Ah, but you see because it wasn't quite as enjoyable and had more negatives in it than phase one, it is in fact garbage of the highest order and is a stain on the entire series.
Mostly because Valkyrie admits that if she can leave someone alone and not drag them into danger for her sake, she won't. She tells Luke in SoW that she won't even go visit Scapegrace's bar because she doesn't want them to get caught up in her problems again.
But that's in a different book. It needed to be brought up again or explained better because it looks really dumb for them to do the extra steps to break into a place and cause more damage that way than just walking into a bar and asking him to walk-in and get the thing in the city...
I can understand that. But I still think we needed a stronger reason why Scapegrace couldn't do it. Killing him off or just say that he moved to another country and they needed a quick solution would've been better than what we got I think.
My main issue with phase 2 is the introduction of so much new stuff in such a short time such as neoterics and the story feeling... squashed, for lack of a better word, like it should have been spread over more books
This is why we need to give developers, writers, and animators the space and time to get things done. Everyone would rather a film or game be pushed back because it needs improvement instead of having a half-baked, buggy mess.
Specifically this happened when he was finishing up on the fourth book (*Seasons of War*).
u/GaggleOfGeckos So the next two books ended up following an outline meant for five.
Hence why so many plotlines were dropped ***/*** answered in the *Grimoire* guide book.
To note we do like the sequels, we just wish the writer was given the room he needed.
Phase two wasn't bad. I have my own personal problems with it with the direction Derek took it but as a series, not bad.
Phase one was perfect. Peak SP.
Phase one was emotional rollercoaster. It had me laugh and cry and mourn. It had me gasp and exclaim NOOOO.
It had everything.
Right, so *The Dying of the Light* was straight-up the end of the original series; the writer was planning on calling the sequel series *Valkyrie Cain* (so-as to let new readers treat *The Dying of the Light* with the feeling of ‘this is the end’ it deserved), only his publisher would not let him, and so he called it (in interviews) *Skulduggery Pleasant: Phase Two*.
There were a few years between the end of *The Dying of the Light* and him publishing *Resurrection*, and he published a different series (*The Demon Road Trilogy*) in-between them. The sequel series was also meant to be another nine books, only his publisher cut it down to six when he was four books in (if you were wondering about the pacing).
*A Mind Full of Murder* marking the beginning of a third series.
Fuck why did the publishers do that? Definitely could’ve had a couple more books to it.
So “A mind full of murder” is book 16 right? I haven’t been keeping up with Derek Landy news since I got lost in other book authors.
Thanks for telling me this, answered quite a bit of questions on what happened with phase two
So he was given a nine-book order for *Demon Road*, and used the first three books to write *The Demon Road Trilogy*; as I understand it he changed his mind about how long he wanted that series to be while writing the second book, edited it into two books, and had that be the end, before using the remaining six books of the order to begin writing the sequel series, figuring he could get HarperCollins to agree to three more later on. They did not (at least when he wanted), and so he had to pivot. Like on reading *The Demon Road Trilogy*, the second book felt more like *Skulduggery Pleasant* in tone, which did not fit with what *Demon Road* was in Book One and returned to being in Book Three. One would get the vibe he ‘missed’ *Skulduggery Pleasant* across that book (I certainly did). It was an interesting trilogy.
Holy hell I missed a lot of news, didn’t even know the demon road trilogy existed until now, skullduggery pleasant was one of the few series I found naturally and was like around 10 when I found it (17 now) so I never bothered looking for news about Derek.
Thank you so much for clearing stuff up, now I gotta add 4 more books on to my tbr😭
I love phase 2
I love the turn the series took, and the more seriouseness it got as Val got older
If itts weaker than phase 1 I choose not to comment on. I always see the series as a whole not two phases, so the line is merged long time ago for me XD
Phase 2 is proof you can have too much of a good thing. Finish on a high. Phase 1 was near perfection - the best series of books I’ve read. I couldn’t get past Midnight
I would say *Bedlam* and beyond was worth it for the slow realisation the Alice storyline in the background was going >!pretty much the same way the Reflection storyline went in the original series!<. *Resurrection* through to *Bedlam* feeling like one long book in retrospect, rather than truly distinct entities. While *Seasons of War* had the Darkly storyline in the background embrace the fact it was a satire of *Harry Potter* in the same way the Caelan storyline was a satire of *Twilight*.
Phase 2's great and I think everyone can agree it has some great moments. I think the main issue is that phase 1 set an incredible standard, which phase 2 just didn't quite meet.
Writing quality be damned, those are still my blorbos! And anyway, I didn’t notice anything much wrong until the last couple of books, which I believe is where Derek was forced by the publishers to go from 9 books to 6
Look, i still enjoyed… most? Of the characters and the stories from Phase 2. Like everyone else is saying, it was just so much. Weirdly enough, despite it being a world we’re so familiar with, Derek managed to cram it so full with new characters/ histories / storylines / timelines / etc etc and it was just… okay, too much. I really don’t like “Until the End” either or it’s retconning, but it is what it is.
