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    Skulduggery Pleasant: Audio Collection Books 1-3: The Faceless Ones Trilogy: Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire, The Faceless Ones
    Skulduggery Pleasant: Audio Collection Books 1-3: The Faceless Ones Trilogy: Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire, The Faceless Ones
    Skulduggery Pleasant: Audio Collection Books 1-3: The Faceless Ones Trilogy: Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire, The Faceless Ones
    Audiobook21 hours

    Skulduggery Pleasant: Audio Collection Books 1-3: The Faceless Ones Trilogy: Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire, The Faceless Ones

    Written by Derek Landy

    Narrated by Rupert Degas

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Books 1, 2 and 3 in the SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series – known collectively as THE FACELESS ONES TRILOGY, Derek Landy's fantastically imaginative series about our favourite dead detective.

    SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT
    Stephanie's uncle, Gordon, is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction.

    PLAYING WITH FIRE
    With Serpine dead, the world is safe once more. At least, that’s what Valkyrie and Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, and dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland.

    THE FACELESS ONES
    Skulduggery Pleasant and his wonderfully cheeky and inquisitive side kick, Valkyrie, take us through another journey, which promises to be filled with adventure, dark, mysterious meetings, and classically funny moments.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateDec 1, 2020
    ISBN9780008463953
    Skulduggery Pleasant: Audio Collection Books 1-3: The Faceless Ones Trilogy: Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire, The Faceless Ones
    Author

    Derek Landy

    Derek Landy lives near Dublin. Before writing his children's story about a sharply-dressed skeleton detective, he wrote the screenplays for a zombie movie and a murderous horror film. "I think my career-guidance teacher is spinning in her grave," he says, "or she would be if she were dead."

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    Reviews for Skulduggery Pleasant

    4/5

    816 ratings60 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A snappy dialogue, weird characters, and violent silliness. I really should finish this series.
    • 5/5
      Rereading because this continues to be one of my favorite books/series.
    • 3/5
      Skulduggery Pleasant is a unique character in that he is a skeleton. He is also a wisecracking detective that works to maintain the balance between his world and the human world. When his friend dies, he establishes a friendship with the niece and together, they work to keep their enemies from finding the Sceptre of the Ancients which might be used to change the balance between worlds forever. This story isn't the type of story that I usually like, but this one was a fast moving, action-packed fantasy filled with fun for the reader.
    • 5/5
      LOVED this. There's something so delightfully noir about this story, but it manages to be wonderfully playful too. Also there is a TALKING SKELETON WHO THROWS FIRE. Please tell me what else you need in a book.

      That's right. NOTHING.
    • 5/5
      Skulduggery Pleasant, book #1, by Derek Landy is probably a middle grade book but I don't care that I'm not. I laughed as hard as any school girl throughout this book! This is so fun, witty, full of snark (often from the girl), magic, and adventure...oh, and a skeleton as the main character! Oh sure, the girl is co-founded main character but who gets more looks in the car? Adult or child, add this to your list and do something good for your self. Do one better and go for the audible version, I got mine at the library. The performance is so much better than what I could have imagined. Terrific story, going to see if they have more!
    • 2/5
      My 5th graders are all insane fans of this series. I found it to be quite tedious. It's like reading an action movie. There is no character development, the plot twists and magic are just a bit too convenient, and there was very little suspense. I really had to force myself to finish reading it.

