Synopsis: Skulduggery Pleasant is a detective. He is also a walking, talking skeleton with magical powers.

Review: When 12 year old Stephanie’s uncle dies under mysterious circumstances, she meets Skulduggery. And Stephanie begins to understand that the horror fiction books that her uncle wrote were not exactly pure fiction. Caught up in the mystery of her uncle’s death and a man who seems to be after something he had, Stephanie soon finds herself dragged into an underworld of sorcery, crime and murder. Someone is after the sceptre of the ancients and if they find it before Stephanie and Skulduggery, they will wield a terrible power. Through an ever more complex tangle of betrayals and counter betrayals, the two unlikely partners battle to save the world.

Skulduggery Pleasant is an unabridged reading of the original book which lasts 7½ hours. Read by Rupert Degas, who has a long list of movie voice credits to his name, the story is told in a soft Irish accent which is easy on the ears. Skulduggery has a low, understated voice and the humour and repartee in the story is quietly delivered. There are spooky refrains of music between each chapter, with a rattling of bones and a whispered voice which fit the story well. This is an action-fantasy tale with increasingly long, against all-odds-combat scenes as the story builds to its climax. For this reason, I think Skulduggery Pleasant will appeal to boys more than girls, although there are two strong girl characters in the story for girls to identify with.

2007-10-07