Surprisingly political, loved it! ( )

So, the new teen kid protagonist is nowhere near as interesting as Valkyrie, who is now 25, but teen protagonists are apparently mandatory in YA books. Fortunately, in this volume, most of the focus is on Valkyrie. And if you have no idea who I'm talking about, don't start here - go back to the beginning when Valkyrie discovered magic, aged 12, in the very first book. ( )

Loved the pacing of this book! Skulduggery books are always fast paced and the rapport between the characters always gives me life. If you like Pratchett humour, you'll like the humour here.
My only (very mild) complaint is going to be the way Landy writes the combat scenes. There are lots of these and I just kinda skim over them.. I don't really need to commit every elbowed chin or smashed rib to my memory. I've read all the books from the main series, and one of the extra ones, so I feel like I don't really need to focus on them because I've read them already!
That said, I loved the way Landy keeps suspense going by switching between characters POVs, including the antagonists. I also appreciate that the antagonists are not unchanging and monolithic - they have have shifting alleigances and priorities, just like the so called good guys... who are not always quite so good. ( )