Dark Magic & a talking skeleton

The novel is a good novel, albeit it starts off a bit slowly and predictively. But once it gets off, it is quite interesting, with Skullduggery Pleasant providing a lot of smart remarks and replies. It almost feels like you are reading a movie script rather than a novel with the amount of action involved.
On the good side, it has quite a few twists and turns, and the writer has used a lot of formulae (but not often used ones). The only criticism is that, it uses about the "true name" and "taken name" concept which has been mentioned in quite a few novels, whether it is Eragon series or Barthemeus the djinn's serries.

Apart from that, its a good read if you like Buffy the Vampire slayer type stuff (with a bit more humour and wit).

4 people found this helpful

Skullduggery Pleasant

Would you consider the audio edition of Skulduggery Pleasant to be better than the print version?

Yes I do. Having all the characters played out with individual voices make the story come alive .

What did you like best about this story?

My favourite part was all the witty one liners, they were very funny and I did laugh listening to them. The arguments between Skullduggery and Stephanie were also hilarious.

What about Rupert Degas’s performance did you like?

He was excellent. His voice was perfect for Skullduggery.. It had the right amount of sarcasm and experience.. It was easy to imagine him as the older wiser person in their friendship. His voice could be very creepy at times which set the scene on more then one occasion. At other times his voice was very droll. Perfect for who he was playing. I was not sure at the beginning if I would like a man reading the parts of Stephanie but it really worked!, he was great at it.After a while I forgot that it was a man reading female voices.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me laugh. The banter between the two main characters was played out very well and I would easily buy more books in the series just from listening to this book.

Any additional comments?

A wonderful series for the young or the young at heart who like adventure and bad guys that get what is coming to them.

2 people found this helpful

Funny & Entertaining

I had a few odd looks from my family as I burst out laughing while listening to this book.
Rupert Degas has a brilliant voice that brought all the characters uniquely to life.
Thoroughly enjoyable!

2 people found this helpful

Not my cup o tea, didn't think it baby young adult

This is certainly entertaining, and the narration is great. But I'd rather read a Pratchett. All the bits of this individually make for entertainment, it's just that all together they don't stand out as anything vaguely new or novel. Everything has been done before, better. Didn't finish it.

1 person found this helpful

Gripping and fascinating audio book

What did you love best about Skulduggery Pleasant?

The characters, storyline and narration kept me listening and entertained!

What did you like best about this story?

The constant complications and resolutions kept me engaged and fascinated.

What about Rupert Degas’s performance did you like?

Rupert's ability to adopt and adapt the various characters' voices was sensational and gripping. What a terrific narrator. Really made the story for me.!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The meeting of Skulduggery and the key character at the outset will remain a powerful one for me.

Any additional comments?

Best ever audio book I've listened to thus far.

1 person found this helpful

Brilliant

So I am a bit of a fan of teenage fiction but the genre can be a bit of a risk. I had looked at this series of books in the stores for a long time and have been tempted but not purchased one. Then I listened to a preview of this on Audible.com ~~ well I was "sold" instantly. Rupert Degas has done one of the best narration jobs I have ever heard. The way he has bought the characters to life is nothing short of amazing. Rupert will always be the voice of Skulduggery for me now and I am glad of that.

The story is fast paced and captivating. The action at times is non-stop and it is hard to "put it down" or in the case of an audiobook "turn it off". There is a couple of common fantasy themes as mentioned in the review above (notably the use of names to give power to people) but this is by no means detracting in my opinion but rather adds to the validity of a magic realm by having cross-over with other authors. The characters in the novel are the heart of the work and Derek Landy has demonstrated he is a master at character development.

I look forward to listening to the whole series.

1 person found this helpful

get the physical version

so while theis storry is truly one of my childhood favourites and still holds up even though im an adult the preformance is horendous, the naration is acceptable however the voices he makes mostly just sound strange. however the biggest afront is pumping it full of bad halloween music between each chapter whose only function is to drag the reader out of the text and any veresimilitude (suspension of disbelief), and for this afront to basic storrytelling i can't recomend the audiobook for any reason.

the story is great but get the actual book, this is not a good pressentation of it.

Magic, performance unbelievable

The story is good. There are points I would have liked a different approach but when I feared that stuff becomes predictable there were some surprises coming. All in all the story is good and with the introduction to the magical world „out of the way“ I look forward to the next book.

But truly unbelievable is the performance if the narrator. I look for titles where I can distinguish the characters while speaking. And it is done here perfectly. So many characters, so many voices.
I’ve heard this quality only from Jonatan Sleeps of Saturn Five Sounds but they use a lot of digital. Michael Page comes close to this, but this is even better. Perfectly done. Five stars with a plus.

not just for kids!

thought this was terrific.
didn't realise it was for kids when I downloaded it but there was plenty to enjoy and laughs galore. will definitely get the next in the series.

Positively epic!

Degas is nothing short ofa master narrator, and he easily manages to bring Landy's characters to life. From the rolling boulder to the seductive femme fatale, Degas does all voices with exquisite authenticity. Don't settle for lesser narrators - Degas is simply the best there is.