Death Bringer

Author	Derek Landy
Cover artist	Tom Percival
Country	Ireland
Language	English
Series	Skulduggery Pleasant
Genre	Children's novel, Fantasy novel, detective novel, comedy novel, adventure novel
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	1 September 2011
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	603 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	0-00-74582-07 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	822992413
Preceded by	Mortal Coil (2010)
Followed by	Kingdom of the Wicked (2012)

Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer is a young adult fantasy novel written by Irish playwright Derek Landy and published in September 2011. It is the sixth of the Skulduggery Pleasant series and sequel to Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil.

The story follows the sorcerer and detectives Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant as they deal with the supposed emergence of the Death Bringer, the return of Lord Vile and the growing coming of Darquesse. The book was released in the US and Canada in 2018.^[1] HarperCollins Audio publishes the unabridged CD sets of the books read by Rupert Degas.

Plot summary

Vandameer Craven has Melancholia trapped in the lower levels of the Temple undergoing the surge, and is in pain, but Craven insists soon she will be strong enough to be the Death Bringer.

Reporter Kenny Dunne finds himself embroiled in a murder case after Paul Lynch, the homeless man with sensitive powers he was going to interview, is found dead. He is interrogated by Detective Inspector Me (Skulduggery) and a girl (Valkyrie), who find out that Lynch was in contact with Bernadette Maguire. The Detectives then leave the room with Fletcher.

Valkyrie later attends the christening of her sister Alison (sometimes referred to as Alice for short). Meanwhile, Skulduggery finds the cottage of Bernadette, who is dead, and picks up traces of Adept Magic with Rainbow Dust. Aided by Valkyrie and Fletcher, he catches sight of the killer, the Necromancer Dragonclaw, who drops a box containing Jitter Girls to distract them while he escapes.

In the Necromancer Temple, Cleric Vandameer Craven is late to a meeting in the high priest's office and recounts how he hates them all, except for Nathanial Quiver, who has done nothing wrong to him. Wreath discusses Valkyrie's rise to become the Death Bringer, but Craven suggests Melancholia St Clair and is laughed at. Craven returns to the lower levels and frees Melancholia, thinking that showing her the abilities he gave her would grant her to be the Death Bringer.

Back at the Cottage, Skulduggery and Valkyrie hold off the Jitter Girls, until one sticks her hand in Valkyrie's brain, and unleashes Darquesse, who attacks the Girls and forces them to retreat back to their box. Skulduggery attempts to talk to Darquesse, and Valkyrie returns as Fletcher arrives.

At the Church of the Faceless Ones, it is revealed that Prave witnessed China Sorrows murder Remus Crux and overheard her secret: that China led Skulduggery's family to their death. Prave has told this to Eliza Scorn, who decides to blackmail China into helping lift the religion of the faceless back to its previous notoriety. China later tells Skulduggery and Valkyrie that the Necromancers believe they have their Death Bringer, Melancholia.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery travel to Roarhaven to visit the Sanctuary and Valkryie saves an American Tourist family from a shop keeper who despises Mortals. They continue to the Sanctuary and meet the Elders. Grand Mage Ravel and Elder Ghastly agree that it is worth checking out as they need to stop people from dying. The Sanctuary gives them more resources to find out what they need to know about the Passage .

Skulduggery and Valkyrie visit the Necromancer Temple and see Dragonclaw, who runs away. Skulduggery and Valkyrie encounter a Warlock hired by Dragonclaw, which is a very dangerous sorcerer that grows stronger from feasting on people. Skulduggery and Valkyrie defeat him. Returning home, Valkyrie meets Caelan, with whom she is cheating on Fletcher.

