A Mind Full of Murder

Book Title: A Mind Full of Murder

Author: Dereky Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #2

Date Started: March 30th  2024

Date Completed: April 6th 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Action, Mystery, Adventure

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

The new Skulduggery Pleasant book always feels like coming home. And I think Derek's cycle-like series of varying lengths is the best way to revisit stories and characters without just rehashing sequels for the sake of it - they grow up and have something new to learn and explore and show us.

Do I remember everything from the last series? No. Did I do a double take when certain characters showed up? Maybe. Did I keep going and pretend I knew exactly what was happening? Absolutely. That being said, it's so impressive how wide and complex this world is now and that, for the most part, it isn't too difficult to fall back in and work off patchy memory of how it got there.

I've always admired Derek's ability to seed out series-long plot lines and mysteries while finishing off the individual story arc of each particular book. Every chapter is a joy rather than a necessary bit of story to get to the end. And these books, still, remain to be some of the few that have me laughing out loud. There's such perfectly placed tonal appreciation for culture, people and modern storytelling while being absolutely rooted in traditional forms of mystery, action and fantasy.

My only ongoing gripe with the new Skulduggery books is that I want and need more Tanith. It's like being a teenager constantly on the look out for your crush in the school hallways. I love that we get to see so many old favourites every now and then - as real life relationships end up being - and that there is space for new characters to step in too. But the OG four really are so beloved to me and they're still the scene stealers after all these years.