Customer Reviews

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Skulduggery Pleasant The Faceless Ones fits in well with the other books and is just as good. It is easy to pick up the story and characters so don't worry if you haven't read the other books.

This book is a little bit scary but good for an 8 year old or older I think. It is a very exciting and enjoyable.

You will like this book if you like adventure, magic and action.

After defeating endless vampires, demons and bad guys, you would think that Skulduggery Pleasant and his assistant, Valkyrie Cain, would be ready for a break. Although blacklisted by the Sanctuary, Skulduggery and Valkyrie still seem to be in the thick of all matters paranormal and unusual. You didn't expect them to sit at home and just watch the world come to an end, did you?

After inspecting the crime scene of a teleporter's murder, four more teleporters show up dead and the trend is utterly disturbing. Not only are teleporters extremely hard to catch and/or kill, all of them have been murdered in the same gruesome way. Skulduggery and Valkyrie launch into an investigation that turns up even more alarming information. Someone named Batu is killing off teleporters to narrow down the population to one...and that one teleporter will be used to open the gateway to the world of the Faceless Ones.

Of course, there are numerous issues to complicate matters. Finding a teleporter is never easy, and confining them to one location is even trickier. Batu also has drummed up support and created "The Diablerie," a problematic group of assassins who will stop at nothing to make sure that the gateway is opened. The Sanctuary isn't exactly being helpful, seeing as their head detective, Remus Crux, gets confused easily about who the real bad guys are. It also doesn't help that a spy is hidden in the Sanctuary passing along crucial information to the Diablerie.

In the midst of all these issues, Valkyrie Cain is struggling with some problems of her own. Newly 14, Valkyrie has grown over the past year and her protective outer gear is no longer fitting. Her reflection is doing well keeping up appearances at home and school, but her reflection also received her first kiss from a boy, and Valkyrie is disappointed to find the whole experience devoid of emotion. Perhaps she is most uncomfortable with the fact that everyone keeps telling her she needs to live a normal teenage life, one that is not fraught with danger and an untimely death. It looks as though her nightly excursions may finally be catching up with her.

However, Valkyrie's personal problems will have to wait for another day as the threat of the Faceless Ones is very real and very dangerous. If you've read the previous installments in this series, then you know that there is an epic battle, a couple of deaths, and some bruises and broken bones. In the end, though, there are smiles all around as yet another disaster is averted. Not to give anything away, readers, but don't plan on smiling at the end of this one.

I've always thought that the Skulduggery books have long been underappreciated. Sure, it's fun to have wizards, witches, magic, blah, blah, blah, but there is no other place where you can get a dry sense of humor, sarcastic bantering, and a host of original characters that cause readers to shed tears from so much laughing. Quick wit is hard to come by these days, and if you read too fast, you're going to miss all the little gems inserted craftily into the story. I, for one, can't wait to see what Derek Landy has up his sleeve next.

--- Reviewed by Benjamin Boche (bennyboche@hotmail.com)

The Skulduggery Pleasant series is for older kids, probably most exciting for the 10-12 age range. But I'm a mom, and I read this before passing it on to my son. (He was working on another book.) One thing I like about this series, which I like about the Harry Potter books, too, is that genuinely bad things happen to people. Though. since the world of magic and monsters isn't real, the young reader is removed from the violence being "real".

But the battle between good and evil is desperate and the bad guys are really bad and there's plenty of people who sit in the middle unintentionally making trouble (Think Fudge in Harry Potter) or whose side is really up for grabs (Think Snape). There's also a lot of humor in the Skulduggery series.

The Skulduggery books, at least through this 3rd book, do not have the touches of philosophy that you see in Harry Potter, though. If Derek Landy added a little more of the big questions to his stories, a little more of the morality tales, I think this series could turn into really exceptional books. Right now, they are, on balance, more simple fun.

But sometimes the writing is downright excellent. Near the end of "The Faceless Ones", Landy describes a Faceless One as it enters our world. His description is amazing, I could see this creature in all it's awful beauty. More writing like that, and he'll have a classic. He's not there, yet, though.

Recommended as fun reading.

I bought this book for my daughter as a gift, so I really can't rate it personally, but my daugter loves the series.

i'm eleven years old and i loved the skulduggery pleasany series!i've read all three books and can't wait for the fourth book.my faveoite characters are valkkyrie cain and flecher renn.i would recommend this book to kids between the ages of 10 and 14.this book is packed with action and horrer,job well done derek landy!

Valkyrie Cain and company are back for another daring, supernatural adventure in Derek Landy's THE FACELESS ONES. This is the best SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT novel I've read so far, with much more development of the characters, their relationships, and higher stakes than we've ever seen before. If you thought life was dangerous for this crowd in the first two books, hold on to you hats - 'cause things only get worse from here.

