HarperCollins buys final Skulduggery trilogy

HarperCollins is to release the final trio in the second Skulduggery Pleasant series which promises “blood will be spilled, pages will be turned, and tears will be shed”.

Fiction publisher Nick Lake acquired world English rights to books 13, 14 and 15 in Derek Landy’s series from Michelle Kass at Michelle Kass Associates.

HarperCollins will release the 13th book, Seasons of War, in hardback in April 2020, accompanied by a major marketing campaign while the untitled 14th and 15th books will be released in April 2021 and 2022 respectively. Cover art for Seasons of War will be revealed to fans on Friday 13th December.

The synopsis for Seasons of War explains: “As the 13th book, begins... war is coming. To avert catastrophe, Skulduggery and Valkyrie are sent on a secret mission that takes them away from everything they know, to a forsaken land of magic and grim, unrelenting terror. It is here that Valkyrie will have to fight the hardest - not only against the enemies who want her dead, but also against her own self-destructive impulses. It's only by crawling through darkness that she'll be able to once again stand in the light.”

Lake said: “It is an honour and a privilege to be announcing a new deal for Skulduggery Pleasant, 13 years after we first signed a contract with Derek, and for the 13th book! And what an extraordinary, luck-filled journey it has been. We can think of very few other series that have sustained such strong sales, and such a loyal fanbase, over so many books, remaining in the top five bestseller list for more than a decade, and we are so proud to continue to be Skulduggery’s afterlife home. Here’s to 13 more years to come.”

Landy added: “I am hugely thrilled to be able to guide the Skulduggery Pleasant series towards its end in the style it has grown accustomed to, a style only available from HarperCollins Children’s Books. The final three books will be heart breaking – not only for the readers, as I devise ever more sadistic ends for their favourite characters, but also for me, as I devise ever more sadistic ends for my favourite characters. Blood will be spilled, pages will be turned, and tears will be shed.”

Books one to nine cover the first Skulduggery Pleasant series while books ten onwards began the second in 2017. Books seven, eight and nine in the series were number-one bestsellers in the UK, Ireland and ANZ, with global sales in excess of five million copies, according to the publisher.

The series has sold 1.7 million books for £11.5m through Nielsen BookScan's TCM, with Skulduggery Pleasant the bestseller at 310,853 copies sold.