Santa Claus: The Beginning

I am, as ever, a little late. I received this from NetGalley, but wanted to wait for the correct seasonal feel.

This has a bit of an issue with formatting, but I was able to get through it, and the writing is easy to read and without typos. The book does feature artwork throughout, but the style isn’t always the same, and some of them are actually almost creepy when they aren’t meant to be.

This is a reimagining of the story of Santa Claus. It starts with an immigrant toy maker and his toy shop. He eventually adopts two orphans that have good carving skills, and makes them his apprentices. One of the children ends up being Santa. The strange thing to me with the story though, is that it almost seems to not be about Santa at all. His real name is John Nicholas, and things happen around him, and he just kind of becomes Santa. He’s not really the whimsical, saintly guy we’ve come to think of. He does deliver toys to the children of the world, however it wasn’t even his idea or plan.

I did find enjoyment in this story, but the writing style felt more like note taking/plot points rather then the telling of an actual story. Also with some of the content and the way it’s written, I’m not even sure what the age group it’s aiming for is. Personally a 3/5*.