who escaped the grave so that he could remain and save the world from evil.

However, to defeat it, Pleasant will require the aid of a new partner, a twelve-year-old teenage girl named Stephanie.

In this first novel, the two heroes are caught up in a battle intended to stopping evil forces from stealing Stephanie uncle most treasured possession- the Sceptre of the Ancients.

The ancients were all good guys, and they were part of the extinct Uber magician race of the ancient earth. The Sceptre is the most powerful and dangerous weapon that is capable of killing and destroying anything. Back in the olden days, the uber magicians used the Sceptre to banish the bad guys also known as the Faceless Ones.

Unfortunately, the faceless ones are staging a comeback intended to destroying the world, and no one except for Stephanie and Skulduggery believes in the existence of the Sceptre and the Faceless Ones.

So Skulduggery and Stephanie begin a quest to find the Sceptre, battle the vampire, the undead and the minions of the evil guys as well as to prove the existence of the Faceless Ones and the Ancients Ones.

The debut novel is unique and fully packed with adventure. There is a blossoming friendship that exists between Skulduggery and Stephanie. The two meet during the will reading of Stephanie’s uncle, and the two immediately connects with each other. After Stephanie is attacked at her uncle’s house, she discovers that not only everything that her uncle wrote was true but even that her newly found friend is a skeleton only held together by magic.

The characters presented in this novel are fantastic. First of all, Skulduggery is the very smart guy who will do everything under his magical capabilities to save those close to him. Also, Stephanie is a strong 12-year-old who manages to withstand all the challenges that the world has to offer despite her world being turned upside down. Lastly is Tanith Low, a brilliant fighter. The plot is tight despite the novel mostly focused on action.

Playing with Fire (2008)

Playing with Fire is the second book in Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy. In this book, our heroes, Valkyrie and Skulduggery are faced with a new type of enemy; Baron Vengeous, a man who is determined at bringing back the faceless ones and is building an army to aid him to achieve his goals.

Also, Baron is also planning to fight along a new ally; the Grotesquery a vicious monster. Once the new enemy is on the loose, vampires, and dead bodies begin piling up all over the Ireland.

With every evil out there aimed at killing both Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie, the two must undertake whatever it takes to stay alive and find the Sceptre, the only weapon capable of banishing the terrible evil from the face of the earth.

Dark Days (2010)

In Dark Days, Skulduggery Pleasant is wandering on the other side of the portal. He is accompanied by some evil gods. Can the already dead mage survive this ordeal?

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant, a warrior, detective, a sorcerer and of course he is dead. He has been sucked into a dimension run by the faceless one, and the chances is that if he is not transformed to dust; he is insane, crazed by the horror of the gods. There is no approved rescue mission for Skulduggery Pleasant.

On the other hand, even if Valkyrie had plans for the magician that finally could bring him back to earth there would be no much left for the magician to return. This is because there is a gang of evil determined on destroying the sanctuary and there are some other people who want to see Valkyrie dead, and the worst of it all is that there is a sorcerer by the name Darquesse who intends to send the world in flames and kill everyone on it.

With Skulduggery Pleasant gone all the hope lies with Valkyrie, and with the world’s weight heavily on her shoulder she must stop the evil forces with or without Skulduggery aid and change the fate of the earth.

Dark Days is far much interesting than the first novels. The plot is fast paced featuring vividly described characters as Skulduggery soldiers on as one of the brightest spark of the novel series.