Interesting Audio

Here are some great audio files relating to "Skullduggery Pleasant" An interview with Derek Landy Audio excerpt of chapter one An interview with Skulduggery Pleasant himself! Enjoy! I know I did!

"Skulduggery Pleasant" by Derek Landy

Suzanna from the Terry Brooks forum brought this book to my attention, and I’m really glad she did. Skulduggery Pleasant focuses on the skeleton wizard-detective of the same name (he won his current skull in a poker game—don’t ask what happened to his old one!) and a young girl named Stephanie. Stephanie’s uncle—a horror fiction writer—left her his fortune, including his own house. It’s not until Stephanie spends the night alone there that the story takes off, with Pleasant bashing the door down and saving her from a disturbing attacker. Skulduggery Pleasant is one of the funniest books I have read in a long time- the detective has a sense of humour to die for—jokes and quips abound, but it’s not the cheesy humour you might be used to finding inYoung Adult books. In fact, the humour is quite realistic without descending to rudeness. Despite being humourous, when it gets down to the nitty gritty of magic and action, Skulduggery Pleasant delivers, and delivers in style. Firstly, the magic system is pretty straight forward and easy to understand. It’s not basic, but Derek hasn’t really felt the need to explain needless nuances to it. Secondly, I wouldn’t describe the action as gory but it is most definitely exciting! There’s nothing quite like reading about a heist-escape with Vampires in hot pursuit! Overall this is an easy and enjoyable "Pick-up and read" kind of book. It's got action, humour, an evil mastermind and an involving but not overcomplicated plot. Score: 9/10 Rationale: Incredibly witty, and immensely fun--put Skulduggery Pleasant to the top of your "To be read" pile! Still not convinced? Read an Extract.

You may have noted it's been over a week since the last review--allow me to apologize. I'm working a full-time job, and studying a double-time psychology course. The final exam was on Wednesday, so I've been using whatever spare time I have reading about such delights as schizophrenia, reductionism and psychoanalysis. The good news is, I have a lot more lined up and ready to publish for Bookie Monster-- including several reviews, a preview and a couple of interviews. Check back on sunday afternoon for the Bookie Monster review of Skulduggery Pleasant!

New Release- Acacia

Just a quick reminder that David Anthony Durham's "Acacia: War with the Mein" is now in stores! PS: Bookie Monster has been mentioned on David Anthony Durham's blog!

"Orcs" by Stan Nicholls

"Orcs" isn’t a bad book as such; it’s just not a good one. It follows the escapades of an orc warband, in search of artefacts they have no real understanding of. From the blurb, you’d be led to believe that the story follows the evil guys, or at least anti-heroes. However, instead of the interesting feast it promises, it’s a pretty disappointing and formulaic fare that reads a lot like a novelised Dungeons and Dragons campaign. It’s repetitive in several ways. Firstly, to keep the story going, roughly the same chain of events happens not twice, but three times. It feels contrived (of course it is, it’s a novel!) and had me rolling my eyes, which is never a good thing when reading! Secondly, the fight sequences that occur every 10 or so pages are excruciatingly specific and become tedious very, very quickly. I found myself reading each chapter, hoping the next would see the story really develop, but I was disappointed. It was only when I reached the final chapters that I realised this wasn’t going to happen. Instead, the ending is disjointed and almost unrelated to the rest of the book: there were no references to trans-dimensional creatures in the previous 700 pages, so it leaves the mind boggling. Another problem I have with the ending (I hesitate to call it a conclusion, because it doesn’t tie the story up) is the anti-climactic Deus ex Machina. A super-character that appears occasionally to lead the characters to the next plot point disposes of the evil queen, who has been portrayed as a powerful sorceress herself. The author’s also taken to including every fantasy creature known to man, and it is more than distracting when passing references are made to pixies, kobolds, gremlins etc... adding nothing to the story and causing you to mentally tick them off as they’re brought up. It’s an entertaining book, but don’t expect to be blown away by it in any shape or form. It’s…. popcorn fantasy, but in big enough a volume to be reasonable value for money. Score: Take it or leave it. Rationale: It’s not particularly bad, and is entertaining enough for a train journey, for example, just don’t expect to remember much about it when you put it down…. or indeed very much care.

Important Notice

I used my pseudonym until now, because I was slightly wary about attaching my real name to Bookie Monster. But why should I be? After all, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Posting reviews under a different name is a dangerous thing, because you don't honestly feel you're going to be held personally responsible for what you say or write. So here we have it-- if you want to track me down, you know where to start! ~~John Dent