Dark Days
AuthorDerek Landy
Cover artistTom Percival
CountryRepublic of Ireland Ireland
LanguageEnglish
SeriesSkulduggery Pleasant
GenreFantasy novel, detective novel, comedy novel, adventure novel
PublisherHarperCollins
Publication date
1 April 2010
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages415 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN0-00-73471-62 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC668251759
Preceded byThe Faceless Ones (2009) 
Followed byMortal Coil (2010) 

Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days is a young adult and fantasy novel written by Irish playwright Derek Landy, published in April 2010. It is the fourth of the Skulduggery Pleasant series and sequel to Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones.

The story follows sorcerer and detective Valkyrie Cain as she attempts to track down the original head of her mentor Skulduggery Pleasant to rescue him from the world of the Faceless Ones. A team of previously significant villains returns, joining forces to get their revenge upon the pair. The book did not see release in the US and Canada until 2018.[1] HarperCollins Audio also publishes the unabridged CD sets of the books read by Rupert Degas.

Plot summary

Valkyrie, Tanith, Ghastly, and Fletcher have been searching for Skulduggery's skull for the past eleven months. During this time, Valkyrie has been learning Necromancy with Solomon Wreath. One morning, Remus Crux attempts to kill her in her room, but Solomon arrives, and Crux retreats. Later, Valkyrie tracks the skull with the help of Caelan, a vampire who arranges a meeting with the trader Thames Chabon.

Meanwhile, old man Dreylan Scarab has been released from prison and forms the Revengers' Club with his son, Billy-Ray Sanguine. They recruit Springheeled Jack, Dusk, Crux and Vaurien Scapegrace. After realizing Scapegrace is a fraud, Sanguine and Scarab kill him and revive him as a Zombie. He is given the job of recruiting more Zombies. However, the Zombies are not allowed to eat living flesh.

At the trade, Valkyrie is given a fake skull. She captures Chabon, who says Davina Marr, the Irish Sanctuary's new detective, had bought the skull for triple the price. The four create a plan to steal the skull. However, it goes wrong, and they are all arrested. Valkyrie is interrogated by Marr but uses Necromancy to defeat her. While Tanith and Ghastly keep the Cleavers distracted, Valkyrie and Fletcher steal the skull and teleport to China Sorrows and the three teleport to Aranmore Farm. The portal to the Faceless Ones is opened and they retrieve Skulduggery Pleasant. Valkyrie and Skulduggery visit the Temple since Skulduggery disapproves of her learning Necromancy. There, the Death Bringer tells Skulduggery that their Soul Catcher was stolen by Sanguine. Skulduggery and Valkyrie then visit Finbar Wrong, who takes them to another Sensitive, Cassandra Pharos. She shows them a vision of the future, in which Darquesse, a woman, kills Valkyrie's parents and later destroys the world. Before they leave, Valkyrie is given a Dream Whisperer. Valkyrie heads home, and her parents tell her that Melissa is pregnant.

The Revengers’ Club infiltrates the Sanctuary with Vampires and steals the Desolation Engine, a bomb. Thurid Guild orders the gang to look for the members. Valkyrie and Skulduggery visit the Midnight Hotel, which is run by an old friend of Skulduggery, Anton Shudder. They believe that the club will steal a Remnant, spirits which can possess people. Sanguine checks in the hotel as a guest, but because of its rules, Skulduggery cannot arrest him. Shudder finds out that Sanguine is here to steal a Remnant using the Soul Catcher. But there are Zombies outside the hotel and will attack if the three do not allow Sanguine to take a Remnant. However, the Zombies had eaten living flesh, and are on a rampage to eat more humans. The four manage to defeat the Zombies, before Sanguine takes a Remnant.

At the Hiberniain, Kenspeckle Grouse is kidnapped by the Revengers’ Club. They also kidnap Tanith. The Remnant is freed and possesses Kenspeckle, who fixes the Desolation Engine, and makes a copy. The Remnant is then given Tanith, which the Remnant could possess. Skulduggery and Valkyrie visit another information broker, Myron Stray, who has had his career ruined when his True Name was revealed. The two find out that the club are operating at Serpine's castle. Skulduggery, Shudder, Ghastly, Fletcher and Valkyrie go to the castle, rescue Kenspeckle and Tanith and retrieve a Desolation Engine, but the Revengers’ Club escape. China uses her Symbol Magic to force the Remnant out of Kenspeckle. The High Priest of the Temple orders Wreath to take the Soul Catcher with the Remnant still in it. Later on, China kills Crux after learning that he has revealed that she murdered Skulduggery's family.

