War has finally come. But it’s not a war between good and evil, or light and dark – it’s a war between Sanctuaries. For too long, the Irish Sanctuary has teetered on the brink of world-ending disaster, and the other Sanctuaries around the world have had enough. Allies turn to enemies, friends turn to foes, and Skulduggery and Valkyrie must team up with the rest of the Dead Men if they’re going to have any chance at all of maintaining the balance of power and getting to the root of a vast conspiracy that has been years in the making. But while this war is only beginning, another war rages within Valkyrie herself. Her own dark side, the insanely powerful being known as Darquesse, is on the verge of rising to the surface. And if Valkyrie slips, even for a moment, then Darquesse will burn the world and everyone in it.
Last Stand of Dead Men is the second to last book in Derek Landy’s wonderful Skulduggery Pleasant series, and it sure is one tense, action-packed read. The further we’ve been getting to the end of the series, the more dramatic the events of each book have been. The magic world has been teetering on the brink of war for some time now and it’s in Last Stand of Dead Men that war finally breaks out between the Sanctuaries. An epic magic battle ensues, with death and destruction galore.
As the front cover says, ‘no one is safe.’ The characters that we’ve come to love are caught up in the middle of the war and not everyone survives. Heroes become villains, enemies fight together, some people aren’t who we thought they were, and others look completely different from the last time we saw them. Derek also introduces us to new characters and creations, my favourite of which are the Warlock’s minions, the Wretchlings.
Last Stand of Dead Men is the darkest of the series so far and we see the darker side of Skulduggery coming out. While it doesn’t have the same humour as some of the earlier books, the scenes with Scapegrace and Thrasher provide some light relief and had me laughing out loud. One of the things I like the most about Derek’s books is his brilliant dialogue and there is plenty of this in this book.
Skulduggery will do anything to save Valkyrie and I certainly can’t wait until September next year to find out how it all ends. Will Skulduggery save her or will Darquesse destroy the world?
Last Stand of Dead Men is out now. Grab a copy from your library or bookshop.
Win a copy of Last Stand of Dead Men!
Thanks to HarperCollins NZ I have 3 copies of Last Stand of Dead Men to give away. All you have to do to get in the draw is enter your name and email address in the form below. Competition closes Friday 4 October (NZ only).
I click my fingers and everybody dies.
When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in . . .
A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighborhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust, and completely abandoned. What s going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonising memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this..
Archie Barrington, fifteen, is the third generation of his family to drive karts competitively. He’s good, and this is the year he and his dad have decided he’ll have a shot at the Challenge series of six races. If he comes out the winner overall then he wins the chance to race in Europe.However, he’s not the only good driver after the prize. Craig is his main rival, and Craig’s father is wealthy and prepared to spend whatever it takes to help his son win the Challenge.
When Yannick learns that he is to stay with his Aunt Mathilde in the South of France, he cannot believe his luck. If the paintings of his mother s beloved Cezanne are to be believed, surely Provence is paradise itself. So begins an idyllic month for the young boy: roaming the gentle hills and rolling valleys of Aix-en-Provence, daydreaming about his beautiful cousin Amandine; helping in his aunt and uncle s bustling village inn in the evenings; feeling that he has come to the most wonderful place in the world. Then one evening the idyll is spoilt when an important local comes for dinner and Yannick accidentally destroys a precious drawing the man leaves behind. He could never have imagined that his mother s hero, the world-famous Cezanne, would come to his inn, and sit at one of his tables! Yannick is devastated by what he has done, and resolves to make things right. But in so doing he makes a surprising discovery.
