The Course of True Love (and First Dates): A Magnus Bane Story by Cassandra Clare - Review

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This Edition Published (UK): February 1st 2018

This Edition Published By: Walker YA (Walker Books Ltd.)

Type: Young Adult Fiction

Genre(s): Romance; Humour; Supernatural

Language: English

Format: Hardback

Number of Pages: 96

ISBN: 9781406379617

RRP: £6.99

DISCLAIMER:

I was provided with a copy of this book to review by Walker YA in the UK. My review remains completely impartial and has not been influenced by this fact in any way. Many thanks to Walker YA for sending this book my way!

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My Review

This review contains mild spoilers in the form of generalised comments about the story's plot points! Please be aware of this before reading on, as I wouldn't want you to spoil the story for yourself if you've not read it!

I have to admit, I was really surprised to find The Course of True Love (and First Dates) tucked away in my first-ever ARC parcel from Walker YA. I had only been expecting Scythe by Neal Shusterman, as that was the only book that I had requested over a month earlier (curse you, Royal Mail, for misplacing my parcel for weeks), but here was this book as well, tucked underneath. I can't say as I was displeased to find it - as who can say no to more books, am I right?

My first thoughts were that the book's design, particularly its cover, is really stunning. It's a really small, neat, red hardback book, and the intricate floral designs around the front and back are delightful to look at. It's a bit of a sore thumb on a bookshelf due to its small square size, but other than that, it's a superb little addition to any Cassandra Clare fan's library.

I was lucky enough to meet Cassandra Clare a few years ago alongside my friend and fellow BookTuber, Jack (of Tomes And Travel, formerly ReadingWithJack), and was thrilled at the chance to hear her speak in-person and meet her. At the time I met her, I hadn't read too many of her Mortal Instruments series (in fact, I think the only books I had read at that point were City of Bones and City of Ashes), but as I thought that I would go on to enjoy the rest of her books and as such bought them all in time for the signing.

As of today, almost six years later, I've still never gotten any further with the series - and neither have I read any of the previous Magnus Bane stories. Going into The Course of True Love (and First Dates), therefore, I was fairly clueless as to who Magnus Bane or Alec Lightwood actually were, as I could barely remember - though I've seen enough Malec fanfictions on the internet to last me a lifetime. As such, what follows in this review is from the perspective of someone who doesn't know or remember the two primary characters that well from their primary literature, but got a pretty good sense of who they are from this short story. I know I'm terrible for never keeping up with the series, as I remember the first two books to actually be pretty good, and perhaps now I'll finally find the motivation to catch up with all the ones that I've missed!

In the first instance, I found The Course of True Love (and First Dates) to be a thoroughly enjoyable, quick read. I could clearly tell from Clare's writing that she has established Magnus and Alec in her longer works very intricately, and that they have a history together - not necessarily romantic, but definitely with chemistry - and that they are a very suitable match for each other. The story follows them as they embark upon their first date, and while it is a less-than-smooth ride, it is an incredibly cute, incredibly funny experience to read about. The pacing is excellent, and while a lot happens in a very short space of time, the time scales are realistic for an evening's activities, and you can easily keep up with Magnus and Alec's antics.

Alec is the inexperienced and awkward one, very much alienated by the environment he is brought into and the very idea of dating at all, while Magnus is perfectly at home in a date situation and has a 'done-it-all-before' kind of attitude. His one concern and point of contention is that Alec is a Shadowhunter, and as he's never dated a Shadowhunter before, there is also a certain sense of his vulnerability and cluelessness as to the expectations of him as a potential future partner for Alec. I found this contrast of Magnus' confidence and awkwardness to be exceptionally realistic and on-point, and I loved that their (Magnus and Alec's) different levels of experience in dating and romance were such a stand-out part of the narrative.

I did find the plot to be somewhat predictable, however, and this perhaps made the story slightly less rewarding than it should have been. Of course something was bound to go wrong on the date, and of course it would be something supernatural or unusual which would draw the two characters together and unite them in a typically awkward fashion that would overcome their clashing professions as Warlock and Shadowhunter. More so than that, the whole introduction of one of Magnus' ex-partners into the mix while they were trying to eat their meal together made me a little bit uncomfortable - not just as a reader, but for poor old Alec who had to deal with the situation. Magnus came across throughout the story as a bit of a cocky playboy-like character who probably deserved that particular break-up to me, so I didn't feel too sorry for him, but I did get the impression that his attitude towards Alec implies some progression in terms of emotional maturity and respect has taken place between his previous relationship and his current dating situation with Alec, so I'm perhaps somewhat glad in the end that I got to see and interpret that direct contrast between who Magnus once was and who he wants to be for Alec's sake.

