The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire

Skulduggery Pleasant

by Derek Landy

An unmissable paraquel to the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series, The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire is at once a thrilling recap of the books so far, a reference guide to characters, and a treasure-trove of bonus content. As the Skulduggery Pleasant series nears its end (again), relive the adventure in this lavishly illustrated compendium of all things Skulduggery. Featuring a unique run-down of the books so far, it also includes an invaluable reference tool for the dizzying cast of characters, as well as bonuses, surprises, and a dark story all of its own. The Grimoire is an essential book for any Skulduggery fan. The cover of this edition uses special inks and debossing to represent the age and magic of the Grimoire. Pages inside are designed to represent each archivist's actual papers, and are filled with brand-new information and illustrations from a group of carefully selected artists, including illustrator-extraordinaire Tom Percival as well as brand-new names working in multiple styles, to represent the incredible and broad world of Skulduggery Pleasant.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Audiobook, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Horror

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2021

About the author

Derek Landy is an Irish writer and screenwriter. In addition to the bestselling children's/YA series of Skulduggery Pleasant books, a supernatural mystery series starring Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and Valkyrie Cain, a young female magician, he has written two screenplays that have been made into films: the IFTA award winning "Dead Bodies" and the IFTA nominated "Boy Eats Girl". Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.

He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List.

Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.

Reviews

[Feyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

"'Tasted the darkness', I swear to God... What, did you have a darkness sandwich or was it a whole plate?"

4.5 🌟
Companion books like this can turn out like an encyclopedia and read like one and really suck. Not this one.
Of course there are entries with explanations and definition but most of the time it's a recollection of what has happened so far (until Dead or Alive). Yes, it's a full retelling but it doesn't get boring for even a second. Landy has characters comment on everything (I lived for these interview sections and the comments, amazing!). Fear not, our beloved sarcastic banter is part of that. That plus the art work and the new stuff... Great combination! The new stuff was pretty cool, I want to - nope: need to! - read more about that in the final issue of the series. (Dear Derek Landy: Please tell me the new information will be mentioned (and resolved!!) in the final book?! I'm on the edge of my seat here!)
This book was a nice package and I might even revisit before diving into the final book (yeah, I cry everytime I really let myself think. It can't end... the first time already hurt!) if I don't have the time for a full reread.

[Moonie · Rating 2 out of 5]

“I have faith in the grimoire now so catch me in 2 months being a clown!!! AGAIN!”

WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS, HONK HONK.

What happens when Derek Landy refuses Harper Collins’s help? A literal apology letter that falls out when you open the book.

A guidebook for the series is a great idea. I wasn’t as enthused about the idea of it being filled with plot summaries, but that’s okay, some Harper Collins can take care of that. What was that? Derek was *offered* someone else to write the summaries, so he could focus on the brand new content? And he refused so he could instead write overwrought recaps with unfunny jokes and continuity errors? And then blew past every deadline and made this book literally late to press with tons of errors?

What did I expect. 🤡

I don’t think there was any reason this book couldn’t have come out in July, September, or even January. But I understand that’s not necessarily a call Derek got to make. But to refuse someone else writing THE BORING PARTS and as a result dragging down the entire production timeline and say it was a result of “tight deadlines” is literally self sabotage.

I wouldn’t usually ding a book for continuity errors or typos (I didn’t for the other ph2 books!) but to make a GUIDE BOOK and have to clarify before it’s even released that it will have a later edition to correct the errors is clown shit.

Also, why bother recapping the short stories if half the time Valkyrie and Skulduggery just shrug and say “I wasn’t there, idk what happened”?

Anyway, on the to actual new content.

This books answers burning questions you’ve been pondering for years, while making you ask new questions like “when did this take place, when did this take place, WHEN DID THIS TAKE PLACE?” Dead character cheerfully record commentary while other dead characters never show up despite having clearly having the opportunity to! MAGIC, IDK!

I made the rookie mistake of reading this like a book, which you should not do under any circumstance. Listen to me: read the book by going to the new story segments and flipping to them in order. Otherwise you are going to be reading a ~14 page story over the course of 400 pages and not being able to keep track of what the fuck is happening. Then go back and read the summaries if you’re feeling ~frisky~. There’s dialogue that made me smile, but if you’re expecting some years later introspection, don’t hold your breath. We don’t wanna spoil anyone!

