#sp grimoire spoilers

[m3-mianbo]

Query about a book in the SP novel series

@skulduggerypleasant @skulduggerydaily @skulduggeryatitsbest-blog

Hi fans - I have got a copy of the Grimoire. But I might be a bit behind on recent novels (have read the first 13 or 14 books + the Tanith Low one). What novels in the series should I definitely read before reading the Grimoire?

[Omit any spoilers please! <3 ]

[practicallyliving]

grimoire make sad

god fucking damn it man I was so excited for it. spoilers under cut. also big rant under cut. coming out of my cage and Im not doing just fine

so first of all........ wouldn’t it have been better for them to, like, wait til the series was finished to publish a comprehensive guide to it than do it just after the second to last book?? I get that it’s probs for a reason, like linked to the corruption of the sanctuary at this current time etc etc and it’s supposed to have a “””mysterious ending””” but like, it just feels like it would’ve been better to wait an extra year and have more time to put into making it not a piece of trash and then it could have all of the content from all the books instead of just ending right before the last one? am I being dumb? and also may I re-emphasise that if they’d had an extra year to work on it, IT MIGHT NOT BE SUCH FUCKING TRASH? like seriously did this fucking thing even have an editor like did anyone even read it before publishing it. felt like I was doing a goddamn proofreading test for a job application picking out the flaws and inconsistencies. booooooo 

also, genuinely disappointed at the lack of character profiles/portraits etc. the artwork is great and all and every respect to the artists who did it, but they just.... were not the kind of in-depth character portraits I wanted. I wanted pics with heights, fun facts, quotes, descriptions, etc. I wanted Valkyrie Cain at 26 with her tattoos and her girlfriend and her dog, and omen and auger and never to be more than just random blurs of children in my mind, and tanith and ravel and just. wanted more art. more art pls. all the art. I wanted definitions of words, descriptions of magic disciplines we don’t know a lot about, details about witch covens like the brides and other sanctuaries and stuff... not books 1-14 recapped with a slight commentary.  like, I have read and re-read every book in this series at least six times, I KNOW what happens and I don’t need a recap of every single goddamn event in every single goddamn book. If I wanted to find something out from a book, I'd simply re-read it instead of spending money on a new book that basically just recaps everything we already know. and if this was the purpose of the grimoire in the first place, then I reiterate: why not just WAIT til the last book was out so you could recap them all at once?? 

trying not to be negative about this series any more so ummmmm on a positive note, the comic was very very good and I hope we get more stuff like this in future. despite the ultra low rise 00s jeans. and a lot of the art was great and I really enjoyed hearing some characters’ commentary on certain events. basically, if I hadn’t been expecting something completely different and hadn't gotten my hopes up for this completely different thing, I probably would have been very happy when I received the grimoire and will probably warm to it in the future. for now, tho, just pretty disappointed and wishing it had been done a little differently. 

[shudderue]

okay i've had a headache for the last three days that doesn't seem to be going anywhere so i doubt anything will be coming if this but. skug's dad's name just sounds like the noise you'd make when sucking dick and i want to write a cursed x reader w this concept.

[facelessxchurch]

The Grimoire reveals who's behind 'The Night of Knives'.

It's revealed on page 249 and the culprit is the Anti-Sanctuary(/Abyssinia).

The way it's just an annotation within the summary for 'Resurrection' makes me believe it was never meant to be a secret/a plotline that would go on for multiple books and Landy just forgot to reveal who the culprit is within 'Resurrection' itself :/

Welp, there goes another plotline/mystery straight out of the window. How is no one talking about stuff like this? Like, I saw the reviews, I know some of y'all read the Grimoire.

[mooncactus]

actually interesting things from Laura and Derek’s dumb podcast (grimoire spoilers)

Book 15 teases:

*skulduggery’s father/back story WILL be relevant in 15. Valkyrie will find out about it, which will fill in any readers who skipped the grimoire. Derek “doesn’t know” if skulduggery knows what his dad really is.

*15 is 1/3rd written

*the alternate dimension will not be in 15.

*we’ll find out more about Skulduggery in 15.

Various book stuff:

*cadaverous was going to be “the joker to skulduggery’s Batman” and be his arch nemesis, but ended up being more of a villain for Valkyrie instead so Derek killed him off. This makes Cadaver Cain make a bit more sense.

