The Dying of the Light

The Dying of the Light
Derek Landy

The ninth book in the original, jaw-droppingly stupendous Skulduggery Pleasant series.Valkerie. Darquesse. Stephanie. The world ain’t big enough for the three of them. The end will come…The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any and all means to track down and stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder.And so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals… and Valkyrie’s own murderous reflection.The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. And not everyone gets out of here alive…

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2014

Reissued in this edition in 2017

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,

HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins website address is:

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Skulduggery Pleasant rests his weary bones on the web at:

www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk (http://www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk)

Derek Landy blogs under duress at

www.dereklandy.blogspot.com (http://www.dereklandy.blogspot.com)

Text copyright © Derek Landy 2014

Illuminated letters copyright © Tom Percival 2014

Skulduggery Pleasant logo

HarperCollinsPublishers

Skulduggery Pleasant ©

Derek Landy

Cover design © blacksheep-uk.com (http://blacksheep-uk.com)

Cover illustration © Tom Percival

Derek Landy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007489282

Ebook Edition © ISBN: 9780007489299

Version: 2017-05-25

This book is dedicated to me.

Derek, without you, I would not be where I am today.

Words cannot convey how much I owe you for the guidance you’ve shown me – for your wisdom, your wit, your keen insight and your keener intelligence, your taste, your strength, your integrity and your humility. I won’t mention the charity work you do, or the political activism you’re involved in, or the ecological work you’ve spearheaded. And it’s not just because you won’t talk about it – it’s because no one else does, either.

You have taught me how to be a better person.

Nay – you have taught us all.

Epigraph (#ulink_d4d807e2-1b2b-5c71-b036-2024b6b97101)

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

Contents

Cover (#u112baa60-db56-55f2-bd72-b498089847fb)

Title Page (#uf24e0259-d51a-5a69-9cc6-c1839824558f)

Copyright (#u8fb99f29-3377-5be2-b42e-1a66ebc231c8)

Dedication (#ub5806984-c1b6-520d-bde5-23adc2841684)

Epigraph (#ua87c84e8-c1dd-5015-a889-608658646f99)

Chapter 1: Meek Ridge (#ueebefa68-b393-528d-9d2b-a36b7059ee37)

Chapter 2: Living in the Shadow (#u05ec231e-9238-5328-840e-90cf360ed1c9)

Chapter 3: Throwing Down the Gauntlet (#ue1cb9d7d-0cb4-53a9-a50d-6eb2d908053b)

Chapter 4: Friends and Foe (#u1dfb7d12-4b5a-5108-be54-2c4b84914dbc)

Chapter 5: To Watch the World Burn (#u67359bac-7d88-51d8-867b-726f4a9e47d5)

Chapter 6: My Normal Life (#u27af6e00-42ca-59f2-a3a7-35ab46307598)