Book Title: Hell Breaks Loose
Author: Derek Landy
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant
Date Started: June 14th 2023
Date Completed: June 19th 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Historical, Mystery, Horro
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Four Stars
Review:
Hell Breaks Loose is a very entertaining and cleverly placed adventure with our favourite characters from the Skulduggery Pleasant universe, while we await the last book to the sequel series to release. While I would rather the multiverse would stop infiltrating literally every form of media, it's undeniably hats off to one of the few franchises that actually puts effort into its spin-offs, embedding them so well in the main overarching universe while being entirely enjoyable on their own.
This story wasn't what I expected, while simultaneously being precisely what I should have seen coming. Once it gets into the swing of things, it's the classic action-adventure I fell in love with as a child, alongside the good old-fashioned drama and comedy that my adult self appreciates even more so.
The action is always so impressively written; it flows, the chaos is vivid, the movement articulate. You can see it playing out, startingly, in your head like a movie. And, always, Derek plays with violence and conflict and pain in an accessible way without glorifying it; action scenes leave scars, people get hurt, people are conscious of their actions. Those are all factors that so often are just left behind because they're heavy, and even more so with characters who you're supposed to root for without descending your book into discussions on moral philosophy. Derek touches on the dark, but has such an appreciation for the light (be it comedy, characterisation, motivation) that he can do both.
Hell Breaks Loose isn't my favourite in the series, but it's absolutely grounded in its universe, and fully appreciates its place and opportunity. This book is fun and easy to read in a way that a series sometimes limits; it's just what I needed for a little summer holiday action.
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