Derek Landy

The eighth instalment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe - and the follow-up to 2012’s number-one bestseller, Kingdom of the Wicked...

Last Stand of Dead Men (Skulduggery Pleasant, Book 8)

The eighth instalment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe - and the follow-up to the number-one bestseller, Kingdom of the Wicked…

War has finally come.

But it's not a war between good and evil, or light and dark – it's a war between Sanctuaries. For too long, the Irish Sanctuary has teetered on the brink of world-ending disaster, and the other Sanctuaries around the world have had enough. Allies turn to enemies, friends turn to foes, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie must team up with the rest of the Dead Men if they're going to have any chance at all of maintaining the balance of power and getting to the root of a vast conspiracy that has been years in the making.

But while this war is only beginning, another war rages within Valkyrie herself. Her own dark side, the insanely powerful being known as Darquesse, is on the verge of rising to the surface. And if Valkyrie slips, even for a moment, then Darquesse will burn the world and everyone in it.

Last Stand of Dead Men (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Rose Donovan

“I was pretty good once upon a time. I picked up an old one in the sixties and I was taught by one of the best guitarists of the era.”

“Angelo Bartolotti. This was the 1660s.”

Adora Cain

avarni

Skulduggery had once told Valkyrie the names of the various sections of the battlements. He'd told her to think of the wall as the gums of an old man-the gums themselves were called crenels, and the jutting teeth were merlons. Valkyrie had forgotten the lesson within minutes. Stephanie remembered everything.

Ravel grinned, but spoke softly. "This is technically an army camp. Everyone has knives." 

"I don't want a perfectly safe weapon. I want a dangerous weapon that hurts people." 

He took the stick from her, rapped it against her head. She howled and he nodded. "See? It hurts people." She grabbed it off him, smacked it against his skull. "Ow," he said.

"Gracious is book-smart," said Donegan. "He leaves the real-world thinking to people like you and me and small dogs that he meets."

"Should we change our name?" Saracen asked. "The Dead People, perhaps?" "The Dead Non-Gender-Specific Persons?" Vex suggested. "Dead Men and a Girl? Dead Men and a Little Lady?"

What kind of disturbed individual would read the same book twice, I ask you?

"I was pretty good, once upon a time. I picked up an old one in the sixties and I was taught by one of the best guitarists of the era." 

"Angelo Bartolotti. This was the 1660s." 

"It was a whole different instrument back then. But you didn't come here to talk about my musical past as a Baroque chick, did you?"

Chelsea van Rer

The eighth instalment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe - and the follow-up to 2012's number-one bestseller, Kingdom of the Wicked... War has finally come. But it's not a war between good and evil, or light and dark -- it's a war between Sanctuaries. For too long, the Irish Sanctuary has teetered on the brink of world-ending disaster, and the other Sanctuaries around the world have had enough. Allies turn to enemies, friends turn to foes, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie must team up with the rest of the Dead Men if they're going to have any chance at all of maintaining the balance of power and getting to the root of a vast conspiracy that has been years in the making. But while this war is only beginning, another war rages within Valkyrie herself. Her own dark side, the insanely powerful being known as Darquesse, is on the verge of rising to the surface. And if Valkyrie slips, even for a moment, then Darquesse will burn the world and everyone in it.

Last Stand of Dead Men

To be completely honest - I was sure this book was going to get a 3 [maybe a 3.5] rating. It simply didn't grip me as much as the others in the series so far. But then the last 300 pages happened. And it's not the plot, the characters - it's the writing style. Landy has a way with words that just keeps me glued to the pages of his books. It's simple, witty, and has that something that makes you forget you're just reading words on a page, that the images in your mind are exactly that - in your mind.

Despite there being a few moments in this book that I would deem a bit "meh", the plot in hindsight is very hard-hitting. So much happened - plot points got resolved, plot points were created and developed, not to mention the plot twists. There is definately something final about this book and the title doesn't really hit until you're 400 pages deep [which really makes it all so much worse]. And while this isn't the last book in the series it does feel like an end of an era, something which has caused a fundamental shift in the characters from this point on. 

To be completely honest - I was sure this book was going to get a 3 [maybe a 3.5] rating. It simply didn't grip me as much as the others in the series so far. But then the last 300 pages happened. And it's not the plot, the characters - it's the writing style. Landy has a way with words that just keeps me glued to the pages of his books. It's simple, witty, and has that something that makes you forget you're just reading words on a page, that the images in your mind are exactly that - in your mind.

Despite there being a few moments in this book that I would deem a bit "meh", the plot in hindsight is very hard-hitting. So much happened - plot points got resolved, plot points were created and developed, not to mention the plot twists. There is definately something final about this book and the title doesn't really hit until you're 400 pages deep [which really makes it all so much worse]. And while this isn't the last book in the series it does feel like an end of an era, something which has caused a fundamental shift in the characters from this point on. 

Elena

I don't understand how I was able to forget the whole 23 Hours/Day thing.

Judith Junghans

Charlotte

Bryan Alexander

This is a tricky book to review for three reasons. To begin with, it's the eighth (!) book in a series, and cannot be read without the first seven. Moreover, my daughter adores these books, and I'm reading them with her, rather than on my own.

Trickier still, pretty much the entire novel is spoilers. Last Stand picks up where the previous book left off, then escalates wildly into global war. And (view spoiler)[everything else is a spoiler, even a shocking surprise.

One the Sanctuaries War begins a series of reversal and betrayals commence. A character is betrayed by his girlfriend, the heroine ambushed by her putatively beneficial double, war schemes go awry, and then the terrible, murderous treachery of Erskine Ravel. Then things get worse, as Darquesse emerges from poor Valkyrie Cain...
 (hide spoiler)]

Like the rest of the series, Last Stand delights in a mixture of banter, martial arts, surrealist invention, and the main characters of Valkyrie and Skulduggery. It differs in spending so much of its text on action, mostly war, especially in the second half.

If you don't know the series, start at the beginning and enjoy. 
If you do know it, read this at once.

Sandrin

Joel Xavier

Nia Novoselski

Nicholas Barnard

Penny Devereux 

The eighth instalment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe - and the follow-up to 2012's number-one bestseller, Kingdom of the Wicked...

Last Stand of Dead Men (Skulduggery Pleasant, Book 8)

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