In terms of the humour and the comedy in the story, I was a little bit less impressed. Many of the jokes felt very forced, as did some of Clare's messages about 'being who you want to be' and social inclusion and all that jazz. As important as those messages are, and as effective as literature - especially modern YA literature - is in conveying them, I just felt that her style of writing didn't really rub me the right way for it. Perhaps if I knew the characters better, and understood their mannerisms and ways of talking further, I might find it less irritating or abrupt - but from my existing standpoint I just felt like Clare was trying a tad too hard to pack too many messages into one short story. Whilst I did like her intentions (and don't get me wrong on this - I absolutely do approve of what she's trying to say with her whole Werewolf/Downworlder discrimination discussion), I think the actual execution was a little clunky and didn't sit well within the whole romance narrative taking place between Magnus and Alec. Though, props to Magnus for thinking Alec's dedication to equality and protecting everyone is sexy, in spite of the amount of flack he seems to get from everyone for being a Warlock, too.

The final point that I would like to raise is about the ending to the story, which I felt was probably one of the least satisfying endings that I could have imagined - though perhaps that is part of its point. Magnus and Alec's romance, which at the very end of the story begins to develop with wild abandon, is thoroughly enjoyable to read and feels both realistic and authentic without going so overboard in terms of details or actions as to be uncomfortable to read or overly-explicit. But, just like that, Clare cuts the two lovers off just as they're starting to be intimate, and the conclusion of the story is that Alec leaves Magnus' apartment and promptly falls down the stairs. This comedic ploy failed to impress me, as I was feeling too angry that the culminating moments of an evening's awkwardness had just been abruptedly halted, but I'm sure it will make other readers laugh. I know that the story is meant to be short, and I realise that Magnus' closing remarks imply a continuation at some point in the future by Clare, but I'm still not quite satisfied with the way that the story ended. I suppose, though, maybe given Alec's inexperience and his concerns as a Shadowhunter to be seen to date someone as lowly as Magnus must be taken care of before they get too intimately involved...!

Overall, this book earns a solid three out of five stars for me. It was an enjoyable read, packed with authentic and cute romance, but was a bit too predictable in terms of its twists and turns for me. Clare's writing is easy to read, but is also slightly clunky at points in trying to pack too many messages and plot points into one very compact narrative. I'll definitely be interested in re-reading the story once I've caught up with all of the Mortal Instruments series and the other Magnus Bane stories!

Rating: 3/5 Stars  ★ ★ ★

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If you enjoyed this review, or if you have some thoughts on The Course of True Love (and First Dates) that you would like to share with me, please do leave a comment below and let me know! If you would like to purchase your own copy, you can get one from Waterstones or from Amazon UK!

If you would like to see even more from me, you can subscribe to my BookTube channel BritishBiblioholic, you can follow me over on Twitter as @thereaderrunt and @howlettwrites to keep up-to-date with my reading and writing work, and you can add me as a friend over on Goodreads by visiting my profile here.

Have a great day, everyone!

Guess Who's Back!

Hey all!

It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog. I've been very wrapped up with university work, other forms of journalism, and making videos about various other things than books - but now I'm back! I'll hopefully be posting regular videos on BritishBiblioholic again, reviewing books regularly on this blog, and even - quite excitingly - posting reviews over on the new entertainment blog/website I've set up alongside my boyfriend called PixelTome. Be sure to check it out and give it a follow if you're interested!

In the video below, I explain a little bit about where I've been and what I'm planning to do this year. You can also check out this post on my personal blog where I recount the journey that brought me to where I am today in the blogging world, and this video and this post to see what my new year's resolutions have been this year.

Here's to a wonderful year of book blogging, book vlogging, and all sorts of readerly goodness!

Follow me on Twitter: @thereaderrunt / @howlettwrites
Email Me: britishbiblioholic@gmail.com

Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) 2015 - Friday

Hi guys!

I apologise for not writing a post in so long - I was busy with so many things that I kind of ceased to both blog on here AND vlog on BritishBiblioholic. But hey, I'm back now, and this post is all about the Friday of the Young Adult Literature Convention - or YALC - that I attended this past weekend as part of London's Film and Comic Convention (LFCC). I am breaking my recap of the event into three separate blog posts - one per day - as otherwise I think it'll be too long and a bit daunting for even the hardiest blog reader. Enjoy!