Oh, right, almost forgot: another reason this guide book is Garbo, is because Derek was adamant on “not spoiling people if they’ve only read book 1”, so they gutted the character profile section that would ruin “later plot twists” and sprinkled the portrait art through the summaries instead. The idea is that once a reader finishes reading the summary for the book they’ve finished, they won’t read on any further and risk spoiling themselves. Sprinkling on top of this hot garbage (who are these people 2 books into a series, reading the fan guide to it but NOT wanting to see spoilers? WHO???) is that before the book 1 summary even starts, you will find a open spoiler for BOOK 12.

CLOWN. SHIT.


The artists are fantastic and did such a great job I could not feel right giving this one star. The comic especially is the crown jewel of the book , although Valkyrie’s jeans are just a whale tail short of a 2004 Paris Hilton look. It’s inappropriate for the time/setting, inappropriate for her practical character, and inappropriate for an underaged teenager who’s often sexualized in the series. Ick.


I do genuinely appreciate that this book is going to get revised. I am 100% going to put fresh eyes on my American copy out in September and am happy to go back and edit this review. But I can’t help but think about the fact that even then, it’s going to still show evidence of being slapdash. No character profiles, no glossary, no MAPS.... I love this series (I PROMISE I DO) and I think it deserves something that took TIME. 16 years of art should not be wrapped up in 2 months of stapled together pieces of participle board.


Sigh. Clown shit.

[james · Rating 2 out of 5]

12 year-old me is coming for my life as we speak


this came out like .. a year and a half ago (?) and i said i wouldn't buy it immediately. which is why i only bought it two whole weeks after its release and then DIDN'T READ IT FOR A WHOLE YEAR.

i did eventually start it but. honestly, what's the point. the whole structure of it is just way to convoluted. the audiobook (which i did listen to while reading) doesn't make sense either. like a part is voice acting of the characters but sometimes it is not? give me a break.

there's a note flying out of the book making excuses for getting parts of the timeline wrong and all the spelling and font mistakes in this book. i can only hope they are not in the new edition coming out next (?) year.

the 15th book summary isn't even in there, which brings me back to: WHY did you BUY THIS Jonathan??

either way. i will not read this any further. i am tired. of the whole series actually. dnf on page 158

[Siona Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually a fun addition to the series. A nice recap before the final(?) book in the series, that also has some interesting lore bits sprinkled in.

[Ben Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire was like a walk through memory lane. It's a recap of the entire series so far in interview formats, with the Archivists documenting the events while also conducting interviews with some of the characters for their archive. The coverage of the earlier books in the series was especially nostalgic for me as I used to re-read them all the time.

There was also a narrative plot running throughout with the Archivists, which kept things fresh and interesting. The audio in particular utilized this very well, with background sounds of page ruffling and even some altered/added dialogue. I listened to the audio in tandem with the physical book, which turned out to be a good idea as the book has images throughout, and also a comic section that the audio describing the scenes.

[IsaJameela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. Just flawless. (Probably?) There were great recaps of all the important details for all the stories, plus some of the short stories with funny comments from the characters. There was an intertwined plot that was really interesting and suspensful. The different archivists(narrators) had different voices which I really enjoyed, my favourite being Archivist Rux. And we got a backstory for Skulduggery's parents. Which is just amazing. Just, I loved it. Also, who can believe that Mr Peccant is Skulduggery's younger brother. Like what? Overall, I loved this book and would absolutely recommend reading it if you enjoyed the other books in the series.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, so many fervent thanks to HarperCollins for sending this to me! I geek out massively every time a new Skulduggery book lands on my doorstep and I cannot express how grateful I am – and I’m so sorry to be posting this review so late! Life just comes at you fast sometimes. I’m hoping to film my video review soon, so don’t forget to keep an eye on my Youtube channel for all things Skulduggery Pleasant!

The Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire is the much-awaited guide to the Skulduggery Pleasant universe. After 13 years, 14 novels, several spin-offs and thousands of pages of fun, Derek Landy has released this guidebook as a reference guide to the series so that people can recap the events of the previous books before the final book comes out next year. It’s also intended to serve as a definitive recounting of events, including the final say on the retcons, corrections and occasional continuity errors that inevitably popped up over the years.

