Scan barcode
A review by rlisaacs
Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw
3.0
This was cute!
Don't be disheartened by the 3 stars. I really did enjoy this. Was it mind-blowing? No. Was it cute? Yes. Did it give me an excuse to reenter the world of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in a new way aside from just re-watching the movie for the billionth time? Yes.
I've always loved Nightmare Before Christmas. Always loved Sally and Jack. For me, this movie qualifies as both a Halloween and a Christmas movie... but that's more because I could just as easily turn it on in the middle of July and watch it, just because I enjoy it. (Yes, I'm that person who, if I like the show or movie enough, the fact that it's holiday themed is not going to sway my decision of when to watch it. When I'm in the mood, I'm watching it. Period.)
And this book let's us see Jack and Sally after the fact... sort of. It was cute! I promise. Don't get me wrong, because I stress again, I did enjoy it. I just... kind of wanted something different.
Spoiler type stuff ahead, just FYI. You've been warned...
_
_
_
_
_
_
For example... I simply wanted more of Jack and Sally! Like, I wanted to see them, together, and what their dynamic would be as King and Queen of Halloweentown. Which we don't get! Jack is present for, maybe, twenty percent of this book. Then it's all Sally. Whom I love! But I wanted more of them together, of their relationship blossoming into more and how things change for both of them now that they're together.
Something else that... it's not that I didn't like it... I just imagined her differently. But it's Sally, for me. Because, in my opinion, in the movie, she was a badass. Yes, she had to be sneaky when it came to Finkelstein. But the way she did it in the movie also made her a badass. She straight up poisoned the man constantly with sleeping potions and things! And yes, she was kind of looked over in the movie, and Jack didn't pay attention to her concerns about his trying to take over Christmas. But she still didn't let that stop her from looking into things and finding a way to help save the day when Boogie was literally about to kill Sandy Claws. (LOL). Yes, it was risky and scary, but she did it anyway.
And unfortunately, this book has the job of living up to the movie... because it's literally based on the movie. And Sally in this book... I don't know. She seemed so much more selfish (a little bit anyway) and like a fraidy-cat to me. It could just be that it was her point of view, and so we're hearing about how frightening or disheartening certain things are. The 'leaves in her chest' keep whirling frantically in every chapter of the book for some new thing she finds frightening. Like, she keeps going, so clearly she's still brave. But the book never lets you forget that she's terrified almost the entire time. She really only becomes her badass-self again near the end of the book.
Which is the major redeeming quality for her right there. She goes back to the self-confident, badass that I loved from the original movie. I just kind of wish I didn't feel like she'd taken a step back in who she was, only to return to the same space. (Sort of the same space.)
Anyway, I stress again that I did enjoy this book. It was cute, and we got to see everybody again. I do also want to add though, and this is definitely a spoiler so see it here if you dare:
I do want to also point out that I love learning about Sally's backstory. I love that aspect of this. And I enjoyed my time here on the whole, so good job on that.
Basically, my complaints are more personal, I feel like. Someone else will probably read this and it'll be exactly what they wanted to see as an extension from the movie. Was it that for me? No. Did I still enjoy it? Yes.
Do with that what you will, those of you brave enough to venture down here and read the rest of this.
Don't be disheartened by the 3 stars. I really did enjoy this. Was it mind-blowing? No. Was it cute? Yes. Did it give me an excuse to reenter the world of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in a new way aside from just re-watching the movie for the billionth time? Yes.
I've always loved Nightmare Before Christmas. Always loved Sally and Jack. For me, this movie qualifies as both a Halloween and a Christmas movie... but that's more because I could just as easily turn it on in the middle of July and watch it, just because I enjoy it. (Yes, I'm that person who, if I like the show or movie enough, the fact that it's holiday themed is not going to sway my decision of when to watch it. When I'm in the mood, I'm watching it. Period.)
And this book let's us see Jack and Sally after the fact... sort of. It was cute! I promise. Don't get me wrong, because I stress again, I did enjoy it. I just... kind of wanted something different.
Spoiler type stuff ahead, just FYI. You've been warned...
_
_
_
_
_
_
For example... I simply wanted more of Jack and Sally! Like, I wanted to see them, together, and what their dynamic would be as King and Queen of Halloweentown. Which we don't get! Jack is present for, maybe, twenty percent of this book. Then it's all Sally. Whom I love! But I wanted more of them together, of their relationship blossoming into more and how things change for both of them now that they're together.
Something else that... it's not that I didn't like it... I just imagined her differently. But it's Sally, for me. Because, in my opinion, in the movie, she was a badass. Yes, she had to be sneaky when it came to Finkelstein. But the way she did it in the movie also made her a badass. She straight up poisoned the man constantly with sleeping potions and things! And yes, she was kind of looked over in the movie, and Jack didn't pay attention to her concerns about his trying to take over Christmas. But she still didn't let that stop her from looking into things and finding a way to help save the day when Boogie was literally about to kill Sandy Claws. (LOL). Yes, it was risky and scary, but she did it anyway.
And unfortunately, this book has the job of living up to the movie... because it's literally based on the movie. And Sally in this book... I don't know. She seemed so much more selfish (a little bit anyway) and like a fraidy-cat to me. It could just be that it was her point of view, and so we're hearing about how frightening or disheartening certain things are. The 'leaves in her chest' keep whirling frantically in every chapter of the book for some new thing she finds frightening. Like, she keeps going, so clearly she's still brave. But the book never lets you forget that she's terrified almost the entire time. She really only becomes her badass-self again near the end of the book.
Which is the major redeeming quality for her right there. She goes back to the self-confident, badass that I loved from the original movie. I just kind of wish I didn't feel like she'd taken a step back in who she was, only to return to the same space. (Sort of the same space.)
Anyway, I stress again that I did enjoy this book. It was cute, and we got to see everybody again. I do also want to add though, and this is definitely a spoiler so see it here if you dare:
Spoiler
So Sally goes to literally, LITERALLY, every single other town through all the magic trees at some point. And yes, I think that was definitely something she should've done... I just don't think there was any need for each different town to be explained to us when she got there. All she's doing is checking each town so she can see if the same desperate situation is happening everywhere else. And the author uses this as an excuse (in my opinion) to then try and depict for us what every other town looks like and feels like and smells like... and maybe some people like that, but I felt it was wholly unnecessary. The whole story could've been fifty pages shorter if she'd just explained visiting one town, and then skipping forward and mentioning visiting the last town in the grove of trees where she does receive a tiny bit of help. We didn't need to hear about the others in as much detail as we did. I'm sorry, but I didn't come to the book for the other towns. I came for Halloweentown, and for Sally and Jack, which we did not get enough of in my opinion.I do want to also point out that I love learning about Sally's backstory. I love that aspect of this. And I enjoyed my time here on the whole, so good job on that.
Basically, my complaints are more personal, I feel like. Someone else will probably read this and it'll be exactly what they wanted to see as an extension from the movie. Was it that for me? No. Did I still enjoy it? Yes.
Do with that what you will, those of you brave enough to venture down here and read the rest of this.