Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy

This was one book I was thrilled to get my hands on at PLA, and it was even better than my high expectations.

Valkyrie Cain continues to find adventure at the side of the living-dead skeleton Skulduggery Pleasant.  This time Baron Vengeous has escaped prison and is attempting to bring the Grotesquery to life in order to bring back the Faceless Ones.  The Grotesquery is a monster created from different pieces of beasts from legend, brought together into one horrific and powerful being.  As they try to stop Baron Vengeous, Valkyrie and Skulduggery run into a variety of strange beings who have incredible powers and who are always ready for a good fight.  Fans of the first book will also be happy to see many of their favorite characters appear again.

A wild ride of a book, the battles are gory, choreographed and often funny.  The book continues the strong sense of humor, laugh out-loud commentary, and vibrant relationship of the two main characters.  Plenty of banter and wit as well as some deeper questions about life make this a winner of a novel. 

This is not a stand-alone title.  Readers must have read the first in the series to really appreciate this one.  Highly recommended for fans of action films and science fiction ages 10-14.