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A review by enchantedfiction
The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg
4.0
The Kingdom is about Ana, a Fantasist at Kingdom theme park. She is part human part machine, a hybrid princess that all guests flock to see. Ana lives to please, her programming focused on making all guests dreams come true. But there is something happening to Ana that she doesn't understand. She is starting to second guess the rules that she has always lived by, and when she is accused of murdering a park employee, she is the main focus of the trial of the century. Do all fantasies come to an end? Or is Ana as innocent as her programming makes her out to be?
I was seriously captivated by this story for some reason. I liked the dynamic between the events leading up to the trial and the trial interviews and reports. I love theme parks, and so as a futuristic Disney, this was such a fun idea. I really enjoyed Ana's character, especially her growth and questioning what she had always known. The only thing I wasn't a big fan of was her "romantic" relationship with Owen. I get that feeling love and falling in love are probably one of the majors of knowing/being a human, but I feel like it could have been held off and would still have been impactful. I just didn't really feel that Ana and Owen had a real intimate connection. I feel like a lot of stories turn to romance between characters and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't btu they desperately try to make it work. Unfortunately this was one of those times that the romance just didn't do it for me. I think it would have been more justice to Ana's character as being a hybrid if she had experienced more emotions but didn't experience a romantic feeling towards anyone yet. I feel like a love connection should be one of the last things that she learns in becoming more human, but that to me just felt like an eye roll....
Honestly, the romance is what takes away half a star for me, and the other half of that fifth star was taken away by the slightly choppy writing. I felt like we were getting to see some of the illusion that Kingdom was providing to the humans that went, but every time we almost got submerged in it, the chapter would end or the scene would change. I wanted the wool to be pulled over my eyes a little bit more before the rug was ripped out from under my feet to reveal the truth. In other words, there should have been more build up at the beginning of the story to really show how things were before Ana started feeling more emotions. It felt like it jumped immediately into this uneasy feeling that the Fantasists didn't all buy into the illusion themselves, even though it seemed like they should have been the ones to most easily fool. With the secret language they spoke in from the beginning of the book, it kind of just felt like a set up for what was to come in a blinding way instead of being more subtle.
Though there were a few issues I had with the story, I can't deny that it kept me super captivated and wanting to know the full story. It also dealt with some issues that theme parks in this day and age have faced, such as animal abuse, sexual abuse between managers and lower staff members, and how stories that would put a park in a dark light get paid off or swept under the rug with seemingly no consequences. I would recommend this one to anyone looking for a fantastical but also dark read.
I was seriously captivated by this story for some reason. I liked the dynamic between the events leading up to the trial and the trial interviews and reports. I love theme parks, and so as a futuristic Disney, this was such a fun idea. I really enjoyed Ana's character, especially her growth and questioning what she had always known. The only thing I wasn't a big fan of was her "romantic" relationship with Owen. I get that feeling love and falling in love are probably one of the majors of knowing/being a human, but I feel like it could have been held off and would still have been impactful. I just didn't really feel that Ana and Owen had a real intimate connection. I feel like a lot of stories turn to romance between characters and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't btu they desperately try to make it work. Unfortunately this was one of those times that the romance just didn't do it for me. I think it would have been more justice to Ana's character as being a hybrid if she had experienced more emotions but didn't experience a romantic feeling towards anyone yet. I feel like a love connection should be one of the last things that she learns in becoming more human, but that to me just felt like an eye roll....
Honestly, the romance is what takes away half a star for me, and the other half of that fifth star was taken away by the slightly choppy writing. I felt like we were getting to see some of the illusion that Kingdom was providing to the humans that went, but every time we almost got submerged in it, the chapter would end or the scene would change. I wanted the wool to be pulled over my eyes a little bit more before the rug was ripped out from under my feet to reveal the truth. In other words, there should have been more build up at the beginning of the story to really show how things were before Ana started feeling more emotions. It felt like it jumped immediately into this uneasy feeling that the Fantasists didn't all buy into the illusion themselves, even though it seemed like they should have been the ones to most easily fool. With the secret language they spoke in from the beginning of the book, it kind of just felt like a set up for what was to come in a blinding way instead of being more subtle.
Though there were a few issues I had with the story, I can't deny that it kept me super captivated and wanting to know the full story. It also dealt with some issues that theme parks in this day and age have faced, such as animal abuse, sexual abuse between managers and lower staff members, and how stories that would put a park in a dark light get paid off or swept under the rug with seemingly no consequences. I would recommend this one to anyone looking for a fantastical but also dark read.