*derek “never seriously considered” Valkyrie and skulduggery dating, especially during phase 1, but did intentionally write scenes and moments to tease shippers

*he is now open to writing spin offs or phase 3. this may or may not have Valkyrie and or skulduggery as the leads.

*derek can’t see Skulduggery ever getting remarried, but thinks it’s possible he could have a girlfriend or boyfriend in the future.

Adaptations

*if there was an animated show, Derek would like it to be like Marvel’s What If

*he used to ONLY want a live action movie with a live action TV show coming later, but now he’s willing to do TV first if he gets a better opportunity for it

* demon road has not been optioned and he hasn’t started any of the pitch documents yet

* he has “no interest” in adapting the already written SP books to graphic novel form, he would only do new stories for a SP comic

[sp-minion]

My thoughts on the Grimoire

Spoilers below the cut

This book subverted my expectations in the worst kind of way. Whilst I was expecting an expansion of the SP universe instead we got essentially a plot summary/recap with some additional Skulduggery backstory. I had assumed that the grimoire would be a chance to answer some questions and indulge in aspects of the series Landy cant in the main series like information about weapons, maps, timelines, character profiles. Instead we got a plot recap which isn't entirely accurate anyways and as someone whos read this series multiple times like I assume many of us have, or is quite familiar with the plot, it feels obsolete.

Like sure if I ever forget certain aspects of the plot of one of the books I can use the grimoire but I could also just as easily look at the books wiki for free. Which begs the question who is this for? If you're not totally caught up then you’re only able to read so far into the book before stopping and even then there are still some spoilers in early chapters. I was hoping the art alone may make me recommend this book, but there simply isn't enough there for me to recommend it and some of the illustrations we did get such as Creeds just aren’t pleasing to look at. Even some of the more major characters like Tanith, Dexter, the monster hunters didn't get art which is surprising but I feel shows some disconnect from the fanbase to HarperCollins.

I just think this was such a missed opportunity to expand our knowledge of this universe not reaffirm what we already know and only add backstory for Skulduggery. When there are people in the fan base creating better art, timelines and character profiles than he is it hardly seems worth it. At first I thought I was overreacting when Landy couldn't answer questions about certain aspects of the series, but when he doesn't even know his main characters age, something has gone wrong. 

Overall, if you’re a big fan of Skulduggery and are interested in his past that's the only way I could recommend this. Otherwise the art has been posted online anyways and even if you're confused about the timeline, I'm not sure this book will do anything other than make you ask more questions than it answers.

[lost-art-of-world-domination]

So, I just finished the Grimoire. (Spoilers Below!!!)

Yeah, the errors were kind of annoying and I would really have loved those character profiles, but I enjoyed a lot of the Skulduggery and Valkyrie interactions.

Also, while “The Age of The Maggot” was okay at best (I felt like the demons’ names were so interchangeable), I really enjoyed the Abrogate Raze story!! It’s fun seeing more of Skulduggery’s past and family, and I loved it tying into the disappearance of the Archivists. I knew there would be some big reveal there, but that was a good twist. Also I found those end pages very well done and sufficiently chilling.

Also the comic was fun to see, I’d love to see a full-length Skulduggery comic one day. The art for the rest of the Grimoire was definitely a major step down, with the Darquesse and Creed illustrations being especially disappointing in my opinion. Also those random portraits were kind of annoying once it became clear they had no relevance.

Overall, I found the recaps slightly tedious at points, and there were many little errors throughout. However, the fresh interactions throughout were great fun, and I enjoyed a lot of the original content!! Very excited to see where the Abrogate Raze/Gog Magog plot thread goes next.

So yeah, overall an okay entry, not particularly good as a reference book (A contents page might have helped, because I have to randomly flick through to find certain points) and I would have loved more details on the war or the creatures and types of magic that inhabit the SP Universe, but I thought it was a good source of new Skulduggery content!

I know from what I’ve seen I’m in the minority with some of these opinions, but I hope others enjoyed it too.

