The Kingdom by Jess RothenbergMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This one intrigued me in part because I loved the original version of The Unlikely Death and its questions of ethics. Unfortunately this YA book didn't go quite that deep--it was definitely reaching for bigger concepts, but just didn't quite get there. Still, the concept was interesting, the (clearly) Disney-esque park was amazingly described in all its disbelief-defying glory.
This was a fun, quick read, but one that does require a good bit of suspension of disbelief. The logic of the park starts breaking down pretty quickly if you think about it: (view spoiler)
If anything, I would have liked even more description of the Kingdom. We have no real sense of how long the fantasists have been around, how fashions in the park might have changed. What does Ana remember? It would have been interesting to know more about their dresses and merchandising, and especially to have a "who's who" so we can tell the sisters apart and know what countries/regions they represent. Nia and Eve had their special performances, but what is Ana's? I was also a little disappointed that it didn't end up being Ana on the cover. I was imagining her kind of like Disney's Mulan and then out of nowhere we're told she has red hair. So then I started thinking of her kind of like, well, Ana from Frozen. Not sure if that's intentional or not.
An enjoyable light read with some things to think about--if not quite philosophize on--an okay requisite YA romance with, at least, a someone who wasn't white, and
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