Teleporters across the world are being murdered. Despite the suspension of his official title as Sanctuary's lead investigator, skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant and his young protégé, Valkyrie Cain, are on the case. It's small wonder then, when they're contacted by the world's last trained teleporter, Emmett Peregrine, for protection. But when Peregrine is murdered by members of The Diablerie on ace swordswoman Tanith Low's watch, the savvy duo knows the stakes have risen to an all-time high. For this time our heroes aren't just facing a skilled dark sorcerer intent on revenge, but a crazed madman determined to bring back a nearly indestructible force: The Faceless Ones.

What I enjoyed so much this time around was how Mr. Landy maintained the plot's forward-charging momentum, while simultaneously deepening the relationships between the main characters. The affection between Valkyrie and her new group of friends grows more apparent with each book, especially the almost parent/child attachment between her and Skulduggery, despite his best efforts to remain aloof. These familial stirrings are further evidenced when both mad scientist Kenspeckle Grouse and ex-boxer-turned-fine-tailor Ghastly Bespoke express deep concern over the increasing risks Valkyrie's new job poses to her life.

There are also wonderful scenes demonstrating how much "life" Valkyrie is missing out on by allowing her mirror self to take over her everyday activities, whether it's her first kiss, the growing distance in the relationship with her parents, or Tanith's tacit agreement with Kenspeckle's belief that Val needs friends her own age. As she sustains one injury after another and multiple near-death encounters, it becomes clear to the reader (if not Valkyrie herself) that this wickedly cool existence comes at a high price.

I applaud Derek Landy for not being afraid of taking the SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT novels in an even darker direction and showing the effects such events have on his young heroine's psyche. I'm eagerly anticipating book #4.

Reviewed by: Cat

Skulduggery and Valkyrie are working against time, the Grand Mage and Detective Crux, who has taken on Skulduggery's job at with the Sanctuary. Crux is out to crucify Skulduggery because he has something to prove, as well as the fact that he just doesn't like Skulduggery. Crux won't rest until he has Skulduggery in jail. I love that Crux and Skulduggery are so taken with their own agendas that they won't even listen to reason with the other side. Of course, as the reader, you're going to side with Skulduggery because you know more of the back story than Crux does.

Unfortunately, someone is killing the few Teleporters that are left, and when Skulduggery and Valkyrie figure out why it's game on to stop whoever it is from reclaiming the Grotesquery, and opening a portal to let the Faceless Ones back into the mortal world. If that happens, it's the end of all of us.

For fans of the previous Skulduggery books, this one will reel them in hook, line and sinker. The chapters move quickly, there's a lot of action (poor Valkyrie has to see Kenspeckle numerous times to heal her various cuts, bruises and even a broken tooth) and, of course, you just can't trust everyone, and sometimes you have to trust your enemies.

Then there's the additional story of Valkyrie's life. She's spending all her time with Skulduggery learning to be a sorcerer, but she's missing out on those coming-of-age moments that just don't happen every day (like your first kiss). Is she going to be okay letting her mirror image continue living her daily existence, or is she going to have to make a choice?

I'm anxious to read the next one to see how it all turns out!

Notes on the Cover:
I like the font and typeface of the title, I love the black crystal with the eyes of a Faceless One in it (nice and creepy!), and I love that you can see the farmhouse where things really happen. Oh, and the extra little something, next to the black crystal are the words: Do panic. They're coming.

Loved It! Finally the Faceless Ones are coming back to show their power. As usual, there is only one duo up to the task of stopping it from happening. Stephanie and Skullduggery actually have more than a plateful this time, and I can't promise that all of our favorites make it through. Cost of doing business with magical misfits, I guess. Children will read it and be as shocked as in Harry Potter #6. Don't worry- the author hints that there is more to come. Get hooked if you are not already a fan.

I loved the first book, liked the second book, but this one was a disappointment to me. All the right elements were there, but I think that was the problem. It was the same heros, the same bad guys, the same basic problem (find the ancient artifact in time to save the world). Just like the first two books, but not as good. The one new major character - a sullen teen teleporter - was not that interesting. But what really brought the book down for me was overall tone. Throughout the book, characters keep questioning whether Skullduggery should really keep dragging a fourteen year-old girl through adventures that get her punched in the face and will likely end up killing her in a spectacularly painful way. And there's never a good answer, so it made it hard, as a reader, to keep suspending disbelief.

If you liked the first two books, you'll want to read this one just to see what happens, but if you are on the fence about it, I'd wait for it to be available in the library.

They are the best books ever cannot put the books down I love the twist in the end.