A review by jadejade
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw

lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

There are some interesting ideas here. For example, I really liked how in the end
Sally is literally made the stuff of nightmares and dreams
).

Unfortunately the novel did not work for me:
* The story didn't really get interesting for me until about halfway through.
* I was waiting for
Sally's parents to be revealed to be a dream but, no, apparently we're sticking with the kidnapping explanation
.
* I was utterly dumbfounded by the cameo of
Queen Elizabeth II
, and I cannot understand why she is identified by name (I would have been fine with alluding to her) and why several pages are devoted to praising her.

I love the movie that inspired this middle grade novel ... Maybe that's the issue. Anyway, I clearly wasn't the right reader.
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