Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn

Started reading the series and couldn't wait to get the second book..very intriguing and interesting..especially if you've been to Disney, you can visualize events ans scenes...I will continue to read the series!

Started reading the series and couldn't wait to get the second book..very intriguing and interesting..especially if you've been to Disney, you can visualize events ans scenes...I will continue to read the series!

This book was down right fabulous and amazing and may have been written some time ago has almost every single detail about the magic kingdom even if it was from virtual magic kingdom to the real thing, the research is amazing and outstanding!

I like the plot because it's very exciting, interesting and unpredictable. For example, it's a big surprise when the yeti changes form. It's a good book for kids who like fantasy or magic. And for kids who like Disneyworld and Disneyland!

An 8 Year Old Reader

The first book was great and seemed really "magical", but this one seemed like it was just sort of thrown together with not as much planning. My main problem was with the overall plot and Jezebel....Jess....Jezz? Rather confusing for me.

Well, Pearson has done it again. He has written another disaster. I was disappointed in how un-magical the first Kingdom Keepers was. This is one is actually worse. I am sorry to say, but this book is not for die-hard Disney fans. After reading the first one, I was hoping the second book would be so much better. I am disappointed to report that it was not.

This book is the sequel to The Kingdom Keepers, which was released in 2005. It is a story about 5 kids who were hired by Disney to become Holographic hosts in the parks. In the first book, these kids were introduced to the mistakes/ hiccups within the technology of their holograms that was added intentionally by Disney Imagineers. They were required to save the Magic Kingdom from the "Overtakers" by use of the embedded technology and would later allow them to go back to pretty normal lives after saving the day. In this second book, they have to save the day again, but as their normal children selves. This time they are required to return to Walt Disney World so that they may figure out the riddles and save friends while in Animal Kingdom.

In the first book, Maleficent was the most vile and evil villain known to all of Disney; this second book introduces a new villain that even Maleficent is frightened by. The kids must travel throughout the park in disguises to stop the "Overtakers" from taking over the park and then later, all of WDW. There are clues for the children to follow and some pretty far-fetched tasks they must take in order to save their friend. There is danger, a few near-thrills and of course, names and areas in the book that any Disney fan would recognize.
The second book not only brings back the original Disney Holographic Hosts (DHIs - Disney Holographic Images), but also introduces some new DHIs. They are now being extended beyond the humans as well. With the book taking place in Animal Kingdom, it is not too hard to figure it out though. :) The kids have a hard time battling and knowing if what they are going up against is real or technology.
As with the first book, the characters lacked character. He never really goes into detail about them, their strengths and how it is used in the story, what they are thinking, etc. Instead, this book is more like reading a play script: Bobby said , Jenny said, Bobby said, Alice said, etc.

There are quite a few things that bother me about this book and made it un-enjoyable. The biggest part for me is that the story is so far-fetched that it is hard to feel like a part of the action. It is written with no emotion. Pearson does not take the time to detail the scenery or what is happening so that the reader gets the full picture. He jumps from scene to scene as if these kids were super-human and describes all actions taken by the characters as spontaneous with no thought and again, leaving out details. I can deal with the story being unrealistic, but it is annoying for me as a Disney veteran, that he takes so little care and detail in describing the areas that I have visited before and yet I cannot picture the parks or area he is writing about.

Something else I noticed that really rubbed me the wrong way is that Pearson has a hard time sticking with his original ideas, or so it appears while reading. This book is filled with so many inconsistencies.
- One moment he is writing like an excited kid telling a story and then the next moment he is throwing out big words that most 6th graders would not know.
- His characters have no defined personality. They flip-flop from the way they are originally written in and then change again. There is no consistency in their personalities or who they are or even what they have to contribute to the situation.
- In the vast majority of the book he writes in plain everyday American English and then tries to narrate with a British vocabulary. For me, it reads more uneducated than it does brilliant.

One of the other things that really turned me off about this book is his constant reference (in a book written for kids) regarding Maybeck's use of foul language and making reference to the "F word." That is completely unnecessary.

I also do not appreciate Pearson's constant stereotyping. The girls are dumb, conceited, useless, whatever and the boys are all heroes who save the day. It was very much a `boys rule and girls drool' type of story. The first book was the same. Well, with the exception of Maybeck. Maybeck is written as a character with a poor attitude, foul mouth, self-absorbed and hot-headed. Reference to his being black is made several times, almost to the point of being racist. I generally would not care about this except Pearson rarely comments on the appearance of other characters. He mentioned Charlene's blonde hair but other than that, there is never anything written in that focuses on the way the kids look, how they hold themselves, what they are like as a person, etc. He does point to Charlene's conceit often, but oddly he changed her personality in the book 100% and it seemed like she was a different person. Inconsistent again.

Towards the end of the book, there was a part in the story which could have been fantastic, but like the rest of the book he fell short. The kids were in the Dinosaur ride and the animatronics began to come to life, like in the first book. There was no elaboration, only a near-thrill. This part of the book could have been fantastic. Sad to say it was not.

One final thing I did not care about was the negative view placed on Disney as a whole. Pearson may not feel negatively about Disney, but his stories do not make one feel as such.
-One thing is that the Cast Members are rude and almost ignorant. In some parts of the book, they are written as mindless and almost jerky instead of helpful and observant. Though all Disney CMs are not wonderful, most of them are pretty outstanding and uphold the Disney image and name.
-The big one that really bothers me is how Maleficent is described. In Sleeping Beauty, she is mean and very powerful, but she is also very well-spoken, beautiful and elegant. If Maleficent were a real person, green face and all, she would be beautiful and magnificent. The way she would hold herself would be like a lady, a lady with great powers. In the book, he writes her in as an almost catty old woman with withered hands and scale-like skin. He describes her more like a lizard than a lady.

The book was left open to write another which will take place in Disney Studios. If he is going to write a book in all 4 parks, he needs to take some creative writing classes. I am sorry, but Pearson is no match for children novel writers like JK Rowling, CS Lewis or Holly Black.

Overall, I do not recommend this book to die-hard Disney fans. It was a real disappointment.

I purchased this book (along with Kingdom Keepers I) for my 11 yr. old granddaughter. She absolutely loved both books. In addition, both books were on her school reading list, so after doing a book report, received extra credit! You just can't beat that!