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I often look for light, entertaining fare to read while I'm on my breaks at work. Books I can slip right into and out again, with no muss or distraction.
Such a book is Skulduggery Pleasant. Aimed at the childrens/YA fantasy crowd, it's the equivalant of a Bugs Bunny cartoon mixed with a Tim Burton flick...with perhaps a dash of Marvel super-hero comics thrown in.
Blah, blah, blah. 12 year old girl. Blah blah, she's smart and sassy. Blah blah, inherits fortune and vast mansion from weird deceased uncle. Blah, blah...demonic bad guys try to hurt her and she's rescused by a dapper animate skeleton!
The whole book is just an excuse to set up the back and forth between the girl and her bony bodyguard. It doesn't really matter that one doesn't get to know either of them beyond the surface...both channel the Whedonverse, so the banter is always sharp and witty.
The Secret World Behind Mundane Life is ever so derivative, but the action comes fast and snappy, so that also doesn't matter.
I normally despise novels that read like spec screenplays (see every post I've ever made about Dan Brown), but I oddly didn't mind the same effect in Skulduggery. It helps that the author makes no pretensions about this being anything more than big, dumb, beautiful escapism. The sort of empty calorie fantasy that doesn't expand one's dreams, but man is it ever strangely addictive.
And hey, I could easily see this book acting as a gateway for younger readers to more substantial stuff. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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