Friday 17th July

I caught a train from Leeds to London King's Cross on Friday morning, arriving in London at about 1pm. Because I had to go to my hotel, check in and sort out my bag to take to YALC with me, I don't think I actually entered the Olympia building (this year's location - SO much bigger than Earl's Court Exhibition Centre 2, which is where LFCC and YALC were held last year!) until after 3pm, but that was okay. I was lucky enough to have a weekend ticket for YALC, which meant that I had priority access to the YALC spaces, I could use the special YALC entrance, I could get a free goodie bag of some amazing freebies from publishers, agents, authors and publicists, and also I could still get into the full LFCC convention. To gain access to the convention I was given an orange wristband which had 'YALC Weekend' written on it, and I had to wear this all the time so staff could see that I hadn't just sneaked in somehow. (Which, let's be honest, seemed pretty impossible to me!) On my way in I happened to bump into M. G. Harris, author of the Joshua Files series and currently Gemini Force One, who had been in the queue behind me. The last time I had met her prior to this had been when I was 12 and had just started high school the year before, so it was incredibly strange to see her again having turned 18 and having finished my A-Levels.

When I arrived on the second floor of the Olympia, which was almost exclusively housing YALC, I almost immediately met up with Chris (@yablooker on Twitter, my partner in crime in running the YA Fictionados, and the author of The Young Adult Blook Club blog) and we planned out the different events we wanted to go to.

Being strangled by Darren Shan...

Admittedly, due to when I'd arrived, I'd missed the Thrills and Chills panel (2:30pm-3pm - featuring Darren Shan, Will Hill, Dawn Kurtagich, Lou Morgan and Matt Whyman), but I hadn't been interested in seeing it - only in meeting some of the authors doing it. Darren Shan's signing went on for absolutely AGES, meaning that I did get to meet him, but both Will Hill (who signed from 3:15pm-5:15pm) and Moira Young (who was on the Apocalypse Now panel which followed, and who signed from 4:15pm-6:15pm) seemed to just disappear when I tried to find them to sign my books! It was a bit upsetting to not meet either of them, but I know that there will be more opportunities for me to meet them both in the future. For now, I can be content with the fact that Darren Shan strangled me for a REALLY long time while Chris took photos - one of which you can see on the left. He criticised me afterwards for looking happy about my impending doom, but it was Darren Shan - what can you do but smile?! (He put my photo in this Facebook post on his official page too!)


I met Darren Shan at around 5:25pm, after I had waited in his queue for around ten minutes. Chris and I strategically waited for his queue to go down beforehand by browsing the various publisher stalls - including those of HarperCollins, Walker, Electric Monkey, Penguin, Bloomsbury, Hot Key Books, and more - and also by picking up our free goodie bags and filling them up with even more goodies from the freebie table. I was tempted to buy so many books but I knew I had to refrain incase anything in the main convention (guaranteed to be so much more expensive) caught my eye.

After meeting Darren Shan I was approached by Lisa from CityofYABooks, who I didn't recognise until AFTER we'd hugged, greeted each other, and then stood there awkwardly for about a minute looking at each other. (I'm sorry!!) We'd been talking on Twitter for weeks and it felt amazing to know that I was finally meeting some of the people I'd only ever seen on a screen beforehand. We talked about the possibility of collaborating in a video (as you can see in my vlog, which is embedded in the very bottom of this post) and then went to stand in the queue for Virginia Bergin, author of The Rain and The Storm, together. At that point, however, Derek Landy's talk was about to start. I knew it would be practically sacrilege (in terms of my reputation as an extreme fan) to miss it, so when my Mum offered to wait in the line for me to get my book signed on my behalf, I practically ran into the event space and sat down in the first seat that I found. Which, as it turned out, was further away from the front than I thought it was, but significantly further away from the back, which was around a hundred rows behind.

As can be expected of Derek Landy, the event was funny, witty, and ultimately entertaining all round. For the most part, he spoke about his new series, Demon Road, which follows a sixteen-year-old girl called Amber as she is chased across America by a pack of demons. It sounds thrilling, just as witty and brilliant, and I am really looking forward to reading it. (I actually have a proof copy of the first book, Demon Road, which is due out on August 27th, but I haven't gotten round to reading it yet. I feel like a terrible fan admitting this fact publicly, but... I can't read more than one book at a time, okay?!) After the actual 'talk' part of the event, he accepted questions from fans in the audience - one of which was the ever-recurring 'will there be a Skulduggery Pleasant movie?'. I actually asked Derek this same question in my interview with him a couple of months ago - you can read that here.

