Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

If you like the urban fantasy genre, you're going to love this one!

I started reading this series when I was sixteen (I checked it out from the library the day I pretended to be sick so I wouldn't have to go to All-Region band…..yeah probably sixteen.) It sounded silly of course, a skeleton detective who was also a sorcerer, but I checked it out anyway. I fell in love with the characters immediately. Wit and sarcasm are two attributes that I hold in high esteem and these characters were full of it. Derek Landy’s writing style is, well, you know when people say reading a book is like watching a movie in your head.  These books are cinematically ready. Seriously, they could go from book to screen immediately. The fight scenes alone are brilliant, I could see every move these characters make and it is amazing.

Short description:

Twelve year old Stephanie Edgley inherits her Uncle's estate and is attacked on her first visit to the property alone. A mysterious skeleton detective, Skulduggery Pleasant, swiftly comes to her rescue. He explains that he thinks her uncle was murdered and that she may soon follow him they join forces and set off to solve the crime in a series of adventures that take them into a world filled with ancient evil creatures, including Nefarian Serpine, who seeks the Scepter of the Ancients and the infinite power it will bring him.

And that is just the first book.

If you can't tell by now the Skulduggery Pleasant series is one of my absolute favorites! As I said before the characters are phenomenal and funny beyond reason. It would be hard to choose a favorite; however I can, so I will. His name is Billy- Ray Sanguine and he is an assassin from Texas (Hey, that’s where I’m from!), or as he likes to put it an hitman deluxe. He’s just your typical psychopath with a bit of charm and no eyes.  Although, I do have a soft spot for Spring-Heeled Jack.

Is it bad that I that my favorite characters are technically villains? Does that say something about me?

This time around I’m not going to talk about specific events that take place within this series. I don’t want to spoil anything. I want you to read it because it is so incredibly beautiful. (Beautiful?) Nope not taking that back, it is beautiful. All eight books and the novellas!
The ninth book and final installment come out this fall.

As an aspiring writer of sci-fi/ fantasy these books have really encouraged my efforts. Reading these books opened my eyes to the fact that not all great books have to be hard faced and serious. (Get it hard faced… Hard back covers… okay I'll stop with the puns.)  I don't want to be sappy but these books changed my life.

Unfortunately these books aren't very popular in the states so the publishers here are way behind. Only the first couple of books are available in the U.S. Because of this I have had to order most of these books from a bookshop in Ireland. 

Shout out to Kenny’s Books in Galway, Ireland!

Kenny’s has free shipping worldwide and the prices are incredibly reasonable, and if an issue arises, which it most likely won't, they really make an effort to work with their customers. 
Here is a link to the website. http://www.kennys.ie/

Anyway, I'll end this.

These books are fantastic, and if you're looking for a series to become unintentionally obsessed with this is the one. You'll laugh out loud, you’ll cry hysterically, you will lose your mind, but hey, it’s worth it.