      That being said, I don't really have a problem having it in the library. Just please don't make me read any more.
    • 3/5
      I am not the target audience for this book (which I think is 10-14 year olds who like magic and detective stories and running around shooting things.) But I read quite a lot of kids and young adult books, so I don't think that was the reason it didn't click for me. It's fun - when Stephanie's uncle dies, she discovers a hidden world of magic and evil, and unites with a wisecracking skeleton to defeat the bad guys, along the way finding her own magic powers and taking on a new name. It just never gripped me - they run around a lot, they find mcguffins, they lose mcguffins, etc. And (in a way that is completely fine for a kids book, but isn't very interesting) they just tend to do the obvious thing a lot, in a way that turns out to be quite dim (like 'we know where Gordon has hidden the key! It's really well hidden, the bad guys must have no idea! Let us go and steal it, because then we can go and get the mcguffin! Ah, now the bad guys have us and the key, and now the mcguffin. Oh.') (It has a slightly ikky tone on body image. Stephanie definitely feels described through the male gaze, with her tall, slim, dark haired-ness all coded as 'good', set against her bottle blond, stumpy, badly dressed and bulgy cousins very clearly coded as 'bad'.And Stephanie is snarky, in a way that I ought to like, and that I think is probably very enjoyable if you're twelve, but just rubbed me up a bit the wrong way.)
    • 4/5
      This is the first book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series and was a fun read, I enjoyed it. It's a blend of fantasy and horror aimed at a middle grade/YA audience. I liked the witty dialogue and the action and humor throughout. It was fun and just a bit silly, while still having an interesting dark fantasy story to it.Stephanie has inherited her uncle Gordon’s estate and also a friend of his named Skulduggery Pleasant. What Stephanie didn’t know is how deep Gordon was involved in a hidden world where sorcery and ancient artifacts are real. Now Stephanie must help find the Scepter of the Ancients to save the world.This book was full of quirky, fun dialogue and lots of action. I would call it dark fantasy rather than horror because there is a lot of magic and things get creepy at points but never really that scary. This ended up being a quick read that had me laughing out loud a number of times. I enjoyed the adventures and action a lot as well. This is an interesting world and I liked Stephanie and Skulduggery as characters.Overall I enjoyed this. I would recommend to middle grade readers who enjoy fantasy with a bit of a dark/horror edge to it. This is easy to read and a lot of fun. I am unsure whether I will continue the series or not at this point. I enjoyed it but I am already reading a lot of other series.
    • 5/5
      When I found out this was an Irish author I chose to listen to it because I'm a softy for an accent. There was not much of an accent but I was charmed by the old school detective music at the beginning of each chapter and Rupert Degas has a great voice for bringing Skulduggery to life. Right away I was won over by the dry, sarcastic wit of our Skeleton Detective and his detective in training. This is a great story and a fun beginning to the series.
    • 4/5
      I put off reading this last year because I didn't think I would like reading about a skeleton MC...Boy was I wrong! I love Skulduggery and his ragtag team of misfits! The characters are fun and surprising, action is exciting, and magic is...fun! I really enjoyed this one, and already have the next one on hold at the library!

    • 4/5
      I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it, it's a lot of fun!
    • 5/5
      I loved this and couldn't put it down.Skulduggery, or David Tennant playing Doctor Who as that's who he reminds me of, is a brilliant creation. But one of the good things about this book is that a lot of care has gone into the other characters so that they are not just background noise and are a real part of the story. I am really looking forward to reading the rest of this series.
    • 3/5
      These took me a while to get into, but it proved worth it. It was entertaining, though Mr. Pleasant wasn't nearly as humorous as the book blurbs professed him to be.
    • 5/5
      Witty, magical, exciting, and mysterious.
    • 4/5
      I finally finished reading this today on my way to work and it was amazing. Skulduggery and Stephanie were great characters and I loved listening to Stephanie find her way in this whole new world. The magic and world building was really interesting. The world is dark but not so dark that everyone ends up dying.

      The audiobook narrator did a great job with all of the voices and I loved the music that they would play sporadically, especially the xylophone that sounded like bones.

      I especially loved the interview at the end of the disk. Whoever wrote the answers did a great job approximating Sulduggery's personality.
    • 4/5
      It took 3 persistent recommendations, half a year and it being unrenewable because it had been renewed the maximum number of times from the library and due back the next day for me to finally read this - and I'm glad I did!

      Awesome book, and look forward to reading the rest of them :)
    • 4/5
      Cute and fun. I like the world and the characters that Landy created.
    • 5/5
      Stephanie Edgley is a normal, if a bit antisocial, 12-year-old. She has normal parents and lives in a normal house in Ireland. Her Uncle Gordon, however, was not so normal; an author of horror novels, he lives in a large, old house and tends to keep strange company. That is, until he dies.

      To the surprise of everyone, Stephanie is named Gordon's sole heir to his estate and fortune. It is at this point that things start to get interesting. She meets one of Gordon's strange friends, a Mr. Skulduggery Pleasant, who, as it turns out, is a skeleton (long story)—and she announces that she is going to help him find her uncle's killer, since she's pretty sure he was murdered. What follows is a madcap adventure to, of course, save the world from evil forces.

      This was an exceptionally entertaining and darkly funny middle-grade/teen novel. It's the first in a series, and I will most certainly be checking out the rest of the books. This is indeed a very dark book, full of death and tragedies, but Landy keeps it age-appropriate and keeps gore to a minimum, though some not-so-likable characters meet deliciously gruesome demises.

      Landy has created a world where magical beings coexist with non-magical humans, with the latter more often than not being none the wiser. It's similar in that sense to Harry Potter, but there the similarities end. Magical folk live in a dangerous world, where a war between those who seek power and those protecting the general population has been waged for decades (probably longer, I can't remember exactly, but a really long time). At the time we join the characters in their story, both sides have agreed to a tenuous ceasefire, which of course blows up in everyone's faces, otherwise there would be no story.

      As for characters, these are all brilliant. Skulduggery is stoic but with an incredibly wry humor, and Stephanie has some excellent zingers too, along with her determination, stubbornness, and incredible courage. They are, to put it simply, awesome. Oh, and they are both great fighters, which we get to see a lot of.