After Derek's talk, the crowd burst from the event space and ran to join the existing queue which had started to form whilst the talk was still going on. In an act which is, for me, quite strange, I neglected to join the queue with the rest of the fans and instead met back up with my Mum, who had succeeded in getting Virginia Bergin to sign my copy of The Rain. She told me that she'd talked to Virginia quite extensively about me, and that Virginia had seemed very happy that I had someone so supportive of my hobbies and interests (i.e. writing, blogging and vlogging). She also said that Virginia had told her to tell me to try and find her at some point over the course of the weekend so that we could talk personally, and I did finally achieve this on the Sunday (which I'll discuss in the blog post for that day later on!)

Chris and I decided to go and sit on the beanbags in the corner after Derek's talk in order to wait for his queue to go down. Neither of us can lie - they were SO comfy and we felt like we could stay there forever, just looking at all of the books which were hanging on the famous YALC book wall. However, after a while we did get back up and left the building in order to visit the Tesco store across the street. We re-entered through the YALC entrance and returned to the 2nd floor, where the Harry Potter Party was now in full swing. M. G. Harris tweeted to us both asking where we were at this point, and just as we thought about going into the party (as Derek's queue was STILL huge), she and her daughter, Lilia, approached us. Lilia and I instantly descended into a massive conversation about YouTubers, fanfiction and Twitter, whilst M. G. and Chris discussed books that are of substantial interest at the moment. Our two conversations - happening across each other, as Lilia and I were opposite each other, as were M. G. and Chris - seemed to come to an end at roughly the same time, and it was this point that I realised that I'd missed the Page and Screen panel earlier on, and thus the signings by both M. G. and Jamie Anderson for Gemini Force One. Having four books from the Joshua Files in my bag as well as Black Horizon, the first book in Gemini Force One, I quickly asked if it would be possible to now get my books signed. M. G. said yes, much to my delight, and so now I have all of my books signed by her. The third book in the Joshua Files, Zero Moment, I already had signed (we decided) because she had pre-signed many copies of the book when it was released. It puzzled us both that, despite meeting before, my copy of Invisible City, the first book in the series which I read for the Leeds Book Awards in 2009, was unsigned prior to this second meeting. My short review is STILL up on the archives, which you can find here, which reads:

The book was great. Definitely on my list of my top ten books. M.G. Harris did an excellent job with this book, and I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out. Excellent book, everyone should read it!  

Georgina gave Invisible City 5 out of 5 and now plans to read Blood Ties.

TweIve-year-old me had good taste in books.

After M. G. had finished speaking to Chris (as another conversation had started) and signing my books, we parted ways and agreed to perhaps meet up the next day if we crossed paths again. By this point, Derek's queue was only a few people long so we both went and joined onto the end. As I got closer and closer to the table, it became apparent that three people were sat at it rather than just one, and after a moment I realised who the other two people were. One was Nicola Carthy from the HarperCollins' childrens team (who I've crossed paths with a scary amount of times now), and the other was Laura Jordan, Derek's girlfriend. I'd met Laura a couple of times previously as well, so when I reached the front of the queue, I was greeted with 'Hello Howlett!' by Derek and 'Hello Georgina!' by Nicola and Laura respectively. The running joke is that I'm running out of things to get signed, and this was very apparent to me this time around. At my first signing of his in 2011, I had taken 16 books to get signed. This time, I had three, as well as a few of the merch pieces that I had taken from the special Demon Road table which had been set up.

Sick of me, or else staring dramatically into the distance...?

Meeting Derek again was just as fun an experience as it ever has been. He made fun of me, I made fun of him, he signed my books, chatted about various things, and we finished with a picture (which I CANNOT ever leave without now - I always have to go back if I forget). He reminded me of his second event on the Sunday, and I promised to see him again then, and then he left. And at this point, around 8pm, staff had started ushering everyone out as the convention was over for the day. Not much could have made that first day better than it had been.

Overall Friday Feelings

The YALC experience this time, even on this one day, had improved SO much since last year. The increased space for the YALC convention meant that moving around was easy, stalls were available and books were much easier to purchase, and the events didn't have to be ticketed - anyone could turn up and watch them. The signings themselves were also more organised; the queues this time didn't merge with each other confusingly, and there were Showmasters staff and YALC volunteers around at all times to ensure that order was maintained.

