Disney World, but dystopian (??!!): The Kingdom Review

EVIL DISNEY. EVIL ROBOT DISNEY. WITH MURDER, AND ALSO TECHNOLOGY.

EVIL ROBOT DISNEY OF THE FUTURE.

What more do I have to say?! I hope it’s not a lot, because that’s really all I got. This book was nonstop exciting and nonstop original and nonstop awesome and that’s really all I have to say.

But for the sake of “writing” “a” “full” “review,” I’ll elaborate.

First, synopsis.<b/ig>

This is about Ana, one of seven “Fantasists” (think cyborg-y Disney princesses) at The Kingdom (think Disney but huge and future-y). Ana is nice and great and INTERESTING, which is crazy because anytime a YA protagonist is “nice” it’s just a “nice” way of saying “boring and personality-less.”

I’m aware I’m overusing the quotation marks, but please let me have my fun.

Ana meets Owen, a cutie theme park employee, and starts falling in LOOOOVE. But…robots CAN’T LOVE. ROBOTS CAN’T FEEL. (Ana isn’t quite a robot but the point stands.)

It’s the Singularity, baby. Except with amusement parks and fairytales. (So basically the dream.)

But then, somehow, impossibly, it gets MORE interesting. Because Ana gets accused of murdering Owen, igniting the Trial Of The Century.

This is the book we read.

CAN YOU BELIEVE WE’RE BLESSED WITH A PLOTLINE LIKE THIS?

Goodreads review

This story is legitimately unputdownable. It’s fun from page one and it never stops being fun, and twisty, and exciting. The characters are so interesting and you really!!! care about them!!! Which is unusual for me.

Still, this wasn’t a perfect book. It dragged in parts and was sometimes a bit melodramatic, and Ana’s internal monologue could get repetitiveeee. The other Fantasists were, by and large, flat and boring.

But everything else was so, so fun.

READ THIS BOOK.

Bottom line: This is straight up some of the most creative and original YA I’ve ever read, especially in recent years. PLEASE READ IT SO WE CAN GET MORE STORIES LIKE THIS. (And also from this author’s crazy mad scientist brain.)

Thank you to Fierce Reads and Macmillan Children’s for the ARC! The Kingdom is out May 28.

What’s the most exciting book you’ve read lately? Asking for a friend.