Cover of Skulduggery Pleasant

Skulduggery Pleasant

  • 2006 first published
  • 368 pages
  • ★ 4.2 (16 ratings)
  • 26 editions

Derek Landy and Tom Percival's Skulduggery Pleasant (2006) is a ghost story and horror novel. Key subjects include magic, magicians, uncles and heirs and heiresses.

Open Library readers give it an average of 4.2 out of 5 from 16 ratings, and 182 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 26 editions across 5 languages.

It runs to roughly 368 pages — 6–7 hours of reading at an average pace.

About Skulduggery Pleasant

Meet the great Skulduggery Pleasant: wise-cracking detective, powerful magician, master of dirty tricks and burglary (in the name of the greater good, of course). Oh yeah. And dead. Then there's his sidekick, Stephanie. She's...well, she's a twelve-year-old girl. With a pair like this on the case, evil had better watch out..."So you won't keep anything from me again? "He put his hand to his chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die." "Okay then. Though you don't actually have a heart," she said. "I know." "And technically, you've already died." "I know that too." "Just so we're clear." 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. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source – the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard. When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture...Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.
Description from Open Library

Awards & lists

Themes, setting & tropes

Genres

Subjects

  • Magic
  • Fantasy
  • Mystery
  • Fantasy fiction
  • Magicians
  • Uncles
  • Quests, Expeditions
  • Heirs and heiresses
  • Wizards
  • Children's fiction
  • Humorous stories
  • Ghosts
  • Child and youth fiction
  • Adventure and adventurers
  • Skeleton
  • Portuguese language

Quick answers

Who wrote Skulduggery Pleasant?

Skulduggery Pleasant was written by Derek Landy and Tom Percival and first published in 2006.

What genre is Skulduggery Pleasant?

It is usually shelved as Ghost Stories, Horror, Magicians & Illusionists and Adventure.

How long is Skulduggery Pleasant?

The median edition has 368 pages, about 6–7 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.

What books are similar to Skulduggery Pleasant?

Readers who like it often enjoy The Magician's Nephew, The Throne of Fire and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

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