It's interesting to explore these relatively uncharted waters in the series, with Landy using the chance to elaborate on some of the cast left by the wayside in the original stories.

Hell Breaks Loose (Skulduggery Pleasant) - Bookstation Hell Breaks Loose (Skulduggery Pleasant) - Bookstation

I don't like not liking Skulduggery's new books given the role Landy helped play in my love for reading, but Hell Breaks Loose is, unfortunately, a bad book following a mediocre sequel series.I think that we all came up with a vision in our heads over the last 15 books of what a prequel would look like, and what we got, at least in my case, went quite far from what I expected. There is nothing wrong with the book; it's neither stupid (and, thus, looking down at a child's intellect) nor harmful. I felt like I just read an AU fanfic written by the author himself… and while it was quite trippy, I’m not entirely mad?

Hell Breaks Loose: A prequel from the Sunday Times

Once it gets into the swing of things, it's the classic action-adventure I fell in love with as a child, alongside the good old-fashioned drama and comedy that my adult self appreciates even more so. While nine books were planned, the series was cut down to six books by HarperCollins after the publication of Seasons of War. With Skulduggery racing to catch up and young sorcerer Omen scrambling along behind, Valkyrie only has twelve hours to find Alice before it is too late. I will 100% admit Valkyrie is a Dead Man and she’s done a lot, but I wanted to see the original group in their prime during their conflict with Mevolent.

In the rare event that an author has managed to resolve most of the conflicts, the plot usually becomes ridiculously twisted. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder. I don’t even think it counts as a prequel by the time you factor in the time travel (that melted my brain). It's not a bad kind of different but Skulduggery has only been a skeleton for a couple of years and he is not the Skulduggery we know. In Hell Breaks loose we get to see Skulduggery in a way that we haven't seen before and it lays the foundations for Lord Vile impeccably.

Hell Breaks Loose: A prequel from the Sunday Times Hell Breaks Loose: A prequel from the Sunday Times

In book 1 China tells Valkyrie that he will do this, but this is the first time we actually get to read about it happening. I was really hyped to hear there was going to be a prequel following the deadmen, which for half of the book it did deliver just that.But my standards for fanfiction are lower than that of paid, published material, and in that regard Landy's newest fails to justify itself. There’s a reason the Necromancers don’t need her any more – because they’ve found their Death Bringer already, the person who will dissolve the doors between life and death. At least, that’s what Valkyrie and Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, and dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland.