Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

This book was recommended by a student, and I gave it a rating of five out of five. Stephanie's grandfather passes away, and he leaves her the majority of the fortune from his fantasy writing. However, she discovers that much of his writing is based on true events, and her biggest friend and partner turns out to be a skeleton named Skulduggery Pleasant. They discover that a character named Serpine has broken a truce and wants to find the mythical, powerful Scepter of the Ancients, but the Elders don't believe it. Stephanie and Skulduggery team up to battle all types of creatures and magicians/sorcerers in an attempt to stop Serpine. Serpine killed Skulduggery once to make him a skeleton, and he wouldn't mind killing him again with the power of the scepter. It turns out that Stephanie may possess some unknown powers of her own, but she's not able to summon them.

This book is the first in a series. I initially thought Skulduggery was a goofy character; I mean, he's a walking, talking skeleton. However, he has a quirky personality, and I enjoyed the dialogue between Stephanie and him. For example, Skulduggery informed her that his real head was stolen, and he won this one in a poker game. And later, when Stephanie asked if there was a way to tell if she had the ability to perform magic, Skulduggery said, "Yes, we cut off your head. If it grows back, you can do magic."

"You're being funny again, aren't you?"

"So glad you noticed."

It's corny dialogue, but I guess Skulduggery's dry sense of humor is similar to my own.