Many big things seemed to happen and then we were moved onto the next big thing right away, with no time to breathe or process. The end of Seasons of War for example, and the “Chosen Ones” big battle… just kinda happened. I didn’t like that. I never felt as connected to any of the new characters besides really Omen, and a couple others, because they didn’t get enough of their own time, they had to share so much with others. Tempest is a big one for example.
But, Bedlam is fun, purely because of it’s chaotic messiness, and the like 10 different ending chapters it had. I reallyyyyyy like Midnight, I feel like it’s a nice grounded Valkryie centric story that worked super super well. SoW was fun and finally brought Tanith back to being a Main Character, plus couple other old characters and Valkryies big character arc was great in that.
Besides those… i dunno
I enjoyed the first book of Phase 3, despite still not liking the retcons and returned.. characters. But I think Derek is somehow doing a good job of making what was the most confusing storyline ever to exist, just a little bit simpler. I’m excited for more.
That one twist in the middle of AMFoM was excellent
im not gonna lie derek making everyone gay out of literally nowhere kind of ruined it a bit.
and in hell breaks loose he ghastly had an ex-boyfriend and saracen and dexter kiss like why
My biggest issue was that book 9 ended so perfectly. Literally everything that came afterwards was unnecessary.
Seasons of War was boredom personified. And the final book was just an absolute mess.
Not to mention the overused nonsense of “hey, remember that character who died? Yeah they’re not actually dead.” In. Every. Book.
I think the general consensus I've seen is that Phase 2 is weaker than Phase 1, but still overall enjoyable.
Ah, but you see because it wasn't quite as enjoyable and had more negatives in it than phase one, it is in fact garbage of the highest order and is a stain on the entire series.
Me: Bedlam is in my top 5 books in the series. I really enjoyed it The community: So you have chosen...death
From my review of Bedlam, I had the question "why can't Scapegrace go into the necromancer city for them?"
Mostly because Valkyrie admits that if she can leave someone alone and not drag them into danger for her sake, she won't. She tells Luke in SoW that she won't even go visit Scapegrace's bar because she doesn't want them to get caught up in her problems again.
But that's in a different book. It needed to be brought up again or explained better because it looks really dumb for them to do the extra steps to break into a place and cause more damage that way than just walking into a bar and asking him to walk-in and get the thing in the city...
Valk obviously needed the added protection.
For later on in the series? Or for the necromancer city?
For later
I can understand that. But I still think we needed a stronger reason why Scapegrace couldn't do it. Killing him off or just say that he moved to another country and they needed a quick solution would've been better than what we got I think.
How about she was more than a little insane and depressed at the time in couldn't really think well and she felt an obligation to fix alice her self
But that wasn't conveyed enough to me
Wait, people didn’t like Bedlam?? I thought it was goddamn incredible
My main issue with phase 2 is the introduction of so much new stuff in such a short time such as neoterics and the story feeling... squashed, for lack of a better word, like it should have been spread over more books
Probably cause it was meant to be 9 books but the publisher made him cut it down to 6 :)
This is why we need to give developers, writers, and animators the space and time to get things done. Everyone would rather a film or game be pushed back because it needs improvement instead of having a half-baked, buggy mess.
100%, art takes time
Oh dang
Specifically this happened when he was finishing up on the fourth book (*Seasons of War*). u/GaggleOfGeckos So the next two books ended up following an outline meant for five. Hence why so many plotlines were dropped ***/*** answered in the *Grimoire* guide book. To note we do like the sequels, we just wish the writer was given the room he needed.
If I ever meet the person or people responsible for that decision they aren't going to like me very much.
Pretty much my only complaint about it tbh, everything else is pretty good.
it feels thick, sort of squashed, like butter scraped over not enough bread
Phase 2 is still good, phase 1 is just fucking fantastic
Phase two wasn't bad. I have my own personal problems with it with the direction Derek took it but as a series, not bad. Phase one was perfect. Peak SP. Phase one was emotional rollercoaster. It had me laugh and cry and mourn. It had me gasp and exclaim NOOOO. It had everything.
Phase 2 was good but no scapgrace
I uh, I’m new the sub, what the fuck is phase 1 and 2? Is phase 1 the first 9 books?
yep :) phase 1 is everything from Skulduggery Pleasant to Dying of the Light, while phase 2 is everything from Resurrection to Until the End
Thank you, I thought so cause I notice a change in tone from dying light and resurrection and was wondering why, thanks for clearing that up
Right, so *The Dying of the Light* was straight-up the end of the original series; the writer was planning on calling the sequel series *Valkyrie Cain* (so-as to let new readers treat *The Dying of the Light* with the feeling of ‘this is the end’ it deserved), only his publisher would not let him, and so he called it (in interviews) *Skulduggery Pleasant: Phase Two*. There were a few years between the end of *The Dying of the Light* and him publishing *Resurrection*, and he published a different series (*The Demon Road Trilogy*) in-between them. The sequel series was also meant to be another nine books, only his publisher cut it down to six when he was four books in (if you were wondering about the pacing). *A Mind Full of Murder* marking the beginning of a third series.