[lassieposting]

"my family were all good honourable people" says skulduggery, failing to note that his father was the devil and his little brother is kind of a shitty weasel who spends all day bullying children, revisionist history at its fine st

Also! That most of his siblings were mass murderers, his aunt was a mass murderer, his dad was a mass murderer, and his mom was a delusional enabler who noted how angry and bitter his dad was the first time she met him but married him anyway and kept up her "our life is wonderful and fulfilling, look at our happy family:)" mentality while her kids were running away from home at the first opportunity and never coming back

Literally burn phase two and everything associated with it

[demon-road-musings]

Coming on the record to say that I don't know how to pronounce 'grimoire' and I'm never going to learn because I want to remain an ignorant dumbass. Thank you.

[facelessxchurch]

Skul and Val have literally surpassed Mary Sue levels of overpowered and ridiculous backstories. I mean they crossed the line a while ago but now it’s been nuked

Yeah, not gonna lie, SoW made me somewhat hopeful phase 2 would improve, but DoA and the Grimoire just dragged the entire series down jfc-

For those that don't care to read the Grimoire pages, here is a summary of the BS 'dark story' that's been included in the Grimoire:

Skulduggery father, Abrogate Raze, is Gog Magog, the god of the Apocalypse. But bc the other Gods didn't like him they stripped him of his power and cast him to earth and he forgot he was a God and thought he was a mage instead. He married, produced some offspring. Killed his wife. Then started worshipping Gog Magog and founded the 'Convenant of the Destroyer', realized he's that God and slowly started recovering his memory and powers.

Skul and three of his siblings tried to kill him but he enslaved them instead and knowing their true identity changed their magic. Only Skul got away and later showed up with the other remaining siblings and they tied him up and buried him alive in a coffin.

But he is spreading the knowledge about himself through some sort of 'virus' and taking over the minds of other mages from his imprisonment (like Abyssinia and Argeddion) bc the more people know about(/worship) him the stronger he becomes. .

And, oh no, he's getting stronger and this is the 'cursing the reader' thing that was mentioned in the advertisement and why they called it a 'Grimoire'.

Landy thinks he's being slick. He aint. And Skul's dad is probably gonna be a big plot point/major villain in the next book and Landy's gonna be like 'oh no, it's bc ya'll read the Grimoire and made him strong enough to escape his coffin', showing once again that his target group is underdeveloped 8 year olds as these are the only target audience that would be impressed by this.

They don't want their name attached to this, but they said I'm free to do with the pages what I want, so here they are:

[facelessxchurch]

Hi!

There seem to be a lot of negative opinions about Phase 2 of the SP books so I am wondering if i should read it. I'm currently rereading the series and on book 6 right now. I really liked rereading the books, and also liked reading them for the first time, so I wanted to finish the series but now i read so many negative things about Phase 2 and I'm not really sure if I should buy the next books.

I'm also not sure if I want to support Derek Landy by buying more of his books because he seems like a kind of shitty person?

Full disclosure here, I might be a bad person to ask bc, while I'm aware of what happens in the books, I haven't actually read any of the phase 2 books apart from SoW and I'm already negatively biased against phase 1. So take it with a grain of salt.

Things (with minor spoilers) to note here:

Valkyrie is different in phase 2. The Laura that Valkyrie is based on no longer helps Landy to write her and instead girlfriend!Laura is helping him now. She starts out phase 2 very depressed and for some people that was hard to read.

Skulduggery takes a backseat in phase 2 and they spend a lot of time separated.

It's straight up just not well written. There is a lot of retconning, if you think the timeline was messed up before it's so much worse now, plot holes, plots getting randomly dropped, a lot of power inconsistencies especially when it comes to Val. She just keeps getting random new abilities, the latest one being a weird form of time travel for some fucking reason???

Lots of new Gods we've never heard of before in the last few books.

Some characters just got straight up ruined, most notably Mevolent, the Unnamed and Vile.

A lot of the fan-favourites that have survived so far only get mentioned and if they get screentime it's very short-lived.

The opinions of phase 2 are split. Most pople on reddit seem to like phase 1 more while still enjoying phase 2, while I just completely hate phase 2 and regard it as non-canon. I'd recommend maybe borrowing the 10t book from a library (if possible) and then decide for yourself if you like it.

The only thing everyone agrees on is that the Grimoire sucks and you shouldn't buy it under any circumstance. The only good thing about it is the comic, but if you wann read it just get the damn thing from zLibrary tbh