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Here's my review of the accompanying book paired with the Pumpkin Queen series, Sally's Journal: Notes From Halloween Town and Beyond. This book was written by Mari Mancusi, author of the Disney Twisted Tales book, Sally's Lament, but not the PQ series itself.
I find this book to be great for TNBC fanfic authors or artists looking for aid with the world-building of the Nightmare worlds and characters, especially if you're looking to make content of the new worlds/faces of that come from LLTPQ, HOTPQ, and SOTPQ. Although, there are a few minor issues and personal complaints I have with it.
Spoilers under the 'read more'!
First of all, quick shout-out to me somehow winning the Instagram giveaway of a sneak peek booklet of Sally's Journal, only to never get it because the author "somehow missed me" when she was sending them out and has failed to reply to all of my DMs trying to follow up on getting my personalized booklet. It's been about two months and I'm done trying to get it. I already have the actual book, the giveaway didn't happen too long before SJ released, so I'm done sitting around waiting and hoping. (Mari, just know I feel betrayed and ignored. Thanks again. /hj)
The Art
The first thing that stands out with Sally's Journal is the art style. The illustrator is Andre Ducci, who has a colorful, distinct style within his work that exemplifies itself throughout this book. I've found that the way he draws characters seems to work well with a particular few from TNBC, as he tends to draw tiny hands, feet, and lips, and that tracks well with most Burton characters. But this style works not-so-great for others, especially those who happen to have face lines.
For example...Jack is drawn spectacularly in here, he works really well in the style, but then you get to Albert and Greta, who look much older than they should be and appear much less flattering in comparison:
Because of the artist's distinct style and way of coloring, I don't think you can use this book as a good accurate reference for what these new characters look like. While it's certainly unique and lovely in its own way, it ends in the case where it works in specific areas and not so well in others.
The Writing
The book is interestingly-written, in that it is showcased exactly as it's titled - a journal written by Sally Skellington. It involves interviews she's conducted with other characters, breaks between the pages with fake ad flyers sent out by different Holiday Worlds, and sections she claims were written by others, like the Mayor or Luna Slumberly.
I will say, while reading through the first quarter of the book with the Halloween Town Residents, some of it doesn't match up with the personalities observed in the Pumpkin Queen series. For example, the Mummy Boy has been described as liking to bake, but that's not mentioned at all in this book.
It feels like the author watched the original movie and her thoughts went along the lines of "Oh! The Vampire Brothers skate on ice! I'll write that in here." -- It feels like an observation of their actions, rather than their hobbies and personality traits. These are pretty easy to make up, as she does this for other characters in the book, but a lot of the Halloween Town Residents in particular kind of suffer from this.
Otherwise, I adore the world-building in here, the drawn-out maps and visual representations of the Holiday Towns we have not gotten before..! It is a miracle that we now have a good idea of what the residents and environments look like for the other holidays. The only downside is -- places like St. Patrick's Day and Thanksgiving Town only receive 2 or 3 pages because they're not too well-explored in the Pumpkin Queen series. Valentine's Town, besides Halloween and Christmas, is the only holiday town to really get an in-depth look in here.
...Besides the made-up ones insert by the authors, which would include Dream Town and Time Town. I was surprised the book hadn't included Shadow Town and Chance Town, but they did tease it in here at the ending to avoid spoilers, which makes sense because it released alongside SOTPQ. I'm certain we'll probably get more on that if a Graphic Novel ever releases for the final Pumpkin Queen book.
If you're not a fan of the PQ series itself, then you may as well stop reading Sally's Journal halfway through, where it starts delving into those concepts and stories that come from the novels. You will be reminded of Dr. Finkelstein kidnapping and feeding Sally a forgetting potion a little less than five times throughout this book (my god).
My main criticism comes from one line, really, which will read inconsequential to many readers, but for someone like me, it made me so annoyed and reminded me that Mari likely sought out Megan's word and advice for this series rather than Shea Ernshaw's.
Sally, at one point in this Journal, says word for word: "Of course, even though I'm from Dream Town, I made the difficult decision not to move back there."
...
That's just blatantly untrue. In Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, Sally makes it clear that moving to Dream Town is never a feasible option. She makes it clear to her parents that, first and foremost, she wants to get her husband back and stay with him in Halloween Town -- she's the *Pumpkin Queen* now. This weird idea that Sally is suddenly so attached to a town and parents she has no memory of comes from the ending novel, perhaps a little in HOTPQ, but not in the initial book at all.