Late at night, Alison wakes up Valkyrie, who invites Fletcher over. The reflection comes out of the mirror without Valkyrie letting it but insists she only told it to go back in the mirror, but she did not touch the glass. It starts laughing at her with Fletcher. While Fletcher is out getting pizza, Melancholia comes to Valkyrie's house and takes her shadow-walking. Melancholia cuts Valkyrie all over with shadows and leaves her unconscious and bloody. Valkyrie calls Fletcher, who takes her to the Sanctuary.

Nye, the new sanctuary doctor, is hired by Madame Mist. Skulduggery wants to shoot it but Nye says that if he kills it then Valkyrie will die because of her life-threatening injuries and he has already figured out how to save her. And that by the time another doctor figures it out, Valkyrie will be dead.

Valkyrie wakes up and tries to threaten Nye. However, Nye knows that Valkyrie is somehow involved with Darquesse due to the mutterings and hallucinations as it performed on her to seal her true name. It says that if she tells the sanctuary about the experiments he has been conducting, he will tell the Elders about her involvement in it all.

Skulduggery takes Valkyrie to his house.

Meanwhile, Scapegrace and Thrasher are travelling around in and ice-cream van, on the way to Nye's warehouse. He is not there but Clarabelle is. She agrees to show them to the Sanctuary so they can ask Nye to cure them. Clarabelle is also looking for a job.

Skulduggery, along with Sanctuary agents, breaks into the Temple and shows an arrest warrant for Melancholia. Craven refuses and before Skulduggery leaves, he threatens Craven by saying that the Temple will be raided if they do not give up Melancholia.

Meanwhile, Kenny's investigations take him to Finbar Wrong. He claims that there were rumours that Finbar can use Magic. Finbar denies this, and refers Kenny to Geoffery Scrutinious. Geoffery uses his powers to make Kenny forget all the Magic. However, when Kenny is about to throw all his reports away, he somehow manages to remember everything.

China is visited by Jaron Gallow, who claims he has earned Eliza's trust, but is secretly working against her. The two agree to become allies to destroy the Church of the Faceless. Gallow would retrieve a list of twelve names who follow the Church. China visits it a few days after to meet with Eliza, who reveals Gallow to her. The three agree to meet during the Requiem Ball.

Scapegrace, Thrasher and Clarabelle arrive at the Sanctuary and they visit Nye. It gives Clarabelle a job as its assistant after Nye discovers that Clarabelle killed Kenspeckle Grouse. However, it decides not to help the Zombies as they have nothing to offer it. Furious, Scapegrace goes to his old bar, where the new owner agrees to give the Zombies a job.

The next day, Valkyrie and Skulduggery, aided by many Cleavers and agents, prepare to raid the Temple to arrest Melancholia. However, the two eventually leave for an airport where Dragonclaw had been sighted. They find him and after a small torture, he reveals that back-up Necromancers are soon to arrive to help the Temple. Alone, Valkyrie sneaks into the arrivals area and stalls the Necromancers. They take Dragonclaw back into the Temple through a secret tunnel he knows. Skulduggery knocks out Dragonclaw and splits up with Valkyrie to find Melancholia. Valkyrie runs into Wreath, who reveals the true intentions of the Passage. Three billion people will be killed, which will stop anyone from being born, and anyone from dying. Valkyrie tries to stop him, but gets knocked out.

Skulduggery is also captured and gets put next to her. Auron Tenebrae, the High Priest, then approaches them. He reveals that Skulduggery, who was actually Lord Vile during the War, came back to life thanks to Tenebrae adding Magic to Serpine's right hand. Tenebrae then visits Melancholia, who turns out to not be the Death Bringer. Craven really performed on her. Before Tenebrae can try to stop them, Melancholia kills him.

Dragonclaw is allowed to torture Skulduggery and Valkyrie, who work together to defeat him. While attempting to escape the Temple, they run into Melancholia, who has killed other Necromancers. Unable to defeat her, Skulduggery is forced to unleash Lord Vile's armour. He easily beats Melancholia, and is just about to kill her when other Necromancers arrive, forcing Vile armour to turn back to Skulduggery. Melancholia, Craven and the other Necromancers escape. The Necromancers who have fled to Widow Hill meet and discuss what to do next. Outside the Temple, Valkyrie leaves Skulduggery as she is still shocked from that night's revelations.

