Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson
I probably liked this book more than I would have if I was not the Disney fan that I am.
Having worked at Disneyworld and enjoyed numerous visits both to Florida and California Disney Theme Parks, I loved getting reacquainted with the parks and the employee only areas described in the book. I loved all the references made to the Disney characters and think Pearson did a fantastic job of capturing what it feels like to be in the park and part of the park.
The book was full of action and it’s easy to see that a pre-teen/young teenage boy would love this story. There’s clear evil and good characters. It has everything from Pirates to Tom Sawyer to the evil Maleficent.
The only gripe I have with the book is that, at times, it felt more like a promotional book for Disney then an actual story. The characters lacked the “something” that other pre-teen books have shown me is possible (See: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins) I think the idea behind this series is fantastic and I will read the next in the series, I just wish it’d been less about the setting and more about the story.