I find it so strange to remember how against the idea Sally was to moving to Dream Town, taking over as a Governor, and how she had to repeatedly emphasize to Albert and Greta that she has no desire to do that at all. But in here -- "difficult decision". It wasn't! At all! But, whatever. I guess this comes from picking yet another author to write something for the PQ series. I doubt Mari had written down every single detail from the books, they are an insanely long read to do in one setting, so I can be forgiving of that.
Overall
A lovely book, really. I recommend grabbing this one and the graphic novels if you don't have the time or feel like reading through three books that quickly grow repetitive amongst one another. If you're a fanfiction author looking for ideas on what restaurants could be in Halloween Town, what kind of jobs they employ there and what the Residents think of each other, this is a perfect thing to grab and read.
And if you're an artist looking to portray the other Holiday Towns, definitely nab this one, I think the artist's color palettes for them was perfect and the maps are pretty easy to understand. You also get a great idea of them with how they work from their descriptions in here. This book can give you a good idea of what the characters look like -- but for the most accuracy, you'll probably want to read their descriptions in the book, as even the LLTPQ Graphic Novel falsely portrays Albert and Greta in there.
Overall, I wasn't a fan of this book that ended the Pumpkin Queen trilogy. Ever since the outrage of the initial Long Live the Pumpkin Queen novel, it seems the general masses have been quiet on this series - and I can't blame them, because I do not think this story needed to become a series and span across two more books when they do nothing but follow the same formulas.
This review will be a bit lengthy because I have a lot to say and rant about. Buckle in if you're interested.
Spoilers under the 'read more'!
The Cover
Let me first start off with my continuous grieving with how the covers continue to showcase Sally in her patchwork dress without her ring, crown, or new chiffon gown. These were details added to her design to show she has grown, she is married and a ruler now, and she has moved on from her past as a prisoner ragdoll who had to make her clothes out of scraps.
But Disney must want her to be recognizable, or the artists have never read LLTPQ, so we've gotten two covers where nothing about Sally has changed (except now she wields a needle. Hah.) The initial cover for the first novel was so gorgeous, showed Sally with a CROWN on a THRONE, but now she's defaulted to how she was again, even the graphic novel cover ended up looking this way, and I'm disappointed.
Otherwise, the cover is pretty, and there were some color variations among store exclusives again. I do love that a lot. I love having some options on what I want. If the Walmart edition had been posted sooner, I would've preordered their blue cover. Alas!
The Story
What a boring mess. And I mean that, truly. A lot of the reviews for this book mention it following the same formula as the other two. And it does! Everything is going well until suddenly, it's not, a big thing happens that threatens Halloween Town + the other worlds, Jack gets taken/kidnapped, and it's up to Sally to go on a long journey to save him and the town, which she does by the end of the book.
There's nothing new to this concept. There's only a couple of new characters, but you're guaranteed new towns. I will continue to share my skepticism with the fact that these new towns aren't holiday-oriented at all, they're more focused on concepts more than anything, and that shows with places like Chance Town, Shadow Town, and Weather Town. It seems like every idea that deals with the humans will have its own town in this universe. I don't know how to feel about that. I've always wanted to see Nightmare's potential with all the holidays/celebrations that the humans have, but we don't get that anymore. There are little glimpses into the holiday towns, but they're never the focus. Hmm.
The story suffers from the godforsaken "complete three tasks" trope. And it's under a time constraint, which Sally fails to do in a timely fashion. I find that odd because isn't she supposed to be clever? Surely, she would've thought of a way to overcome the first riddle in a much sooner method/time? Were we supposed to read the days passing and her failing just to make it seem more dramatic? No WAY would Sally let her people wait that long. And the way she hurts herself trying to fly? It was surprisingly graphic for what it was and I just doubt that Sally would've been this thoughtless to begin with. And also, exploring that she has a patch now in the front and back of her body would've been interesting, but of course it's a one-off detail.
She barely manages to complete these tasks, in such dramatic ways like visiting Chance Town to try and get a luck drop so she can overcome the impossible Hinterlands Maze and literally create a glowing star of gas with Doctor Finkelstein in the midst of a strong storm that nearly blows them all away, for the powers of a...god-like horse. And when she DOES get those powers to combat the Big Bad, it doesn't feel like it pays off well, as Sally mostly fights hand-to-hand with him rather than relying on the moonlight she struggled so hard to get.
I was expecting the horse to stomp Dorian to death with its light-up hooves and Sally would get to kick back and watch. But, no. Disney NEEDS to show her fighting and being competent and capable because they made her fail so much! She needs to succeed in taking him down using her OWN HANDS because it's so awesome, so badass! Look at her needle sword! Isn't that COOL? /Sarcastic
Some scenes feel like they spread out longer than they need to. Fun fact, but this book has the most pages in all three novels! Including its Epilogue (which is longer than it needs to be), it comes to over 400 pages. The others, while close, did not reach this number.