It is later revealed that the Revengers’ Club made a second Engine, and they plan to use it to blow up the Croke Park Stadium during the All Ireland-Championships, killing 80,000 people live on air. The gang, including Shudder and Guild, all teleport to the stadium and find the rest of the club. Dusk bites Valkyrie, but lets go early as he tasted something strange in her blood. Because of this, he stops his revenge. Guild gets the second Desolation Engine and is ordered to blow up the stadium by Scarab. If Guild does not do it, his family will be killed by Sanguine. Before Guild drops the bomb, Fletcher teleports him to the sea. There, the bomb, modified to spare Guild's life, explodes. Valkyrie goes to Guild's home and has a fight with Sanguine, who wins. But he does not kill her, as that is "more fun." Back at the Hibernian, where Valkyrie kisses Fletcher. Guild turns out to have ordered the assassination of Esryn Vanguard after he attempted to bring the war to a truce. Guild accepts responsibility for his actions, and allows himself to be taken to prison. After the incident, the Sanctuary arrests Scarab and Springheeled Jack.

Marr, who was jealous of Skulduggery, takes the first Desolation Engine. She tricks Valkyrie and Skulduggery by telling them that Guild wants them to escort him to his cell. She uses Myron Stray's True Name and forces him to pop his eardrums. Using the Engine, Myron is forced to blow up the Sanctuary, killing Myron, Pennant and other sorcerers. Skulduggery flies away with Valkyrie and Guild. Valkyrie later dreams about the time when she fought Serpine at the Repository. In the Book of Names, she saw all three of her names. She realizes her True Name; Darquesse.

Characters

Valkyrie Cain

Skulduggery Pleasant

Fletcher Renn

Fletcher Renn is the last teleporter and Valkyrie's boyfriend.

Dreylan Scarab

Dreylan Scarab, who is the father of Billy-Ray Sanguine, is a powerful sorcerer and assassin seeking revenge for being framed for the murder of an peacemonger Esryn Vanguar during the war with Mevolent, which lead to his spending 200 years in prison, to which he formed the Revengers' Club to get revenge on the Sanctuary and the one who framed him, Thurid Guild

The Revengers' Club

The Revengers' Club is a group of past villains in the series, led by Dreylan Scarab; while all having different objectives, their main goal is to destroy the Irish Sanctuary. They consist of Scarab, Billy-ray Sanguine, Dusk, Remus Crux, and the recently zombified Vaurien Scapegrace and his army.

Thurid Guild

Thurid Guild is the Grand Mage of the Irish Sanctuary and former Exigency Programme Leader of the War against Mevolent.

Davina Marr

Davina Marr is a cruel and destructive agent of the American Sanctuary hired by Thurid Guild to take the place of Remus Crux as Prime Detective.

Caelan

Caelan is a vampire who assists Valkyrie in tracking down Skulduggery's original head, known as the "Murder Skull".

Reviews

Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days has opened to largely positive reviews by critics.

  • Alys Tandle (AlysTheBookWork.com)

Landy has a talent for balancing his stories with just the right amount of light and dark, but as the title suggests, things are heading down the path of darkness. Dark Days indeed.[2]

This series has always been a lot of fun. Pleasant’s dry humor is spot-on and unlike the Harry Potter series (which also famously involves a child who learns about the magical world and his place in it), this is a little more grim from the get-go.[3]
  • Joseph Melda (The Book Zone):
It contains all of the Derek Landy trademarks that we have come to love so much - great characters, both good and evil; tense action scenes that will have your heart beating so fast you will think it is about to explode; great dialogue laced with the scintillating banter that we have to come love so much; and, of course, many many moments of spine-tingling horror.[4]
  • Rhys Wolfgang (ThirstForFiction):
Dark Days moves towards a grittier, darker, perhaps more character driven story that will be enjoyed by teens and preteens alike. Derek Landy’s magical world continues to widen its boarders, and nearly every book seems to improve on the last.[5]
  • Leanne Hall (Readings.com):
This is smart, funny, contemporary fantasy that’s up there with the best, easily as good as the books of Cassandra Clare or Eoin Colfer.[6]

References

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