Rather than being a traditional series bible, the book is framed as a report written by several harried Sanctuary Archivists, incorporating in-depth recaps of each book’s plot into a mixed-media design that includes transcripts and commentary from the characters. It’s very meta, just as zany and creative as one would expect from this series – and I really enjoyed aspects of this format. For one, I loved seeing the characters’ comments. The back-and-forth of their banter, the sparkling dialogue – it’s all so witty, and the dialogue sparkles as always. It made me snort-laugh out of my nose on many occasions, and I think it was a great idea because it broke up what would otherwise have been walls of text summarising events of previous books, and kept it from being too dense to read.

I also really enjoyed the art that were scattered throughout. There was a mixture of art styles, some of which I liked more than others – and I would have preferred it if they’d used just the one artist but I understand that it’s a big ask to have one artist do that much work. That being said, it was really cute, and I found it useful seeing visual representations of certain characters I didn’t have a clear mental image of.

Speaking of art, the absolute best part of this book was the comic in the middle, 100%. The art for that was fantastic, dynamic and absolutely gorgeous – I’d love to see a full graphic novel adaptation of at least the first book; I think it lends itself so well to this sort of style. It had this amazing energy that really brought the story to life.

There was also some great new information in there. I was initially sceptical about some of it – this is an unpopular opinion, but I like a bit of mystery, and I don’t mind a few unanswered questions. In fact, I sometimes find myself annoyed when unanswered questions are suddenly unequivocally answered in a way I don’t like (see my reaction to the Saracen reveal, for example) but I really liked the new insight we got into Skulduggery’s past. It was mysterious enough not to give too much away, while also providing us with fresh insight into who Skulduggery is, and I think the balance was great.

That being said, as much as I enjoyed some aspects of the framing and I think conceptually it was a good idea, in terms of execution it creates as many problems as it solves. We have characters commenting retrospectively on events that have yet to truly be resolved, while later in the book they leave out certain bits of information that makes sense in-universe but then leaves gaps in the book that the reader is forced to fill in. In addition to this, the information the characters are or aren’t willing to share seem to make no sense. The Lord Vile reveal, for example, is just thrown in there, despite the fact that even some of the series’ main players didn’t know the truth about it until recently – but the truth about Saracen’s power is omitted, despite there being no in-world consequences to revealing it. In another aside, Myosotis Terra, a character who vanishes from memory whenever she’s out of sight, is entirely omitted from the narrative, as Valkyrie responds to questioning about her with simply a ‘Who?’ Yeah, this is cute, very tongue in cheek – but also, the whole point of this book is to be an in-depth guide to the series! Leaving out information like this, while it makes sense narratively with the format of the book, seems to directly contradict the purpose of its existence. I’m definitely torn, because I think the entire concept of the framing device was brilliant, but it’s to the detriment of the book in many ways because we sacrifice certain pieces of information in order to maintain the integrity of the external structure.

Oh, and speaking of the structure… that was another thing that didn’t entirely work for me. This book has several pieces of bonus content to keep things fresh, one of them being a new short story that’s set intermittently throughout the series to pad some of the empty months between the books. When reading the initial reviews, I saw that many people had suggested reading the short story first, as a complete piece, and then going back to read the plot summaries later. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to ignore this advice and read it cover to cover, in order. That was a mistake. For the love of god I am BEGGING you to read the short story separately, because I have genuinely forgotten everything that happened and I only finished this book about 3 hours ago. Reading 10k of content just a few pages at a time, between pages and pages of summarisation, was not it. I’m gonna have to go back and reread the whole thing later. Again, I think it was a great idea, but the story is broken up so much that it’s just impossible to keep track of, and by the time you reach the next segment you’ve already forgotten what came before. It’s frustrating, because it was a good story, but if you put a gun to my head and asked for a recap, all I could tell you is ‘maggots.’ Which is not exactly a ringing endorsement.

There were definitely things I did like about this book, but honestly? I think releasing it right now was a bad call. The purpose of this Grimoire was ostensibly to give readers a guidebook so that they could recap the entire series without having to reread the books before the final book comes out – and as a result we get a series bible that’s full of missing pieces and will be outdated and unfit for purpose in less than a year. On top of that, the book was also rushed, made on tight deadlines and still ended up being pushed back, because Derek Landy had to somehow squeeze in writing an entire guidebook instead of dedicating his full focus to the final book in the series, and honestly, the cracks kind of show. There’s literally a letter that falls out of the book that sheepishly holds its hands up to apologise for the mistakes and formatting errors, which is then incorporated into the framing narrative. Throughout the book, the narrators acknowledge the slapdash nature of the book and the disjointed nature of it, attributing its issues to Sanctuary admin errors. Like yeah, sure, that’s cute – but it also feels kind of insulting. As other reviews have mentioned, this book is supposed to be a recap of over a decade of work on a bestselling series, and honestly it’s a mess. I understand why they released it when they did, but in my opinion they should have waited until the final book was released and THEN brought this out, in all its glory – full character profiles, maps, photos, interviews with the author, the works. That way he could have taken his time with it and really done it properly, made this a full, extensive and error-free guide to the series instead of accidentally creating brand new errors in an attempt to resolve the old ones.

So overall, mixed feelings here. I liked it, I had fun reading it (as much fun as one possibly can have when reading 400 pages of synopses) and there were definitely lots of enjoyable moments, but overall I kind of wish they’d taken a more traditional approach and waited until the series was over before they published a series bible that ultimately isn’t quite fit for purpose.

[Carly-Ann Brandreth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh Mr Landy, I’m not mad... just disappointed! I have faithfully bought every book you’ve published since I was 13, every Skullduggery Pleasant book, spin off, world book day story and Demon Road series. You’ve never let me down before, every word you’ve written has been exquisite and familiar giving me both thrills and the warm and fuzzies you get from something nostalgic and familiar. I can’t but feel however that this book is a slap dash money grab before you finish off this series next year. It’s confusing to follow the various snippets throughout if you read it cover to cover and I’m 27 years old, I don’t know how your 12 year old readers will fair! The summaries of each book are a waste of time, I can read the summaries on goodreads if I want them and the interjections from characters feel forced and lack the usual wit and familiarity, I could pick out a Skulduggery quote anywhere but they didn’t feel like his voice. The book is full of errors, so much lack of care that only further confirms to me that this book only serves the purpose of dragging out the cash flow as long as possible before the final book. I’m a teacher and I won’t even be putting this book in my classroom, I wouldn’t want my pupils to read it and have it put them off the rich and vibrant world you have created. It does nothing to represent and only taints the hard and amazing work you have done over the years. But I am willing to forgive and try very hard to forget that this book existed!

[Jade Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me so much longer than expected. It's essentially a recap of the whole series so far with a few definitions here and there to help out. There are two new stories (?) running along with it but I'm not sure they were exciting enough to make the book worth it if you don't need the refresher. Though there were a few good tidbits.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot!
The Grimoire is a recap of the whole series so far as well as several storylines which run parallel to the main plot. It’s filled with all the wit and one-liners that are familiar throughout the series however this book is unique in the way it literally involves the reader. It eventually includes you personally in the plot whether you like it or not.

However, despite thoroughly enjoying it, it did feel rushed. There were mistakes & continuity errors however these have been mentioned with a note that came with the book which said these would be amended in future copies. For me, this didn’t take away from the story. I can excuse human error and the book made up for any of the mistakes.

The rest of this review completely strays away from my opinions on the Grimoire and instead has somehow become a rant in response to an issue I’d read in a comment that mentioned how Valkyrie’s character had been over sexualised throughout the whole series. I had a lot of thoughts in my head and publishing them here felt as good a place as any. I mention stuff from several of the other books in the series so feel free to ignore the rest of this review or feel free to add your own opinions!

Just a heads up, my justifications are going to be pretty subjective. The Skulduggery series has been be favourite since I was 9 (i’m now 19) and as i’m re-reading them all again now, they’re just as good as they were the first few times round. I’ve met Derek Landy 3 times over the years. He is the reason I’ve grown up wanting to be an author. I’m going to uni to study creative writing in September and over my gap year have written a completed first copy of my own novel which has been in-the-making for several years. What I’m trying to say is that these books have shaped me a lot and so my opinions are going to be sorta one sided and pretty biased.


The characters have got to be my favourite thing about the Skulduggery series. I love the development of seemingly irrelevant characters becoming crucial or villains deciding to become heroes. But, of course, you can’t mention character development without mentioning Valkyrie.
I saw a comment recently that mentioned that Valkyrie was over sexualised throughout the books, despite being underage for a substantial portion of the series. I don’t think this is a fair judgement. I think her character is dependent on it.