      I listened to the audio version of this book narrated by Rupert Degas, and it was fantastic. Degas was excellent at distinguishing voices, and paced his narration perfectly. Plus he has an accent.

      Long story short, if you like dark, humorous, action-packed fantasy, this is a great series to start.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. The action is great, and one of the main characters, Skulduggery is a riot. It is a very fast paced book. The whole story was great.
    • 4/5
      That was awesome. The body count was a little high for a kids' book but not really that bad compared to TV. Or cartoons. Or Harry Potter. It totally shows that the writer teaches martial arts to kids and has a ton of experience with empowering children to defend themselves physically and verbally. I was filled with YAY!

      Wishes: that there'd been more characters of color, that description of characters besides Skulduggery had been more vivid (or extant), that Stephanie's parents had had a little more screentime, and that the whole Bliss arc had been a little better actualized.

      But! Hanging threads make for sequels, and so now I will track them down. :D

      (The disability tag is for a character grossly disfigured at birth who is beloved and a badass.)
    • 2/5
      I felt that this book / series was over rated. Just three chapters in i became bored with the overuse of inane dialogue between Stephanie and Skulduggery, so began to skim read. Also too many characters to remember who is who and on what side in amongst the numerous action encounters that never seemed futile as magic would make various characters such as the cleavers rebuild themselves . Because of this while reading the fighting parts i glimpsed over as well as they seemed repetitive. Hard to stay focused and motivated to read.
    • 3/5
      This is my second read of this book, and I am still somewhat undecided how I feel about it. Landy writes conversation very well - and there were some ultra-funny laugh out loud moments, but I do feel the plot is somewhat lacking, and it is not something that I can put into words as such. I am not fond of guns in children's books, and they do seem to be a common weapon of choice. But maybe it's the protagonist, Stephanie. I just can't really like her that much. Sure, she's gutsy, rebellious and sharp-tongued, all valuable assets in a heroine. but she's not exactly the sort of person I would like as my daughter. This book is fun, and I am curious to read what follows on - as a series often starts mediocre and builds to better, but it is not one that I shall be rushing out out buy.
    • 4/5
      Witty dialogue and neat martial arts among the not so living protagonists make this novel fun to read.
    • 3/5
      When Stephanie learns that her uncle's death may have been murder she joins with the skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant to foil the plot of the Faceless Ones. Not great literature but a fast read and lots of action.
    • 5/5
      Love, love, love this book. It had action, adventure, magic, snappily dressed skelton detective and more dry wit than you know what to do with. Great female characters and a fun story. I hope my first novel is as amazing!
    • 4/5
      This book is another free gem I got off the YA Sync Summer Audio Program. I really love this program because I end up listening to stuff that I otherwise wouldn’t have picked up on my own. The cover of the book looked hokey and the description didn’t do much for me, but I was pleasantly surprised when I started listening that it was actually a fun, intelligent read.

      The story is of Skulduggery Pleasant who is a walking, talking magic wielding skeleton. Skulduggery is as cool and awesome as his name implies. He’s a witty, snarky, badass crime-solving bastard. What’s even more awesome is that his partner, Stephanie, is just as cool and witty. Stephanie is a 12 year old girl, who basically inherited her uncle’s problems upon his death. I must say she sounds older than 12, but I didn’t mind because I really liked the chemistry and dialogue between these two.

      I also enjoyed the secondary characters. Tanith Low was cool and very badass. For some reason she reminds me of Tonks from Harry Potter. I also enjoyed Ghastly and Mrs. Bliss. From this first book it seems like these characters have stories of their own and I’m very interested in finding out more about them.

      The audiobook for this story was excellent. I loved the musical accompaniment, especially for Skulduggery’s scenes. It really suited the character. My only real compliant about the narration is that it seemed like Skulduggery’s “voice” would change. It was annoying, because I was never sure if he was the one talking until I listened to more of the audio and then I would have to re-listen to those parts. Also, I’m not sure if this is due to the audiobook or writing, but I found the action scenes hard to follow. Another GR, friend read this book though and thought the same thing, so I believe it has more to do with the writing than the audio.

      Overall though, this book was really enjoyable. Very witty, funny and nice fast paced action.
    • 5/5
      A fabulous mix of fantasy, mystery and adventure Skulduggery Pleasant tops it all off with plenty of dry humor. I absolutely loved this book and can't wait to read the next one.
    • 3/5
      This book kept me entertained. A chuckler. Good for kids who want a fantasy novel with a touch of horror, with British language.
    • 5/5
      This book was SO MUCH FUN.
    • 4/5
      I really dug Skulduggery, and my only complaint would be for some more humor from the book's two main characters (which would then lead me to give this book 5 stars). They have a really great dynamic, and the humor definitely helps the book along when times get serious for the heroes. Would highly recommend to any teen readers who are into magic, sci-fi, fantasy novels and like some light along with their dark.