A review by marie_thereadingotter
Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw

adventurous lighthearted fast-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? Yes

2.75

 

  Not gonna lie, I was kind of let down by this book. Sally didn't really feel like Sally. She wasn't the courageous headstrong character she was in Nightmare Before Christmas. She was shy and meek. Sure she still ended up saving the day, but it took a lot of pushing and her almost giving up multiple times and a little pushing from outside sources for her to get there. It just didn't feel like the same Sally.

The world itself was kind of the saving grace for me. Seeing the other worlds in the holiday forest was really cool. I think this book would make an awesome graphic novel. 

 

The plot itself, I really liked it. Though I think it could have been better if Sally was more like Sally from the movie. Which she should be since this is supposed to be a sequel to the movie. Sally would have had more agency with  trying to wake everybody up. She wouldn't have sat there for 10 minuets drinking tea before doing something about it. 

 

There are some other things that I really didn't care for in this book, but they are spoilers so I don't know how to address them. Another down side is this book is marketed as Young Adult, but it mostly reads closer to Middle-Grade. Which is fine I enjoy Middle-Grade, but when I'm expecting Young Adult and get something that reads a lot younger it feels like a let down.

 

One thing aside, I don't know if there was something wrong with the edition I got from the library. Every source shows this book being 320 pages, but the ebook I borrowed only had 192. Not sure what that was about. It was, as far as I can tell, the full book. I'd need to hold a physical copy to know for sure what was going on. 

I don't know who I would recommend this book to, if you really love Nightmare Before Christmas, you might like this book. But it's hard to say really. It was a short quick read, so in that regard it's good for the Halloween season.