review: Skulduggery Pleasant #2: Playing with Fire

by: Derek Landy
HarperCollins, Ebooks 2010
Middle Grade Fantasy


Continuing with our SP marathon, Playing with Fire is the second book in the series.

Summary:

Stephanie and Skulduggery are back, this time against the recently escaped Baron Vengeous. Who, on a scale of evil from 1 to 10, ranks an 11. Valkyrie and Skulduggery have to stop him from raising the grotesquery, a hybrid made of different evil magical being and with the heart of a Faceless One, before it can bring them back. Can the gang do it in time?

Thoughts:

Baron Vengeous is my favourite villain of all time. He's powerful, violent, and a manipulative mastermind. There's something both incredibly dangerous and funny about going after a religious fanatic. (He also uses traditional insults like "heathen") That, and he issues such melodramatic threats.

Vengeous scowled. “As you can see,” he said, “you are vastly outnumbered.”

“I usually am.”

“Your situation has become quite untenable.”

“It usually does.”

“You are within moments of being swarmed by these filthy creatures of undeath and torn apart in a maelstrom of pain and fury.”

Skulduggery paused. “Okay, that’s a new one on me.”

And Skulduggery's retorts are priceless.

“Are you going to shoot me?” Vengeous sneered. “I wouldn’t be surprised. What would a thing like you know about honor? Only a heathen would bring a gun to a sword fight.”

“And only a moron would bring a sword to a gunfight.”  

Of course, the same cast of characters are still available. Tanith gets quite a few fight scenes here and really bonds with Valkyrie in a sister relationship. Landy handles all different kinds of relationships with a kind of maturity and understanding that is nice to see. No matter how much Valkyrie tries to avoid it, it seems saving the world does always have to do with going to see her family. Val's parents' relationship is one that is always nice to see.

China also gets to demonstrate her own powers and even a bit of loyalty that she swears doesn't exist. Her relationship with Mr. Bliss is something that just kept haunting my mind. The one line that captured it:  

Valkyrie had never seen a brother and sister regard each other with as much wariness as they did.

Not only were the people on the good side developed, a new cast of antagonists were introduced. They provided more irritation than actual suspense. I think it's because anyone: Skulduggery, China, Tanith, could take them down. As long as Valkyrie wasn't alone, no one in the good side was in danger.

Despite the huge cast of characters, they each had clearly distinctive traits and personalities that kept readers interested. Still a detective-mystery-type story, the mystery was a clever one, full of twists and turns in the path to solving it. If you like magic, witty banter, exciting characters, and detective mysteries, the Skulduggery Pleasant series is for you. The second book in the series is one of those rare ones that are just as good as the original.

Rating:

4.7/5