Book Title: Tanith Low in the Maleficent Seven
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant - Novella/Spin Off
Date Started: April 3rd 2013
Date Completed: April 5th 2013
Genres: Thriller, Romance, Mystery, Crime
Rating: Five stars
Review:
I'd definitely forgotten how much I loved Skulduggery Pleasant. Oh my god, I was not expecting that.
First of all, I love this series to bits. And it's just getting better and better. Although this is only a novella, Landy definitely didn't let himself have a break. It's filled with more action and twists than any of the books so far. I personally don't think it should be counted as a novella (not only for the fact that it's 288 pages long!) but also for the fact that it contains vital information about the series that I can tell is going to benefit later books.
This novella is set a few weeks after the most recent Skulduggery book: Kingdom of the Wicked. Tanith, who is now a rogue (in a way that I can't elaborate on in case you have yet to read the series) is gathering four God Killers - weapons that can kill Gods (as implied in the title I suppose) to hide them from the good guys so that Darquesse (evil person who, again, I can't elaborate on (this is why you need to read the series to understand this review)) can rise and end the world. Yeah, bit different than your typical urban fantasy.
She gathers a team of seven (how did you possibly guess?) criminals to help her - but the good guys have got a seven-piece team too, and they're running after her to collect the weapons before she can, so they can take down Darquesse.
It sounds pretty basic. Hahaha, no.
I admit, this series doesn't look like a sophisticated, well-written, deep and thoughtful, humorous series at first glance. And sometimes it isn't that. But the quality of writing that The Golden God (Derek Landy for any of you that are not his minions (it's an inside joke)) is so good that I literally couldn't put it down. The writing challenges the standards of many prestigious authors - the detail given in his actions scenes so realistic I sometimes have to read a sentence twice to picture it in my mind. It's amazing, seriously.
Secondly, I am so glad to see Tanith again. I suspect the reason Landy was forced to write a novella just for this character was the fact that everyone was so devastated when he took her out of the picture (for reasons I will not mention in case any of you haven't read the series, or got to the end of Mortal Coil yet).
And her and Billy-Ray work so well together that I honestly couldn't pick a better pair.
And Vex. I am so happy you turned up again. No offence Skulduggery, Ghastly, Ravel (Saracen, Shudder and the one who died that I can't recall the name of...) but Dexter is my favourite member of the Dead Men. No question about it.
There was a particular part that shocked me completely - and unfortunately I can't tell you what it is as it's a huge spoiler that I did not see coming at all. I wouldn't put it past Tanith to do what she did, but it was so sudden that I had to reread the paragraph again to make sure I hadn't imagined it. Yeah. You got me there Derek.
I don't really know what else to say. It's just amazing - just like all the others. And they're getting better.
I hope Landy writes more novellas like this: they're just as good as the actual books - of which there are only two left. So yeah, more small (you need a new definition of small, Landy) books to add to my growing collection of Skulduggery on my shelf.
I would recommend to anyone who loves action, adventure, crime, humour, witty/sarky characters, plot twists, romance (especially in this one!) and horror. Although, I would probably say read the other books first, otherwise you aren't likely to appreciate the full awesomeness of a lot of the characters and the plots twists.
(I'd just like to say I had immense fun writing this review. I don't know why but I was able to say a lot more about this series and be more sarcastic. Yeah. This is what Derek's writing does to me.)
I'd definitely forgotten how much I loved Skulduggery Pleasant. Oh my god, I was not expecting that.
First of all, I love this series to bits. And it's just getting better and better. Although this is only a novella, Landy definitely didn't let himself have a break. It's filled with more action and twists than any of the books so far. I personally don't think it should be counted as a novella (not only for the fact that it's 288 pages long!) but also for the fact that it contains vital information about the series that I can tell is going to benefit later books.
This novella is set a few weeks after the most recent Skulduggery book: Kingdom of the Wicked. Tanith, who is now a rogue (in a way that I can't elaborate on in case you have yet to read the series) is gathering four God Killers - weapons that can kill Gods (as implied in the title I suppose) to hide them from the good guys so that Darquesse (evil person who, again, I can't elaborate on (this is why you need to read the series to understand this review)) can rise and end the world. Yeah, bit different than your typical urban fantasy.
She gathers a team of seven (how did you possibly guess?) criminals to help her - but the good guys have got a seven-piece team too, and they're running after her to collect the weapons before she can, so they can take down Darquesse.
It sounds pretty basic. Hahaha, no.
I admit, this series doesn't look like a sophisticated, well-written, deep and thoughtful, humorous series at first glance. And sometimes it isn't that. But the quality of writing that The Golden God (Derek Landy for any of you that are not his minions (it's an inside joke)) is so good that I literally couldn't put it down. The writing challenges the standards of many prestigious authors - the detail given in his actions scenes so realistic I sometimes have to read a sentence twice to picture it in my mind. It's amazing, seriously.
Secondly, I am so glad to see Tanith again. I suspect the reason Landy was forced to write a novella just for this character was the fact that everyone was so devastated when he took her out of the picture (for reasons I will not mention in case any of you haven't read the series, or got to the end of Mortal Coil yet).
And her and Billy-Ray work so well together that I honestly couldn't pick a better pair.
And Vex. I am so happy you turned up again. No offence Skulduggery, Ghastly, Ravel (Saracen, Shudder and the one who died that I can't recall the name of...) but Dexter is my favourite member of the Dead Men. No question about it.
There was a particular part that shocked me completely - and unfortunately I can't tell you what it is as it's a huge spoiler that I did not see coming at all. I wouldn't put it past Tanith to do what she did, but it was so sudden that I had to reread the paragraph again to make sure I hadn't imagined it. Yeah. You got me there Derek.
I don't really know what else to say. It's just amazing - just like all the others. And they're getting better.
I hope Landy writes more novellas like this: they're just as good as the actual books - of which there are only two left. So yeah, more small (you need a new definition of small, Landy) books to add to my growing collection of Skulduggery on my shelf.
I would recommend to anyone who loves action, adventure, crime, humour, witty/sarky characters, plot twists, romance (especially in this one!) and horror. Although, I would probably say read the other books first, otherwise you aren't likely to appreciate the full awesomeness of a lot of the characters and the plots twists.
(I'd just like to say I had immense fun writing this review. I don't know why but I was able to say a lot more about this series and be more sarcastic. Yeah. This is what Derek's writing does to me.)
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