Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

            As part of my ever-continuing search for the heir apparent to the Harry Potter empire, I stumbled across this gem of a book. Derek Landy wrote Skullduggery Pleasant as a young adult work of fiction, but I think it works on more levels than that. Much like Harry Potter did.

            The book begins rather inauspiciously with a funeral and the reading of a will. Stephanie Edgely, a twelve-year old girl, is terribly depressed that her uncle has passed on to join the choir invisible. Her parents weren’t close to her uncle Gordon Edgely, who was a famous author of tales regarding magic and such. Nevertheless, when he finally shuffles loose the mortal coil due to an unexpected heart attack, the whole family turns out to say their goodbyes. The next day, Uncle Gordon’s will is read. His brother Fergus and his abysmal wife Beryl get a car and a boat, Stephanie’s parents get the villa in France, and Stephanie gets the old homestead and his whole fortune. No one really pays any attention to the trench-coated stranger who is present. He only gets a passage that sounds like it’s from a self-help book.

            Stephanie goes with her family to check out her new home. Unfortunately, through a convenient set of circumstances, Stephanie must fend for herself in her new mansion. No sooner than she begins to fall asleep, a stranger sneaks in to try to kill Stephanie. She almost becomes a statistic, if it were not for the help of the mysterious stranger from the will reading. As the fight continues, Stephanie notices some very odd things about her savior. He uses magic, he’s very thin, and, oh yeah, he's a walking, talking skeleton. Here, we meet Skullduggery Pleasant, a sorcerer detective of the highest order. From this point on, Stephanie finds herself thrust into a world where magic exists, no one can truly be trusted, and vampires act as security guards.

            Derek Landy has succeeded in crafting a rich, beautiful world where anything can, and usually does, happen. The action is brisk, the dialogue is crisp and witty, and the plot borders on ridiculous, but that is what makes the book work. Right from the beginning, you begin to care about what will happen to Skullduggery and Stephanie. Will they triumph over evil? Hey, it’s a book. Read it yourself. One thing I really enjoyed is that Mr. Landy took many influences from pop culture and blended them together into a work that is truly interesting to read. Everything from Monty Python to Nick Cave to H.P. Lovecraft is brought up; so this is definitely a dorky book for all of you to grab on to tight. This is the first in a planned trilogy, so snap it up and get in on the ground floor early. Maybe you can enjoy it before the movie adaptation begins to shift its massive gears.