Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients
by Derek LandyIf you ever read adult fantasy, especially ones with female leads, and found yourself wondering "Really this chick has been dealing with these creatures since she was a wee one? She still doesn't have her stuff together, it seems like she just met this world yesterday." well then meet Stephanie, a girl who was ready for the paranormal world from day she discovered it. Stephanie is twelve, she's just lost her uncle, a famous author. He's left his estate to his favorite niece. That's not all she's inherited though, a friend of her uncle's comes to her rescue -- Skulduggery Pleasant, a detective who just happens to be a skeleton. Stephanie's dry wit and difficult to shake persona makes her a good sidekick to the skeleton. Their first adventure together land them in a world that Stephanie never knew existed, one that her uncle was clearly mixed up in, one that might have gotten him killed.
Unlike most books with younger characters, the children are not neglected, Stephanie has to actually find a way around the whole school and parent issue - she can't just rush off and be a skeleton's sidekick with no repercussions. The characters in the magickal world are intense or, well, just flat out tense. They have good and bad people but of course their bad guys have magick on their side. The main bad guy here, Serpine, is after something that is supposed to be just a story. Surely Stephanie's uncle wasn't killed after a silly story, was he? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery even survive long enough to solve this mystery?
If you like fun, witty, magical, fantasy tales this one is for you, no matter your age.
