Disney in Shadow

I know I am not the target audience for this book. I am a bit too old for it. However, the book lost itself about halfway through. Very little actual plot. Perhaps it was to drive home the “clues within clues” bit, but because we don't see the main antagonists until the very end, the actual tension doesn't increase. I was bored of watching the kids go from place to place, have a near escape, and then get together and try again. Some of the characters are forgettable and flat, so I cared even less to read their individual adventure, especially since it really didn't amount to much. Finn, Philby, Charlene, Amanda, and Jess are great. Willa is forgettable and Maybeck is a token black character, that the author doesn't know what to do with–bringing up real struggles of being black and addressing racial issues, but then just lets the issue fizzle out and not go anywhere and the other characters kind of laugh it off. I get that this was written in 2010 and is a kid's story and the characters are children, however, it seems more could have been done with Willa and Maybeck. Overall, the narrative could have been streamlined and had more buildup to the actual confrontation. I skimmed the last 150 pages and honestly, they weren't really needed.

Overall the weakest of the Kingdom Keepers books so far. I'm intrigued by the premise, so I will continue to read the books. I also don't think the author does a good job describing or clueing in the readers that have never been to Disney World. He names a ride and then just proceeds to describe very specific details of the ride without actually describing the ride and the setting.