At home, Valkyrie finds no one. She dials her Reflection, which says Melissa was mugged by someone named Ian Moore. Blinded by rage, Valkyrie breaks into the cell Ian is being held in and attacks Ian. Just as she is about to kill him, she regains her senses and flees from the precinct. The next morning, Valkyrie is visited by Fletcher, who has been concerned with Valkyrie. An argument ensues between them and they break up. Valkyrie is later visited by Carol and Crystal, and Valkyrie accepts to teach them Magic, although they do not succeed. Their father, Fergus, later sends the twins home. He knew all along about Magic and thinks it is ruining their family. As he leaves, Valkyrie asks if Fergus can do Magic. He clicks his fingers and generates a weak spark.

The next day, Valkyrie forgives Skulduggery for his past. He suggests they should let Vile kill Melancholia.

Still upset over the break-up, Fletcher visits Ghastly and asks for advice over what to do next. Ghastly tells him to not give up on Valkyrie, but not to go begging for her back.

At Widow Hill, Wreath realises that Melancholia is unstable, and Quiver tells him that Craven plans to kill Wreath, so Wreath decides to kill Craven first. But as he tries, he is forced to escape as the White Cleaver intervenes. He decides to aid the Sanctuary is taking down Melancholia, so he locates Valkyrie and Skulduggery and informs them of the location of the Necromancers. They create a plan to storm into the house and kill Melancholia with the aid of Fletcher. When they teleport into the house, Craven accidentally slices Melancholia in half using his shadows after attempting to slice Valkyrie. The Necromancers retreat, and Valkyrie and Skulduggery return home.

The next day Valkyrie spends time with her mother, father and sister Alice. When Valkyrie is left alone with Alice, Ian Moore manages to sneak into the home and attack Valkyrie after the police disallowed him to be beaten up any further while in a cell. She manages to touch her mirror and lets the Reflection out, and it defeats Ian. The Reflection suggests killing Ian, but Valkyrie rejects this and instead calls the police. Valkyrie is then taken to a mortal hospital where she is stitched up. At Roarhaven, Scapegrace opens his old pub for work, but nobody shows up. Instead, Craven and the other Necromancers enter the pub and take control of Scapegrace and Thrasher because they are Zombies. Craven tells the two that they have a task to steal a disc from the Elders' offices. Scapegrace manages to steal it and gives it to Craven, who orders the Zombies to create a new Zombie Horde.

Before the Requiem Ball, Skulduggery gives a dress to Valkyrie to wear. When they arrive at Gordon's estate (the place the Ball is held), they are greeted by Dexter Vex, an ex-member of the Dead Men . Other faces, such as China and Gordon also talk to them. During the party a group of robbers try to steal from Gordon's house, unaware they all have Magic. The sorcerers easily defeat the robbers.

Meanwhile, in the Caves, the new Zombie Horde are slowly decreasing as they run into monsters during their task. The Necromancers are also at the Ball outside the estate, where they prepare for the Passage to be initiated. Among them is Melancholia as it was her Reflection that was killed in Widow Hill. China meets with Jaron Gallow, who has the twelve names, but when she turns up at his car, she finds him dead, killed by Eliza, who has run off with the names.

Melancholia decides to test her powers as she suck's the life energy from everyone in the Ball. Valkyrie and Skulduggery, who were fortunate not to be there at the time, track the Necromancers into the Caves and they enter.

