Skulduggery Pleasant logo.
The Skulduggery Pleasant series is a series of books written by Derek Landy, with fourteen main books in total and two spin-off books. Originally the books of the first series were released every April, but Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil was released in September and since then, the books were released in late-August or early-September. The last installment of the first series was released in August 2014, and a second series starting with new books that began a yearly release from June 2017. The series is illustrated by Tom Percival.
When the new paperbacks were released, they came with several bonus short stories which are all set a few months after the story line of each book. They also came with new covers. The short stories were later removed and published in a collection in July 2014.
Derek has also started writing a number of feature-length novellas, starting with The End of the World in February 2012. The Maleficent Seven, starring Tanith Low, was released in March 2013. Armageddon-Outta-Here, a collection of every previously published short story and new content, was published July 3rd 2014. It also included a short story that manifested into a full-length novella: Get Thee Behind Me, Bubba Moon. Apocalypse Kings, another short story, was released in March 2021 for World Book Day.
Derek's second series is Demon Road. The first book in the series was released in 2015.
The Series
Main Books
| # | Name | Picture | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Phase | |||
| 1 | Skulduggery Pleasant | 
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April 3, 2007 |
| 2 | Playing With Fire | 
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April 1, 2008 |
| 3 | The Faceless Ones | 
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April 6, 2009 |
| 4 | Dark Days | 
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April 1, 2010 |
| 5 | Mortal Coil | 
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September 2, 2010 |
| 6 | Death Bringer | 
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September 1, 2011 |
| 7 | Kingdom of the Wicked | 
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August 30, 2012 |
| 8 | Last Stand of Dead Men | 
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August 29, 2013 |
| 9 | The Dying of the Light | 
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August 28, 2014 |
| Second Phase | |||
| 10 | Resurrection | 
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June 1, 2017 |
| 11 | Midnight | 
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June 1, 2018 |
| 12 | Bedlam | 
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May 30, 2019 |
| 13 | Seasons of War | 
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April 2, 2020 |
| 14 | Dead or Alive | 
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April 1, 2021 |
| 15 | Skulduggery Pleasant: Until the End | 
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April 12, 2022 |
| Phase 3 | |||
| 16 | Skulduggery Pleasant: A Mind Full Of Murder |   |
28 March, 2024 |
Novellas
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| Apocalypse Kings | March 4, 2021 |
Short Stories
Prequel
| Name | Picture | Release date |
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Graphic novel
| Name | Picture | Release date |
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Other Media
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Merchandise
Timeline
- Main article: Timeline
Book Covers
Tom Percival has designed every cover for the Skulduggery Pleasant series, as well as drawing the back cover artwork, the alternate paperback artwork and many character portraits. He reprised his role as artist for the three spin-off novellas: The End of the World, The Maleficent Seven and Armageddon Outta Here.
The first thirteen images are the books' original front covers. The next nine are the second edition covers for the phase one paperbacks. The next twelve are the white, newest covers for the books. The next four are the novellas: The End of the World, The Maleficent Seven, the paperback of The Maleficent Seven and Armageddon-Outta-Here. The next are seven of the back covers (without text) for the new paperbacks. The last three covers are the US-exclusive editions, also drawn by Tom Percival.
Trivia
- The books are divided into four trilogies: The Faceless Ones Trilogy, the Necromancers Trilogy, the Darquesse Trilogy and the Abyssinia Trilogy.
- Each book has a theme. (e.g. Horror, Sciene Fiction, Super-hero, War, etc.)
- Playing With Fire is the only book to end with a fight about to begin.
- Dark Days is the only book to open from the antagonist's point of view, excluding the prologue to Last Stand of Dead Men.
- Dark Days and Mortal Coil are the only books to be released within the same year (2010). However, the novellas were released in the years 2012 - 2014 a few months before the main books were.
- Death Bringer is the first book in the series to have a prologue.
- As the book series progresses each book expands in length, with each one having approx. five chapters difference. The difference between the first book and the fifth being ten chapters. This is similar to the Harry Potter series, where each book's length from 1-5 increased.
- In terms of individual words, Last Stand of Dead Men was the longest.
- The Maleficent Seven is one-third the length of the first book.
- The Australian, New Zealand and Spanish versions of the books have their book height changed every trilogy.
- The original cover of every Skulduggery Pleasant book has the main protagonist(s) on the front cover and the antagonist on the back cover. The first book had a protagonist on both the front and back covers.
- The paperbacks had Skulduggery on the front cover and Valkyrie (and/or Darquesse) on the back.
- The 2017 paperbacks had an assortment of characters on the front and no artwork on the back.
- All main books in the series depict Skulduggery holding fire, except for Mortal Coil, Kingdom of the Wicked, Last Stand of Dead Men and The Dying of the Light (although fire is present in the background).
- The Faceless Ones and Necromancer trilogies end with a major cliffhanger.
- Every main book except the first, the second, the fifth and the ninth end with a cliffhanger.
- The Maleficent Seven ends with a number of unresolved plot points.
- Kingdom of the Wicked is the only book in the series to have an epilogue.
- While Last Stand of Dead Men doesn't have a designated prologue, it has two chapters set before the events of the book.
- While it doesn't have an epilogue, it has two chapters that deal with the immediate events after the War, leading into The Dying of the Light.
- Every main book from Death Bringer onward has a quote after the prologue.
- Armageddon-Outta-Here contains every Short Story ever printed, along with a new novella, three new short stories and a chapter from The Dying of the Light.
- It also contains a new timeline with updated setting dates for the short stories (See above).
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