SP: Kingdom of the Wicked by Derek Landy

Genre: Dark / Fantasy / Action
Page Count: 607 pages
Series: Skulduggery Pleasant (Book Seven)

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

The seventh installment in the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe - and the follow-up to 2011’s number-one bestseller, Death Bringer…

Magic is a disease.

Across the land, normal people are suddenly developing wild and unstable powers. Infected by a rare strain of magic, they are unwittingly endangering their own lives and the lives of the people around them. Terrified and confused, their only hope lies with the Sanctuary. Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are needed now more than ever.

And then there's the small matter of Kitana. A normal teenage girl who, along with her normal teenage friends, becomes infected. Becomes powerful. Becomes corrupted. Wielding the magic of gods, they're set to tear the city apart unless someone stands up against them.

Looks like it's going to be another one of those days…

(To see my review of the past six books in the series, click here.)

This book was so much fun to read.  It'll make you laugh out loud and the twists are unpredictable.  Loved it!  Reading this made me quite excited to get the next installment, Last Stand of Dead Men, in about two weeks!

The plot was very fast-paced and full of action and twists - it feels like the 607 pages are only 50.  There was a sci-fi twist on this story, and I really liked it.  

Argeddion has been the most interesting villain yet - probably because he was a pacifist.  Very strange to see a villain who really wants the best for the world.  

Skulduggery and Valkyrie are still their witty selves and the finale was fantastic.  The last fifty pages or so were epic.

So if you've read the previous Skulduggery novels, definitely don't miss this one.  If you've never read a book in this series, they're great and I highly recommend them to fantasy readers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Sister's Reaper by Dorothy Dreyer

Genre: Fantasy / Paranormal
Page Count: 275
Series: Reaper's Rite (Book One)

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

Sixteen-year-old Zadie’s first mistake was telling the boy she liked she could bring her dead sister back to life. Her second mistake was actually doing it.

When Zadie accidentally messes with the Reaper’s Rite that should have claimed her sister Mara, things go horribly wrong. Mara isn’t the same anymore—Zadie isn’t even sure she’s completely human, and to top it off, a Reaper is determined to collect Mara’s soul no matter what. Now Zadie must figure out how to defeat her sister’s Reaper, or let Mara die … this time for good.

I discovered this on GoodReads and because of the good reviews and the intriguing summary, I picked it up. 

THE CHARACTERS: 

Zadie was a pretty believable character -- she reacted as I would expect her to and I liked her sarcasm.  I just wish more of her backstory was given to give her a little more depth. 

Lilura was probably my favorite character because she was such a sarcastic old lady and I enjoyed seeing her go from hating Zadie to liking her.

Gavin was an interesting character.  Once I got a third of the way through the book, I expected to never see him in the story again; I figured he was only there for the beginning of the story to help the plotline move along, so I was pleasantly surprised when he was a much bigger part of the story than I ever could've thought.

Throughout the entire book, I thought Chase was very mysterious.  We never really get to know Chase very well in this story, so I'm hoping in the next installment of this series his personality is revealed.

THE PLOT:
The storyline was very fast-paced and there was action or a new fact was discovered every couple pages, and it all led up to an exciting finale.  

My main issue with the plotline of this book was that it was pretty predictable (seeing as I have read a lot of fantasy novels) and nothing that was revealed surprised me.  Also, the finale was over in just a few pages, when I was expecting a grand twenty-or-so pages of pure adrenaline and excitement. 

OVERALL:

I enjoyed reading this book but I didn't find it very new and exciting.  A good finish-in-one-sitting mystery/thriller, so I'd recommend if you have a few extra hours and want something different. 

~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~