They run into Melancholia and Craven and Skulduggery challenges the Death Bringer to a battle. She easily defeats him and absorbs his life energy. However, by doing this, Lord Vile's armour is awakened. Valkyrie forces Melancholia to release Skulduggery's life energy. When she does, Skulduggery transforms into the real Lord Vile, forcing Valkyrie and Melancholia to flee. Valkyirie is kidnapped by monsters in the caves, but she breaks free and joins up with Melancholia again, who is accompanied by the White Cleaver. They bump into Scapegrace, who ends up with his head sliced off by the Cleaver. Vile catches up to them, and easily kills the White Cleaver, who was sent as a distraction, and Valkyrie and Melancholia continue to run and make it out of the caves. However, Vile catches up to them. Realising the only way to stop Vile, Valkyrie forces Melancholia to take her life energy away, which awakens Darquesse. Darquesse and Lord Vile start fighting all over Ireland, which involved both getting severely injured by crashes on streets and both gettings smashed through buildings, and also includes fighting on Liffey Bridge. Eventually the two begin talking after a long period of fighting, especially after Lord Vile is seeing Darquesse gets stronger the longer she's out. He changes back after seeing defeat, and Skulduggery returns. He talks to Darquesse, and Valkyrie returns as normal.

For their efforts, Valkyrie and Skulduggery are to be presented with medals at the Sanctuary. They decide to not show up and instead visit China, who told Skulduggery she has urgent news. When they arrive, they find Eliza beating up China. After she blows up China's library, Eliza reveals the truth behind the capture of Skulduggery's family. Shocked, Valkyrie and Skulduggery force Eliza to leave. She complies, then Skulduggery and Valkyrie depart.

When Valkyrie arrives home, Caelan takes her to the docks and tries to force her to start listening to him. Annoyed, Valkyrie dumps Caelan who doesn't accept it. Fletcher teleports to them and starts beating up Caelan. Caelan transforms into a Vampire and nearly kills Fletcher, but him and Valkyrie manage to kill Caelan by forcing him into the river. As they teleport away, a shaken Kenny Dunne watches on with footage of the fight.

Characters

Reviews

Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer has opened to largely positive reviews by critics.

• Sarah Webb (The Independent):

Landy is being feted as the new J. K. Rowling, and for good reason. Whatever your age, read them and enjoy the ride. As Skulduggery says: “Embrace your inner lunatic. Fun times guaranteed.”^[2]

• Joseph Melda (The Book Zone):

Derek Landy has created so many great characters, but what makes them stand out so much is the banter between them, and especially between his two main protagonists. It is consistently funny, occasionally poignant, and shows the deep bond that has grown between these two over the course of their adventures together.^[3]

• Rhys Wolfgang (ThirstForFiction):

Landy bring[s] an excellent compromise between the dry humour of Skulduggery and Valkyrie and the brutal nature of the story to create an intense bathos. Plenty of scenes are deliciously violent and hard-hitting, but these are offset by some hilarious jokes. The Skulduggery Pleasant series has always been something of a black comedy, but none of the previous novels have ever truly gotten such a fantastic contrast between the funny and the deadly[...] Few authors manage to outdo themselves with every book they publish, but Landy seems to be one of them. Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer is above and beyond what anyone could have expected. With one epic saga of a storyline and with characters who are growing to be ever shady-er, Death Bringer is an excellent novel. I can only hope that Landy continues to write so fantastically well.^[4]

• Vesuvius Blotch (Blotch's Reviews):

Death Bringer is my choice for the most emotionally harrowing book of the series. And that’s saying something. From an overall perspective, the storyline showcases the Necromancers at their best and most formidable, a brilliant core storyline surrounded and framed by a multitude of juicy plotlines. Perhaps the book’s greatest strength lies in the development of Skulduggery and Valkyrie as characters. Both endure hardships during the story’s events, and their relationship, which has stood the test of time, is pushed to its very limits. There’s a miscellany of excellent moments[, a] compelling story, a ton of character work and an emotional roller-coaster. Classic.^[5]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer.

• Skulduggery Pleasant UK, Australia and New Zealand Official Website
• Skulduggery Pleasant US and Canada Official Website