Although I was disappointed to not encounter Will Hill or Moira Young, I easily managed to see everyone else that I had intended to meet - excluding Virginia Bergin. The one issue I had, and that I continued to have over the course of the three days, was that many of the signings I wished to go to were running at the same time as the panels. This meant that cumulatively I missed certain panels or certain signings, and I brought back an almost equal amount of unsigned books as those I HAD managed to get signed. Perhaps the timings or organisation of the schedule can be even further improved next year, maybe with bigger breaks between panels and signings which run through these breaks so that the likelihood of people being able to get to all of the events that they want to is increased.

YALC Vlog

Coming soon to this space...!

The YA Fictionados

Hi guys! 

Today I'm here to announce my involvement with a new project called the YA Fictionados, and to tell you about the very exciting opportunities that are available to you all to do with it.

I have been working with Chris Moore (@yablooker on Twitter - runs the Young Adult Blook Club blog) recently to create the YA Fictionados, which is an online platform where lovers and enthusiasts of young adult fiction can come together to discuss, review, and discover YA. The site will involve various types and styles of posts, including (but not limited to) reviews, author interviews, tags, event summaries, videos, blog tours, giveaways and more! This is something that Chris has had in mind for a while, and because I love YA so much, I was only too happy to co-found the site with him.

At the moment, we are in the process of developing the site and, more excitingly, recruiting people to be regular bloggers and primary contributors. If you think that writing and making content of the sort mentioned above for the YA books that you love sounds fun, then why not apply to join us? We are looking for four enthusiastic, dedicated and knowledgeable YA readers to join our team, and the best part is that we are looking for both new and experienced bloggers. Even if you've never written a blog post in your life, don't think that this opportunity isn't for you - we are looking for people with different skills and talents, and you might just be exactly what we're looking for.

To apply, send us the following details:

Name:

Age:

Location:

Blog/YouTube Channel name and link (if you have one):

Favourite book and why:

Preferred YA genres (eg romance, paranormal, dystopia, fantasy, sci-fi etc.):

Skills (mention any relevant skills such as design, editorial etc.):

Any additional comments:

EMAIL: yafictionados@hotmail.com
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 15th May 2015
Follow us on Twitter: @YAfictionados

An Interview With Derek Landy

Derek Landy is the best-selling author of the Skulduggery Pleasant series, which follows Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain as they save the world from disaster. Full of action, mystery, violence and, of course, humour, it isn't one to miss.The first book, 'Skulduggery Pleasant', can be bought from Waterstones, Amazon and The Book Depository. In this interview, Derek talks to me both about Skulduggery Pleasant and his second series, Demon Road, the first book in which, 'Demon Road', is released on August 27th. You can preorder Demon Road now from Waterstones and Amazon.

THE INTERVIEW

Skulduggery Pleasant as a series has now concluded. It has been eight years since the publication of the first book in 2007 - how does it feel to have spent eight years on an idea, and now it's all over?

"It feels odd. What feels even odder is the FACT that it feels odd. When I told Harper Collins this was gonna be a 9 book series, way back when, they were delighted. "Yay!" they said. "A long series! Yippee!"

I knew it'd take me 9 books to tell this story I had in my head, but even back then, in the first flush of youthful naivety about writing and the writing process and the book industry, I thought to myself "9 books is an AWFUL lot." I fully expected to grow bored by Book 4. I expected that I'd need to take a break halfway through the series to write something else, then come back to it. But that didn't happen. Amazingly, it didn't happen, and I wrote Book 9 with as much enthusiasm and fun as I did Book 1. 

So now that it's over I feel... odd. I did what I set out to do, which is good. The books have kept selling better and better, which is great. But it's done now, and it's taken up ten years of my life, and now I wave it goodbye and carry on. Will anything I do ever be better? Will anything I do ever be as good? Will it capture the readers' imaginations as much as Skulduggery has? I don't know, but I'm very curious to find out."

The next stage in the Skulduggery Pleasant adventure, now that the writing side is done, is the adaptation to screen. A movie has been spoken of for years - how close is it to becoming a reality?

"Honestly? Not close. It was RELATIVELY close, then wasn't close at all. Then was PRETTY close, and now isn't close at all. The reality about making movies is that some things take AGES to get to screen and some things NEVER get to screen. That's the down side. The up side is that some things, which may have dragged and dragged and delayed and stumbled, could suddenly snap to attention to ROCKET to the screen.

The thing is, you never know which one your project is going to be, because some projects skip between all three stages. 

