Until the End is the 15th and final book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy. And wow. Oh wow. I have to actually figure out how I’m going to put my thoughts into words for this review. Wish me luck!
This is the first Skulduggery Pleasant book, that I’ve been reading with the Dead Famous Readalong gang where it’s not a reread for me! All the drama, this book was damn wild. There was so much new that was going on, brand new to the series, as well as threads being pulled together from the past 14 books. I loved seeing “easter eggs” from earlier books as well as still learning more about this world and these characters! I don’t think this is the last we’ll have seen of Skulduggery Pleasant just yet.
Well damn. Well. Damn. This was a helluva book. What do I even say? How do I even not spoil this? SO much happened. SO many twists and turns. I read this all in one sitting on the 13th April (because my Waterstones may or may not have broken embargo and let me pick up my pre-order a day early) sitting up till 0530 in the morning. But I just couldn’t put it down! I needed to know what Landy had done!
I think the way Landy handled the *topic from the end of the last book* (Landy really hates spoilers) was done incredibly well. There was a lot of collaboration, foreplaning, and it just showed how much this group all care about each other and how much of a little family they’ve become.
There was a great Doctor Who reference (can it even be called a reference if it’s an entire replicated plot?) that was so much fun to read. Landy can’t have planned that, but I love that he saw the opportunity and took it.
There were a lot of major plot points throughout where Landy did an amazing job at writing how the public at large would react to them. Both mortal and mages. It felt incredibly accurate and if it ever happened irl I know it would turn out like that! A mixture of good reactions, bad ones, and instinctive ones made in the moment.
Omen, of course, was a highlight of this book as he always is. We saw him develop even more and become an even stronger character in himself. It’s honestly been so lovely seeing him develop and I’ve loved how Landy handled his story arc. Him and Auger have had a fascinating storyline with the prophecy and their awful parents and I definitely want to see more from him in the future.
There were a couple of negatives. The first was one of the big bads of the story. There were two this time around, and one was amazing. Pretty much perfect. Mind blowing, everything. Twas great. The second one though? We didn’t spend enough time learning about this “big bad”, and so it ended up that… I didn’t really care? Because we knew next to nothing about why it was happening or anything about them.
And that leads on to my other negative, there was a very convenient plot point. Landy kinda backed himself into a corner with that one, and so without changing other aspects of the plot I can’t see any other way out. But at the same time it felt like he’d actually planned this all out, and that was disappointing. It was just such an easy fix, and that’s really not what I’ve come to expect from these books. But it’s the first time that we’ve had that from the SP series so I’ll let him off this once.
On CAWPILE I rated this one: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 9, Writing: 9, Plot: 9, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 9, and Enjoyment: 9. Giving a score of 9.00 and a 5* rating.
Highlight here for trigger warnings: death, parental abuse, body horror, gore, violence, blood, kidnapping, medical trauma, police brutality, panic attacks, torture, gun violence, mental illness, abandonment.
Although I had one or two issues with the book, it was just so much fun overall that I really couldn’t bring myself to mark it down! If we ever get more from this world I think Landy has set everything up really well, there are questions I still want answers to and characters I still want more from. Let’s just cross our fingers that we see some more!
Abi of Pellinor 