Book Title: A Heart Full of Hatred
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #18
Date Started: March 31st 2025
Date Completed: April 5th 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Thriller, Horror
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Four Stars
Review:
The highlight of my year is the new Skulduggery Pleasant book coming out - okay, slight exaggeration but it's something that I always look forward to and enjoy when it comes back around. I have a thousand things to say about the combat, the tone, the magic and the world and where the people fit into and rage against it - but go read my other 17+ reviews of the other books in the series for those because they remain consistent and steadfast.
The evolution of this series never fails to impress me. Of course there's a special connection when you read a story as a kid and it then grows and develops into more mature and complex territory alongside you. But the Skulduggery Pleasant series is so politically conscious, socially aware, and chooses to do something powerful with that it has a special place in my heart.
I'm really enjoying the character focus over plot hijinks in this new trilogy. There's still the classic action adventure, the punching, the world-threatening disasters, the punching, the dry humour, and the punching. But the conflict arises more often from why the characters want to punch each other, rather than the punching happening first and questions asked later.
I'm also very much enjoying where Valkyrie is in her arc. We've progressed from the 'I'm unkillable' to 'I'm very killable, that's scary, but you'll have a hard time trying' and that's really cool. Credit where it's due for giving the same character who we've followed for literally nearly 20 years (that's terrifying) new arcs as they grow. It's what so many sequel series fall down in - twisting their characters into different people to try and give them something new to grapple with - but something that of course people continue to do. We don't overcome one problem in our life and live happily ever after.
On a final note, Derek finally heard my request for more Tanith and I'm very pleased. But I still don't think it's a kids series.