Valkyrie, who was then Stephanie, was 12 when she was brought into the world of magic and sorcerers and danger. She grew up a hell of a lot quicker than any kid her age which was never a good thing but happened regardless. From the beginning, characters were warning her against this new life. (E.g Ghastly advising her to forget everything and go back home.)
Therefore, because she had been exposed to a lot of violence and adult topics at a young age, she spent a lot of her childhood wanting to be viewed as an adult. She hated being undermined for her age and she hated being talked down to. So, when she reached 15/16 and entered early adulthood, she used her beauty and femininity as a tool to be viewed as more grown-up. Similarly, she had grown up around characters like China and Tanith who weaponise other peoples desires towards them and use their looks as another aspect of their arsenal.
In Mortal Coil and The Death Bringer, Valkyrie is depicted to be interested in boys more and how she looks which is a big leap to how she had been in her early teens but this just shows her growing up. She’s a teenager after all.


Of course, feeling the need to sexualise herself at 15 isn’t good but she’s never meant to be idolised through the way she seemed to grow up too fast. Throughout the whole series, there are characters reminding her of Skulduggery’s bad influence. (e.g Ghastly, Kenspeckle & Fletcher) She chooses to actively ignore them and, over time, not only does she grow up fast, but she also becomes entitled and arrogant.
In Death Bringer, Fletcher and Val’s breakup sums up her character perfectly. She’s selfish and rude and awful. She hurts people and she cheats on her boyfriend and she’s a bit of a bitch. I still don’t know how it is that I simultaneously love Skulduggery & Valkyrie with all my heart whilst knowing that, if they existed and I knew them in person, I’d definitely not get along with them.
She’s not a nice person and not a character to idolise. Yet, as readers, we love her despite her faults because she’s realistic. She makes bad decisions and we forgive her for it. At the end of the day, she’s just a teenager trying to figure out who she is. It’s your average coming of age tale (with added fireballs and punches and apocalypses.)

Unfortunately, it’s not always just Valkyrie who sexualises herself. Since 12, she’s clearly been called pretty/attractive by characters however this is rarely positive when she’s a child. Often, i think this is used as a writing technique to enhance the reader’s hatred to the aggressor. For example, in The Faceless Ones. When Skulduggery and Val venture into the caves below Grimwood house and meet Anathem Mire, Mire wants to keep Valkyrie as his queen (even though she was 13/14) which is gross and so it enhances his character and makes us hate him even more. Also, there’s the authenticity of the fact that Valkyrie is a teenage girl in a world where it is sadly not uncommon to receive unwanted male attention.

Valkyrie balances the desirable aspects of being a hero with the undesirable parts too. She’s badass and beautiful and strong whilst also being guilt-ridden, arrogant and rude. Especially as she’s written by a male author, I think she’s represented excellently as a heroin. I disagree quite strongly that she’s over-sexualised. I think, much like how she seeks control with almost every aspect of her life, she’s mostly in control as to when she wants to be desired or not. (apart from that time she had sick in her hair ofc) She’s such a real character that she’s not just tangible, she’s sharp.

[JVT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I've bought in hardcover in ages.
I'd heard this book contained illustrations, and from experience, I knew illustrations aren't very nice on an E-Reader.
And the illustrations didn't disappoint.
The book consists out of summaries of all the 15 books, and it includes 2 side stories about Skulduggery's background.
For anyone interesting in Skulduggery Pleasant lore, I'd start here.
It's well structured, and the added dialogue from various characters are also amusing (as always).

[Jess Trow · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Derek really decided to just put the SP universe in a box, shake it up, and hand it back to us and expect us to be ok?! I. AM. SHOOKETH!!!! I’m caught up on all the happenings, my belief in so many characters has been shaken to its core, and I’m ready for the final book. I’ll see you on the other side, friends. Until the End!

[Aaron Morrsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a perfect book to have for the massive skulduggery pleasant series. Synopsis for all 14 books, graphic novel section, a little story for you to follow, character pictures, little snippets from characters about events in the book! Loved it!

[Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

The summaries of the books serves its purpose of refreshing the reader, although the timeline of these events were far from accurate. There were a fair few inconsistencies and I can't understand how certain characters were interviewed when we know they were unconscious/dead following the events they talk about, and yet other dead characters couldn't be interviewed? The comic would have been good if Valkyrie wasn't sexualised so much... at that point in the story she is still essentially a child (16, if that?) and that made me feel uncomfortable. There are a couple of new storylines in there which were fun to read but left us with even more questions to be answered by the final book. I am doubtful that everything is going to be wrapped up successfully in Until The End, but if this new addition of information actually benefits the conclusion to the books then I will edit this review. The commentary by Val and Skul was mostly bland but entertaining enough to get me through most of the summaries (I skipped phase 2 though). This book has the potential to be a whole lot better, but it was clearly rushed and not given the attention it needed. It felt like either Derek had a bunch of ideas he wanted to shove in before Skulduggery Pleasant came to an end, or he couldn't find a way to conclude everything in the final book so slipped in some new storylines

[WillBrit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the "story" being told by the Archivists, and how they slowly disappear and reveal the twist ending is enjoyable and interesting to read about.

Abrogate Raze was the best part of this book for sure, that whole backstory is massively intriguing and will hopefully lead into the finale of this current Phase of Skulduggery Pleasant.

As for the rest of it, while it is fun to have what is essentially an index book of characters and the like from the world Derek Landy has created, a lot of this is layed out in quite a confusing way. I think I would have preferred your typical character glossary type book (i.e Marvel Encyclopedia) of all the characters we know, their abilities, first appearances, that kind of thing, rather than a long play-by-play of all the books so far in the series (as this could easily have been a separate book in itself, for World Book Day or something as Landy often used to do).

I don't think the way this Grimoire has been done is terribly offensive, but I do think it had a lot more potential as an idea that wasn't capitalised on.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had no idea what this was going into it, and am pleasantly surprised. The recaps were so useful considering Until the End is out tomorrow (!) and the short stories were so good. Was NOT expecting the kind of plot twists that were dropped with absolutely no warning but who cares, we’re here for it.

Only downside was that the random font changes were kinda annoying sometimes, the editing was off? But it’s really minor, and didn’t really take away from anything.

Great read. Very timely.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Jessica (aus.fangirl.reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This. Was. Everything!
With Skulduggery Pleasant being such a long running series, and with years of world building, the Grimoire was a great way recap to the series.
The way the information was put together and presented was so much fun, and extremely creative.

Also, hiding another story amongst the past stories was so mindblowing that it has thrown me down the theory hole and I'll be up late tonight trying to write down all my theories for the final book.

Such a fun read!

[Bekka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview of the previous books, with added banter between all the characters, with an extra added story running through it that has BLOWN MY MIND! I've sat here in SHOCK all evening!
TW for mentions of death, murder, death of a child, apocalypse, end of the world situations, PTSD, addiction, grief, cult-like behaviour, mentions of viruses, murder of a mother/wife.

[Rick Hyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to read this, get the hard back. It's beautifully put together, whereas the kindle version is illegible and has no zoom function to read the miniscule font. The book itself provides a recap of the story so far along with a bit of background to what I believe will be the setup for the next few books.

[Luba · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am terrified of Until The End

[Nighteye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disnt hold what I expected, did expect a bit more character forms and info... Other stuff rather than a going thrue of the story from the start to end with characters comment's here and there.

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably should have read this before reading the latest book

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving this book 3.5✨ out of 5!
Also don’t read this book as a book - leave the summaries to the end and read the new content all together!!!

[Eoghan Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT

[Hayden Aw · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok.

With a book like this, where 90% of it is just recapping the actual books, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away or anything. The little tidbits of interaction between the characters as they tell the story are a nice touch.

The extra stuff, the short stories, the comic, the Gog Magog storyline throughout, it was all well and good, but again, nothing to write home about.

HOWEVER: The in Memoriam stuff: that was… odd. What was that about? Is there a pattern there that I can’t see? Or is it meant to just be weird like that?

And also the character images: absolutely not. Nuh uh, -1000/100. They looked way too… cartoonish. Skulduggery’s character portrait makes him look like he came out of a Halloween cartoon… I just like the images on the covers of the books way better, you know the ones, the ones that look like every MCU poster ever, with all the characters looking all serious all together. I don’t mind that for the book covers because then I get to see how the characters look. And the images of Skulduggery and Valkyrie standing together were cool, that art style I liked a lot better.

This does have me wondering how Derek Landy is going to use Gog Magog in the future, because there’s hints here that his influence is spreading and after “Until the End” he’s been brought back to our dimension, so I guess I’ll have to wait and see!

