I read them both. I thought they were both poorly written, both had too many holes and gaps, in both books the characters lacked character and I did not care for the way he wrote in all of the CMs - they were all jerks, idiots or hateful.
My 10-year old read the first and is half-way through the 2nd. She said she could have written a better book.
I really WANTED to like the first book.
It's a great idea for a series of books... spectacular, in fact...
but why not keep the facts of the familiar rides intact so that those of us who know the place so well could relate directly to them on our visits?
The major problem for me was that it was SUPPOSED to be carefully-researched.
The author had major access to the parks and had CMs assisting his studies of the attractions and operations of WDW.
But, the HUGE inaccuracies of the descriptions of the rides were very hard to ignore.
I'm not discussing Pirate AAs and iasw dolls coming to life... that's just part of the story... but the author constantly made errors in how the rides were physically described.
Something that many,
MANY of us here could have helped him with.
The book's heroes are described as swimming the water channels at Splash Mountain.
GREAT idea (we've all thought about what might happen if we "fell out of the log"!)
So, go with that... a really slick plot point... but the author simply LEFT OUT the last lift hill as part of the description and had them plunge to the drop from a flat area.
Nit-picky?
Well, not when the lift hill is as much a part of the attraction as is the drop itself. Anyone who has Splash Mountain as a favorite would wonder why the author "forgot" it or chose to ignore that it is part of the ride.
The dinosaur bones come to life in BTMRR.., another great idea.
But he has the characters running along the BTM tracks... to the exit... for what seems to be an hour, after they first reach those bones.
Anyone who has ridden BTM (or stood in the queue) knows that the dino bones are about 50 feet from the exit area.
Anyone who loves the books (and there are MANY, MANY fans) will be upset that I find fault with them, but I don't find fault in the PREMISE... it is just in the careless use of the very SPECIFIC locations... locations that are always there to see by millions of guests every year.
I am a writer. I understand "artistic license" (and the magic that it can create) but
it is generally better to branch into fantasy FROM a spot firmly planted in reality.
Just get the realistic details correct, and the fantasy can play much better within them.
There is a scene in the first book where the characters
are described riding the Monorail from MK... to the Studios (now DHS.)
I find that one impossible to ignore or defend.
I just looked at our public library's online catalog, found the 1st one on CD and put in a request for it--we're going on a trip this weekend, will have a 6 hour drive and will enjoy having something fun to listen to!
