In this third installment of the Kingdom Keepers, Finn, Philby, Willa, Charlene, and Maybeck are once again back in the parks, this time in search of Wayne who has gone missing. Following clues that are sent to Jez through visions, they, along with Jez and Amanda are led to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Once again, the Kingdom Keepers come face to face with Maleficent and grow closer to one another.
This series, although not terrible, is one giant commercial for Disneyworld. Ridley Pearson likes to insert clues to little known places throughout the parks so that, should his young readers visit the parks, they can then visit all the places that were in the books. I imagine he walks through the park with a pad of paper and writes down on the various places and then tries to insert them all into the book.
That is exactly how this book felt. Full of cryptograms and amalgous clues that often didn't make sense, I often wondered how these kids were coming up with the answers to these obscure clues. They have a date and a clue, "A place where stars don't go up." Television. Therefore, they should watch what is airing on the Disney channel that day. Dumbo. Dumbo is about what? Love, friendship, the circus? The circus...or like a carousel. A carousel like Cinderella's...or possibly an old mural painted on a wall. Which leads them one step closer to Wayne.
What? How did a date and TV lead them to a mural?
To be fair, it turns out that the misinterpreted the clue and were wrong, but they got to the right place in the end, so it was all okay. Considering that this mystery is the majority of the plot though, it was very frustrating.
I was also often confused by the "rules" of the world. When and how can the kids bring things with them when they fall asleep? Why do drugs affect the kids if they can't feel anything from their sleeping bodies? Why do some of the parents think that this DHI stuff is like magic when it is so obviously science?
Pearson does try to play around with characterization this go around, but as per usual Finn is the only character with any real depth, and I wouldn't exactly call him an ocean.
Maybe book four will be better?
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