Update: changed from 3 to 2.5 stars

So I just realized I had read the old edition, without a section covering “Until the End”, and I bought this book as an ebook from Kobo, so I got the new edition and didn’t realize it. I just read the new section dear reader, and do you know what impact that had on me? Absolutely none. It is so slapdash and just tacked on at the end and the narrator dies fixing a toilet. So funny Derek.

I haven’t gone back to check if this new edition fixes any of the numerous continuity errors the first one has and I’m not going to. I think I need a break from the Skulduggeryverse for a while…

[Abi Pellinor · Rating 5 out of 5]

You all know that I adore the Skulduggery Pleasant series. So when the Grimoire was announced we all know that it went straight onto pre-order and I read it as soon as it arrived!

I have one negative from this, and that's with the accuracy of the book. There are a fair few errors in here, enough that they acknowledged it in a letter that fell out of the book when I opened it up. That's frustrating. I would've rather had the book delayed and had it come out when it was accurate and correct. I even spotted some errors myself which were slightly jarring.

But back into the positives! I love that this summaries the entire series so far. I'm doing a reread of the whole series with the Dead Famous Readalong and this was good to remind me of some of the bits and pieces I forgot about the stories before I get around to them! The sections are also pretty clear too which was very helpful for me to know where I was at!

Don't read this one if you're not up to date with the series and you don't want any spoilers. This will 100% spoil you to hell and back so tread at your own peril!

I LOVE that there's a story interwoven within the summaries through this book. Of course I can tell you almost nothing about this. But what I will tell you is that I adored it, I think it's incredibly clever, and I hope it's woven into the final book!

I'm not sure why this came out when it did. It could've been pushed back until after the last book released and it would then, not only not have the mistakes in it, but it would also include the information from the last book! It would be an actual summary of the whole series! Instead it's a summary of the series bar one. A little odd. But all in all I really enjoyed this and I'm super excited to get around to the final book in 2022!!

[Tills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this like I love anything Skulduggery, I enjoyed that the characters commented on the recaps as they were written as it added the humour you’d expect from the skulduggery world. I also thoroughly enjoyed the new information given in the book!
However the final font I personally found quite difficult to read.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lifetime fan of the Skulduggery series, this is something I’ve wanted for a long long time in order to recap the earlier stories that I haven’t had the chance to re-read over the years. This does a nice job of putting everything together into a book that can be read in only a couple days or so. But I have some issues that I will get into.

Starting with the positives as always; the awesome side commentaries from characters, the archivist logs throughout and all the other additional stories were brilliant additions to this Grimoire. Everything about them had that Derek Landy charm and it never felt like reading a simple wiki page summary. I especially liked the ending for this reason but I won’t spoil any of that stuff.

The artwork scattered throughout, both the detailed and cartoony versions were awesome and I enjoyed showing them to my mum who is also a slight fan. Plus the comic strip looked incredible! I loved seeing the characters come to life in that way, I just wish it was longer because basically all we had was a short fight sequence and that was it. A full-fledged graphic novel is definitely at the top my fanboy wish-list now!

Oh and the Hardback looks super awesome and really adds to the whole ‘book from the sanctuary archives’ experience. It’s a fun way to engage the reader although I’m not sure a paperback or e-book would have the same effect.

So despite all my love of this Grimoire there were some issues and weak-points, many of which are already mentioned in much more detailed reviews here on Goodreads. But I’ll share my thoughts and feedback as a fan anyway.

Firstly I feel as though a book like this would have benefitted greatly with sections such as character profiles, family trees, timelines, give us a map why the hell not and a much better glossary section for key words and names. Have some actual commentary from Derek; insights into decisions and thought processes that were made while he was writing. You know, things that you would normally expect to find in a Grimoire. Things that would make someone want to pick up the book again in the future when they want to find some information quickly.

I feel however that that would be very difficult with the way things have been told and laid out. I believe It could have been much more organised structure wise, and as great as it was to have fun and detailed summaries, the way they are presented in long descriptions and scattered with other stories in between felt unintuitive. Also with the older books I’d have names of characters thrown at me like I’m supposed to remember who they are... shame there’s no real glossary/character profiles as I mentioned... And this happens all the way throughout as though we’re expected to have full knowledge of everyone. Plus having random heroes and villains popping up here and there for a sentence of commentary lost its charm quickly and became a bit random. I think it should have just stuck with Skullduggery, Valkyrie and the Archivist.

