Book Review: Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson

Hope you guys are having a good spring break! I took this opportunity to read Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson. It's the first book the series Kingdom Keepers, which has ten books and another newer series still coming out called The Return. With that much material, you're guaranteed tons of adventure.

The story is centered around Walt Disney World and mixes technology and fantasy for a really creative premise. At night, the whole park comes alive, and heroes and villains alike from all the rides and attractions run the park. They are brought to life by the imaginations and beliefs of the visitors that fill the park during the day.

But the park runs into some problems: the villains are wreaking havoc in the park at night, damaging rides and stealing things. Animatronics and Holograms can do just as much as real human, but no one can see them. So some workers decide to use that to their advantage and develop DHI (which could mean Disney Host Interactive or Daylight Hologram Imaging). If other holograms work at night, what happens if you make a hologram of a real person?

Enter five young teens, chosen to be the models and voices of these guides. They just wanted to take advantage of the perks of the job (namely free passes to Magic Kingdom for life) but instead find that the DHI technology allows them to enter the park at night by slipping into their hologram counterparts, which allows them to see, and more importantly stop, the characters trying to take over the park. And to do so, they have to solve a riddle left behind by Walt Disney himself, all before the villains overrun the park or even worse, start setting their sights on the world beyond the park.

Pearson has started an intriguing series with Disney After Dark with a very original and well planned premise. It's fun and thrilling and I still can't get over how wicked cool it is that the kids can become their hologram hosts at night. And all five protagonists are good kids with interesting personalities. Even though it's geared towards younger teens, as a high school student, I still enjoyed it thoroughly, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy or adventure of any sort. Happy reading!

~Meg