Ok, I admit, I approached this book with extreme caution. It was recommended by my younger sister, aged 11, and after raving about it for a day or so after she'd finished it, she thrust it into my hands, ordering me to read it.

I approached with caution simply because (and call me prejudiced), it read: '9+' on the back cover, and I'm 18. But I've always enjoyed a good fantasy story so I gave it a go anyway.

Wow, I'm glad I did!

The story follows a 12 year old girl named Stephanie, who, after her Uncle Gordon dies, meets an old friend of his, a detective called Skulduggery Pleasant. Who is a skeleton. Suddenly she is introduced to a magical world, filled with fun, lively characters and enticing adventure. Of course, the old 'Good vs Evil' element is pretty strong in the story, so we have the cruel villain, Serpine, attempting to destroy the world, and it's up to Stephanie and Skulduggery to save the day.

Derek Landy handles the story supremely well. At times, I was quite taken aback by the violence, especially later on the book. However, Landy seems to know just how much is enough, and the entire story is injected with a great sense of humour, even within the darker themes. It certainly had me laughing out loud at times. The action is fast paced and fun, with a great cast of characters who are likeable and interesting. It's definitely a difficult book to put down.

As for the reading age, I thoroughly enjoyed this, despite my age, and see no reason why older people wouldn't enjoy it. The vocabulary is fairly simple, maybe challenging in places for younger readers. As an older reader, however, it wasn't so simple as to put me off reading it.

For younger children, this is a brilliant book to help introduce to fantasy stories. The story has twists, turns, suspense, and clues in abundance, so when the jigsaw comes together in the end, there will no doubt be excitement. For more experienced readers, however, some plot turns may be fairly obvious. But then again, it's aim is at younger children.

As for the old "will there be another one?" question, it is rumoured that there will be 9 books in total. The second and third are available now. Also worth a mention is the website: www.skulduggerypleasant.com, which has some great features and fun games to join in with. I admit, I played the quest game, and I enjoyed it too.