Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Skulduggery Pleasant is the first children's book by Irish playwright, Derek Landy that can be best described as The Dresden Files for the 10-14 year old sect....and if the star was Bob the Skull rather than Harry Dresden.

Stephanie Edgely is an ordinary 12 year old girl whose novelist uncle has just passed away. In his will, he left her his house and its contents. On the first night she stays over there on her own, she's attacked by a mysterious man and is subsequently rescued by another mysterious man in a trenchcoat and hat. However, during the scuffle, the hat comes off and Stephanie sees her rescuer is a skeleton named Skulduggery Pleasant.

Not a book to tease you along, Landy gives you a nice chunk of information straight away about Skulduggery's history. He was a powerful wizard hundreds of years ago who fought in a war against another powerful, but evil wizard. Sadly, Skulduggery was caught and forced to watch as his wife and children were murdered in front of him before he himself was killed and his body burned. Instead of moving on, his hatred for the man who did this allowed Skulduggery to return from the dead, re-assembling his bones to give himself a body of sorts. Centuries after returning, he busies himself with being a detective of the supernatural bent.

For those who've watched The Dresden Files TV show, you might have noticed the rather heavy parallels between Skulduggery Pleasant and Bob. And it's true. There are huge similarities, which isn't a bad thing. Beyond similar histories, Skulduggery has the snark, sardonic wit and intense pride at his own cleverness that Bob is known so well for. (Stephanie also describes Skulduggery as having the kind of melodious voice she could listen to for hours. And while this might be my own personal preference, ditto on that for Bob.) The lighter side Skulduggery projects to his friends also masks the greater darkness of his nature. As someone else observes about him, it was hatred and anger that brought him back and thus those emotions are now heavily tied to his very existence.

The book's actual plot deals with Skulduggery and Stephanie uncovering a plot for world dominion, capturing the wizard who killed Skulduggery in the first place and Stephanie's slow initiation into the magical world. It should be noted that as this is a children's book, Landy throws in a lot of cliches as well as going a bit light on the angst and agony. The story breezes through and while danger is afoot, it's never high enough to make you feel actually worried. But it's a nice, fast read and I grew to like the characters enough so that even if I didn't get too involved in their actual story, I did want to read about them.

Good As Lily (story by Derek Kirk Kim, art by Jesse Hamm)

I've loved Derek Kirk Kim's work ever since I read his award winning graphic novel, Same Difference and Other Stories. He's the kind of talent who has wonderfully turned to telling stories about cultural differences without falling into the eye-rolling cliches that plague most other writers. In that way, even someone who isn't from that culture can relate to his characters. (Or so my friend tells me. I'm Korean-American and all I can really vouch for is that Kim is AWESOME at showing what it's like to be a 2nd generation in the US.)

Good As Lily is about Grace Kwon, who at the start of the graphic novel has just turned 18. Due to a strange incident at her birthday party involving a pinata, she ends up meeting herself as a 6 year old, 29 year old and 80 year old. As in those three people show up in her current life. Needless to say, all four Graces are perplexed and/or irritated. Things get increasingly complicated once her alternate selves begin to invade her current high school life.

While Grace gives herself a hard rule not to ask her future self any questions about what's in store for her, seeing who she may become gives her enough information to start thinking about the direction she's currently going in. And as the story moves on, it becomes clear the only way to get rid of her alternate selves is to help them deal with a personal crisis. Basically, Grace needs to help herself....selves.

In an interview, Derek Kirk Kim said this was his tribute to the 80's Molly Ringwald-esque genre where the heroine humorously finds romance with a healthy dollop of life lesson on the side. And it's exactly that. A very easy, lovely read with winning characters whose varying plights (not just Grace's), are all interesting and relate-able.