DNF: Ink and Bone  My Thoughts: Six of Crows My Thoughts: A Darker Shade of Magic My Thoughts: Quake

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

My Thoughts: The Maleficent Seven, by Derek Landy

From the World of Skulduggery Pleasant

Page Count: 288 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks 
  • Release Date: 28 Mar 2013
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007500920
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007500925

Book Description 
"A brilliant, hilarious one-off novel in the Skulduggery Pleasant universe, from number-one-bestselling author Derek Landy
This time, the bad guys take the stage.
Tanith Low, now possessed by a remnant, recruits a gang of villains – many of whom will be familiar from previous Skulduggery adventures – in order to track down and steal the four God-Killer level weapons that could hurt Darquesse when she eventually emerges. Also on the trail of the weapons is a secret group of Sanctuary sorcerers, and doing his best to keep up and keep Tanith alive is one Mister Ghastly Bespoke.
When the villains around her are lying and scheming and plotting, Tanith needs to stay two steps ahead of her teammates and her enemies. After all, she's got her own double-crosses to plan – and she’s a villain herself…"-Amazon 
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My Thoughts:  I love Derek Landy. He's an amazing author, and writes amazing books. Yet I have to say that I liked his Skulduggery trilogies a bit more than I liked this.
My problem? The heists were repetitive. Yes, I know they were in different locations, with different descriptions and different plans. However every single heist seemed identical in nature to the other. I felt like I was reading the same 40 pages, over and over and over again.

Now the unfortunate part, is the majority of the book were heists. I could roughly estimate that 15% of the novella was non-hiesty action. 
But before you write this book off- they had some pretty good pros also.... like the back stories!
The back stories; oh the back stories! This was one of the most intriguing parts of the novel. You got to see Tanith Low's upbringings, her family, where she trained, her missions;  as well as her sorcery. That's right. You get a close up seat as Derek Landy explains undiscovered branches of magic, along with a few "twigs of magic"  too..

All in all, I admit this is a must read novella for Skulduggery fans; I mean seriously. You cant go wrong for 10 bucks!
Rating: B+
What to expect?
  • Heists!
  • Action
  • Humor!
  • Magic
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Watch Harper Collins trailer for Derek Landy's fifth book in the Skulduggery seres; Mortal Coil! Currently, I think this is the only trailer for the Skulduggery series, so enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. Yay, more books I have yet to read! Everyone seems to love these though. It's sad that it was repetitive because it is such a short book, you would think there would be more room for a new story. That trailer kind of creeps me out!

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, but it was still a great read though!
      The trailer is quite creepy! It all adds to the mystique of the novel!

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    2. The CGI was amazing for a book trailer, and the theme music was quite good also.

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