Books › The Faceless Ones
The Faceless Ones
432 pages
A razor-sharp, banter-filled urban fantasy that balances laugh-out-loud comedy with surprisingly dark, world-ending stakes.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like riding a rollercoaster in the dark while your best friend cracks jokes in the seat next to you. It is a masterclass in balancing tone, seamlessly weaving deadpan, laugh-out-loud banter with genuinely terrifying, world-ending stakes. The narrative moves at a propulsive clip, driven by punchy dialogue and cinematic action sequences that leave you breathless. As the shadows lengthen and the threat of ancient, eldritch horrors becomes a reality, the atmosphere shifts from energetic mystery to desperate survival. It delights readers who crave snarky, irreverent heroes but still want to feel the emotional weight of their struggles. Beneath the sarcasm and the magic, it is a surprisingly poignant exploration of loyalty, sacrifice, and the sudden, jarring loss of innocence.
- Mood
- chaotic
- shadowy
- suspenseful
- energetic
- Tone
- sarcastic
- irreverent
- darkly comedic
- urgent
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- found family · loss of innocence · loyalty against impossible odds · confronting ancient evils
- The writing
- Punchy and dialogue-driven, relying heavily on razor-sharp banter and cinematic, fast-paced action sequences.
- The arc
- Moves from confident, wisecracking adventure into a desperate, high-stakes scramble that ends in a genuinely shocking and heartbreaking sacrifice.
- Who it's for
- Fans of snarky antiheroes, magical mysteries, and urban fantasy that isn't afraid to plunge its wisecracking protagonists into genuine darkness.
Content notes
- fantasy violence
- murder
- mild body horror
- kidnapping
About the book
The third bone-breaking, belly-busting adventure in the series that puts the "funny" back in...um...funny series. That didn't really work, did it?If you've read the previous Skulduggery books then you know what the Faceless Ones are – and if you know what the Faceless Ones are, then you can probably take a wild guess that things in this book are going to get AWFULLY sticky for our skeletal hero and his young sidekick. If you haven't read the previous Skulduggery books then what are you doing reading this? Go and read them right now, so that you know what all that stuff in the previous paragraph was about. Done? Good. So now you're on tenterhooks too, desperately awaiting the answers to all your questions, and instead you're going to have to wait to read the book. Sorry about that.
Description from Open Library.
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