For me, I'm not relying on a Skulduggery movie. I'd love if it happened, but my happiness is not based around it. That's the healthy way to be."

Your next series, a trilogy, is titled Demon Road, and is targeted at a teenage audience. The first book (also titled Demon Road) is due to come out in August - what is it going to be about?

"There's only so much I can say at this stage, but essentially it's about a 16 year old girl who's being chased across America by a pack of demons. There are a lot of nods to various genre icons from Freddy Krueger to Stephen King to all sorts of horror movies, and it's been an absolute blast getting to play in that arena."

Demon Road wasn't the title you originally came up with for the series. Why did you change it?

"Sometimes a title works for a series — sometimes it doesn't. The early title will probably be used for either the second or the third book, because it works awesomely as a title in and of itself. But a SERIES title needs to be slightly different. When Demon Road came to me it changed everything. I suddenly scrapped what I'd been writing up to that point and started again — started from the idea that this was now a road novel. In the first version, it mostly took place in a small town in Texas — now it takes place all over America."

Has it been harder to start working on this second series, or has it been easier, given that you've now had lots of experience at writing?

"It's a mix. Technically, it's easier, because I have so much experience in what works and what doesn't. But to come off a massive series like Skulduggery, which has taken up so much of my time and attention, and then to go onto something new... it's daunting. There's a kind of unwritten rule that says the second series will never sell as well as the first — at least not initially, so you see a lot of best-selling authors stumble a little when the new book suddenly doesn't go to number one. I think I'll be okay with this not happening, to be honest. Being number one is nice, but what's nicer is the feedback I get from readers."

What can we expect from this new trilogy? Is it going to be completely different from Skulduggery Pleasant, or will some elements carry across, such as the writing style and humour?

"It's different, but not amazingly so. It's less jokey, for one thing. That wasn't easy. I've had to go back over chapters and take out jokes. Like, a LOT of jokes. But even more than that, it's attitude. Valkyrie has a very defiant attitude — very angry, almost hostile, to authority figures. Amber doesn't have that. She's a lot more normal. Anytime I see her talking like Valkyrie, it's gone. Val is Val, and she's unique, but Amber's unique in her own way, and she deserves to be treated as such. 

Demon Road is also written for a YA audience, so it's going to be a little bit older. Not 'Bubba Moon' older, though writing from a seasoned adult's perspective was unbelievably rewarding, and resulted in a feel I'd never attempted before — but older nonetheless."

Many readers by now have read the first chapter of Demon Road, courtesy of the released The Dying of the Light (Skulduggery Pleasant #9) paperback and the wonders of the internet. What have the reactions to that been so far, and do they meet your expectations?

"The reactions, what I've seen, have been exactly what I wanted. The reaction to Amber herself, and who she is, have been wonderful. People either love or hate Valkyrie, but there seems to be a positive response across the board to a female character who isn't tall and slim and beautiful."

In Skulduggery Pleasant, Valkyrie was based on your real-life friend Laura. The titular character of Demon Road is Amber; is she based on anyone, or is she pure fiction?

"Pure fiction. I based Val on somebody real because I wasn't confident enough in myself to create a convincing central character — male or female, it didn't matter. Now I am. Now I know I can do it. 

Amber is going to discover some pretty shocking things about herself over the course of the book, and she's going to have to make some pretty drastic decisions over the course of the series. In fact, how she looks is a big part of that. How she sees herself, how others see her, and how men see women in general, all of this is woven through it."

Nine questions for nine amazing Skulduggery Pleasant books: what is the one piece of advice you'd like to give to your fans about Demon Road? What is the one thing that you would you like them to know before reading it?

"With Skulduggery, I had nine books, one spin-off and one collection of short stories to tear out your hearts and leave you traumatised. I had nine books, one spin-off and one collection of short stories to get you to love characters I then brutally killed or damaged beyond repair. 

With Demon Road, I'm gonna do all that in THREE."

END OF INTERVIEW

It's great to know that very soon, we'll all have to go through the heart-wrenching pain and joy of another great series by Derek Landy all over again. A huge thank-you to Derek for agreeing to this interview - I hope to interrogate him (in a nice way) again soon! Thank you to you, too, readers, for taking the time to read this interview, and have a wonderful day!

Be sure to tweet Derek Landy (@DerekLandy) and myself (@thereaderrunt) on Twitter if you enjoyed this interview, or else leave a comment on it below! Follow my blog for more cool stuff like this, coming your way very soon.