“Once upon a time, O my Best Beloved …” So begins this classic collection of gloriously fanciful tales of how things in the world came to be as they are. Here is the story of how the lazy camel found himself with a hump and how the insatiable curiosity of the elephant earned him his long trunk. Of how the whale was given a throat, and why every rhinoceros has great folds in his skin and a very bad temper. Here too, we fi nd out about the cunning cat that walked by itself, and how clever little Taffy and her Daddy Tegumai made the fi rst alphabet. Rudyard Kipling first entertained his own children with these delightful, warm and humorous stories, which he later wrote down for publication in 1902. Conjuring up distant lands and exotic jungles, they are bewitching for both children and adults. In this sumptuous volume, which includes the often missing thirteenth story, “The Tabu Tale” (which Kipling added for the American edition in 1903). Kipling’s unforgettable cast of extraordinary animal characters is brought to life in stunning new illustrations by the award-winning illustrator Robert Ingpen.
Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline’s been at Gram’s bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape – both her family and the reality of Gram’s failing health. So when Caroline’s best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram’s side, or go to the party and live her life. The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline’s fate into two separate paths – and she’s about to live them both. Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending…
For the most distinguished contribution to literature for children aged 0-15.
For the most distinguished illustrations in a children’s book.
When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in . . .
Rachael King’s Red Rocks was my favourite for the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. Although it didn’t win the award, it’s a winning book in my opinion. As part of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Festival in Canterbury we gave away copies of Red Rocks to children at every school we visited.
As children, Logan’s grandfather and his sister Mavis spotted a beautiful and unusual bird in the kowhai tree outside their house: it was a huia, which was believed to be extinct. In an attempt to photograph it they tracked it deep into the Manawatu Gorge. This was a dangerous journey, made even more so when the Carson boys got wind of their mission and decided to try and find the bird first so they could shoot it and sell its highly valuable feathers. More than 60 years later, 11-year-old Logan has returned to the Manawatu with Grandpop and a scientist to try to solve the mystery of what happened to the huia all those years ago. Can the group rely on Grandpop’s version of events, and find the huia’s final resting place? Will the huia still be there, and will its DNA still be valuable for scientific research into NZ’s native fauna? Not if the Carsons have anything to do with it.
Jamie Reign was born twelve years ago, on the first day of the Chinese Year of the Dragon. This supposedly auspicious start in life hasn’t been much use to him, living a loveless existence with his abusive father, Hector, on a salvage boat. Jamie’s mother Mayling died on the day he was born. When Jamie inadvertently summons some fiery orbs from the air to tackle some local bullies, he doesn’t understand that he has tapped into The Way, the universal energy source, and in doing so he sets off a chain of events with unforeseen consequences. Whisked away by the mysterious Mr Fan to the Chia Wu, a school for students with special abilities, Jamie is taken under the wing of the legendary Kung Fu Master Wu. It is believed by Master Wu and his staff that Jamie is the Last Spirit Warrior, and as such his life’s purpose is to right the dreadful wrongs (climatic and political) taking place in the world. But not everyone believes so – and Jamie himself has doubts. What use is a Spirit Warrior who is hopeless at Kung Fu?
Callum thought things would be better after he and his friends defeated the evil Lester Smythe, but his world has just begun to crumble
When the Langur monkey troop rises to power on the dusty streets of Calcutta, it is at a price. A brutal massacre drives the Rhesus troop out of the place they called home and forces them to embark on a dangerous journey. But one Langur monkey, Mico, is prepared to stand up to the tyrannical Langur regime and fight for truth, friendship and love. As Mico uncovers the secrets and lies at the heart of the corrupt Langur leadership, he quickly realizes he is playing a dangerous game. And when monkeys turn on each other, there can be no survivors
Years after a violent war destroyed much of the world, Kaspar has grown up in a society based on peace and harmony.
Tim’s diary charts the arrival of his mysterious Great Aunt Emma, an old lady who appears grinning on his doorstep and decides to stay. Nicknamed ‘Grinny’ for her constant eerie smile and mindless chatter, at first their aunt seems to be strange but harmless. But when Tim and his sister Beth make a horrifying discovery about their visitor, they realise that the safety of the entire planet is in jeopardy, and the silent invasion has already started.
Where can you find shelter in a city of the damned?
My Best Friends Are Books 