Continuing on, I don’t know anything much about the writing and publishing situation, but I did find it quite bizarre to not only receive a note but also have it scattered throughout the book that ‘ah this book has been rushed, please forgive any mistakes’. I’ve always been told the unwritten rule of never putting yourself down before you’ve even shared something. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed any issues If I hadn’t read that and then subconsciously start looking for them. Plus it’s a bit sucky to be told by the writer himself that this first edition I spent money on is supposably sucky. If I had known that before I probably would have waited for the proper complete version. Also, and again I don’t know all the background details, but why would Derek need to rush a Grimoire in the first place? Surely it would have been better to wait until the series has actually finished and everything is put together before you start working on something like this? Also isn’t there still 1 final book remaining that hasn’t been released and therefore is definitely not in this Grimoire. So why why why make this now when it’s not complete?

I mean yes it was the perfect time for me PERSONALLY to have this book at this time because I really wanted the re-cap before I get started with the last few books. But in 10 years time if I pick this up to read about the grand finale it’s not even going to be there!

Anywayyy, despite the criticisms I’m still going to give it a 4 because what there was was still really fun and I liked it. I just wish it included all the things you would have expected it to have. Who knows maybe the final, enhanced, upgraded, complete version will be perfect.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Because I had gone through the same thing. I had tasted the darkness."
"You'd 'tasted the darkness', had you?"
"I'm allowed to have some poetry in my life, Valkyrie."
"'Tasted the darkness, I swear to God... What, did you have a darkness sandwich, or was it a whole plate? What did you have for dessert? Was it pretentiousness? Did you have a bowl of pretentiousness for dessert?"

This book contains a breakdown of the first 13 books and all the short stories written up till then of the entire Skulduggery Pleasant series. So, that's a great way to find out really quickly what the hell has happened over the course of the books, or to look something up if you need to remember something.

But apart from that, I have to say it's not all that special. I was expecting a lot more extra content, such as character overviews, important places, the backgrounds of magic and so much more, but that isn't really there. I wouldn't really call this book a compendium or grimoire of sorts, but more of a synopsis of the story so far. So that's a bit of a letdown.

There is one extra, new story present in the book, but I didn't find that one all too interesting either. The main way in which this book provides something extra, is all the commentary of the characters in-between the breakdowns of the books. Especially Valkyrie and Skulduggery are wonderful, as is to be expected.

Finally, I also have to admit that I saw this book as the opportunity to get up to speed with the series, as I'd stopped following it a few years ago. After the second cycle (Book 10 and onwards) had started, the stories were turning ever bleaker, the characters (especially Valkyrie) were not in good places and I was slowly getting tired of people dying and then somehow coming back to alive for the 54th time. However, it has become clear that all those things are still present in the latest books as well, and they're also turning ever more bloody, it seems, and not just complex but downright complicated with all the different universes.

No, I don't think I'll be reading further than Book 9...

6.10

[18veitcha204 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. As someone who has been reading this series for 5 years, it can be difficult to remember all of the details of all of the books, even if I go back an re-read them, so I found the summaries very useful. The comic strip in the middle is wonderfully drawn and the comments added by the characters in the summaries of the books are hilarious and capture the characters perfectly.

I think that the important thing is to remember that it isn’t a part of the series, it is a fact book set in the world of Skulduggery Pleasant, so its purpose is not entirely to entertain, but to keep you up to date on the series, complicated details, and the many plot twists. Saying this, the short stories such as the Age of the Maggot and Abrogate Raze were brilliant, if a bit difficult to follow given how spread out they were and the summaries between chapters of them.

This book took me almost a week to read (I normally read the Skulduggery books in a day) and is a little bit boring in parts. My advice is that if you remember everything that happened (or even most) in one of the books, it is best to skip the summary and go back to read it afterwards. I loved learning more about Skulduggery’s past, and a lot more of the books make sense, however there were some continuity errors featured in the book.

(SPOILER ALERT)

The ending of this book is fantastic, and true to the author; it ties up the mystery revealed throughout the book, while still drawing a cliffhanger. It also creates new plots, and I’m very excited to see what happens in the 15th and final book in regards to Gog Magog (the god of the apocalypse), who’s virus that affects you more the more you learn about him is a wonderful addition. It feels as though you are solving the mystery at the same time as the Archivists, as their minds are slowly taken over.
And remember, the god of the apocalypse loves you, and is waking up.