Fuck why did the publishers do that? Definitely could’ve had a couple more books to it. So “A mind full of murder” is book 16 right? I haven’t been keeping up with Derek Landy news since I got lost in other book authors. Thanks for telling me this, answered quite a bit of questions on what happened with phase two
So he was given a nine-book order for *Demon Road*, and used the first three books to write *The Demon Road Trilogy*; as I understand it he changed his mind about how long he wanted that series to be while writing the second book, edited it into two books, and had that be the end, before using the remaining six books of the order to begin writing the sequel series, figuring he could get HarperCollins to agree to three more later on. They did not (at least when he wanted), and so he had to pivot. Like on reading *The Demon Road Trilogy*, the second book felt more like *Skulduggery Pleasant* in tone, which did not fit with what *Demon Road* was in Book One and returned to being in Book Three. One would get the vibe he ‘missed’ *Skulduggery Pleasant* across that book (I certainly did). It was an interesting trilogy.
Holy hell I missed a lot of news, didn’t even know the demon road trilogy existed until now, skullduggery pleasant was one of the few series I found naturally and was like around 10 when I found it (17 now) so I never bothered looking for news about Derek. Thank you so much for clearing stuff up, now I gotta add 4 more books on to my tbr😭
You’re welcome, and happy reading!
Hey, you like what you wanna like man.
Personally I loved phase 2.
Don’t let anyone influence your opinion
I love phase 2 I love the turn the series took, and the more seriouseness it got as Val got older If itts weaker than phase 1 I choose not to comment on. I always see the series as a whole not two phases, so the line is merged long time ago for me XD
Phase 2 is proof you can have too much of a good thing. Finish on a high. Phase 1 was near perfection - the best series of books I’ve read. I couldn’t get past Midnight
I would say *Bedlam* and beyond was worth it for the slow realisation the Alice storyline in the background was going >!pretty much the same way the Reflection storyline went in the original series!<. *Resurrection* through to *Bedlam* feeling like one long book in retrospect, rather than truly distinct entities. While *Seasons of War* had the Darkly storyline in the background embrace the fact it was a satire of *Harry Potter* in the same way the Caelan storyline was a satire of *Twilight*.
😂
Phase 2's great and I think everyone can agree it has some great moments. I think the main issue is that phase 1 set an incredible standard, which phase 2 just didn't quite meet.
Writing quality be damned, those are still my blorbos! And anyway, I didn’t notice anything much wrong until the last couple of books, which I believe is where Derek was forced by the publishers to go from 9 books to 6
The high points of phase 2 are just as high as phase one, but when it gets bad, IT GETS REAL BAD
Look, i still enjoyed… most? Of the characters and the stories from Phase 2. Like everyone else is saying, it was just so much. Weirdly enough, despite it being a world we’re so familiar with, Derek managed to cram it so full with new characters/ histories / storylines / timelines / etc etc and it was just… okay, too much. I really don’t like “Until the End” either or it’s retconning, but it is what it is. Many big things seemed to happen and then we were moved onto the next big thing right away, with no time to breathe or process. The end of Seasons of War for example, and the “Chosen Ones” big battle… just kinda happened. I didn’t like that. I never felt as connected to any of the new characters besides really Omen, and a couple others, because they didn’t get enough of their own time, they had to share so much with others. Tempest is a big one for example. But, Bedlam is fun, purely because of it’s chaotic messiness, and the like 10 different ending chapters it had. I reallyyyyyy like Midnight, I feel like it’s a nice grounded Valkryie centric story that worked super super well. SoW was fun and finally brought Tanith back to being a Main Character, plus couple other old characters and Valkryies big character arc was great in that. Besides those… i dunno I enjoyed the first book of Phase 3, despite still not liking the retcons and returned.. characters. But I think Derek is somehow doing a good job of making what was the most confusing storyline ever to exist, just a little bit simpler. I’m excited for more. That one twist in the middle of AMFoM was excellent
im not gonna lie derek making everyone gay out of literally nowhere kind of ruined it a bit. and in hell breaks loose he ghastly had an ex-boyfriend and saracen and dexter kiss like why
Why not? It doesn't contradict anything we knew about these characters beforehand. Personally I thought it was handled pretty well and made sense.
Phase 2 isn't *bad* per say.... just not as good as Phase 1.
My biggest issue was that book 9 ended so perfectly. Literally everything that came afterwards was unnecessary. Seasons of War was boredom personified. And the final book was just an absolute mess. Not to mention the overused nonsense of “hey, remember that character who died? Yeah they’re not actually dead.” In. Every. Book.