There's some new world-building to this book, which includes an abandoned hospital in Halloween Town that Sally learns about (which apparently had a portal in it leading to the human world?? and oogie accidentally burned it down when he brought a pinball machine back and it caught on fire? something about the hospital being for ghosts? none of that makes sense.), Recluse Woods, which is the outskirts of the forest surrounding Halloween Town where residents just. Go off to if they're tired of things and want to vanish off the grid. I don't know how Jack wouldn't know about this within his own town, these new locations just seem...odd?
Speaking of Jack, good god, these books continue to fumble him terribly. He is the most useless in this book he ever HAS BEEN. He is taken early on and imprisoned in Shadow Town, which is a town deep underground that has no sunlight and is only lit by glow worms and such. Sally communicates with him using the mirror from the prior book given by Lady Lore, and each time she speaks to him, he appears weak and pleading with her to give up and forget all about him.
...So, my question is, how in the hell would Jack grow weak without sunlight? He doesn't have skin. Why would he need the sun? Isn't he, and the other monsters in town, creatures of the night? Like the vampires and werewolf? Wouldn't they THRIVE in a dark environment? I get the Villain is weakening them and all, but surely, they would be hard to combat since the dark is THEIR territory? I can understand the other towns and their people, sure, but JACK SKELLINGTON??? HIS RIBS SHRINKING BECAUSE OF NO SUNLIGHT? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!! He's the master of fright -- SURELY he would have experience and mastery navigating the dark so he can scare and frighten others. Why was he resorted to a damsel stuck in puppet strings. Are we also forgetting Jack can pop out his bones if need be. The vampires -- how could they have not done anything at all???
I get Disney wants to present Sally as a strong, female lead, but they keep pushing aside Jack so they can make that happen. He is more than capable of protecting Sally, saving her, fighting and saving his town as he's done it more than once. I get Sally is now getting her spotlight, but for Jack to be made into a useless damsel for EVERY STORY? It's just doing him dirty at this point. What a letdown.
There's some new revelations, plot twists, etc. in here that I'll get to later in the review.
The Writing
I am inserting a section for the writing in here because there are quite a few things bothering me about it. There are several phrases that keep getting repeated throughout the story, like Sally fidgeting/pulling at the loose seam on her wrist, Sally falling and landing like a "pile of laundry", her fish hook eyelashes, etc.
For a Disney published book that likely had editors and proofreaders, I am amazed that these phrases were not substituted/changed/reworded etc., because I and others easily noticed these words and phrases keep getting repeated, to the point where it breaks you out of the story. If you're like me, you get aggravated wondering if Sally is going to yank on her wrist thread on every single page.
Stuff like this really makes it feel like this story was written hastily, changed several times, and it comes off as repetitive and some descriptions just...aren't accurate for how Sally would describe or view them at all.
The Characters
We are introduced to only a couple new characters in this one, as SOTPQ mainly features the return of recurring characters from the previous books. Luna, Albert, Greta, Scorch, the Holiday Town Ambassadors, and even a minor pixie character named Pearl tags along with Sally in the story.
The two new characters we get are the villain(s) - the final reveal of the dark prince mentioned in HOTPQ, named Prince Dorian Dark, and his twin sister, Princess Dahlia Dark.
So, there is a """big reveal""" with these characters that first gets mentioned a little further than halfway through the story, and you are reminded of it a few times to where you understand the situation before it's ever revealed. Dorian and Dahlia are Doctor Finkelstein's first creations before he kidnapped Sally - and were therefore her brother and sister in all practical senses. Sally had apparently been experiencing some flashbacks to a particular memory that included Dorian, and she recognizes them as the Doctor's creations due to Jewel's mismatched eyes, which they all share.
.... *Sighs and pinches the bridge of my nose* ...
--So, this 'revelation', instead of being anything mind-wowing, just brings more plot holes and complications into the picture. If you recall in the initial Long Live the Pumpkin King, the Doctor confesses that the reason he kidnapped Sally to begin with was because he couldn't create life, no matter how hard he tried. He claims to have failed and given up. But...Dorian and Dahlia are legitimate, living manmade creatures. Granted, Dahlia refused to do housework and Dorian expressed no interest in science, so neither of them were what he *wanted*, but this still meant that Finkelstein had children prior to Sally, and it makes his reasoning in LLTPQ completely null.
--Also, I'm pretty damn sure the other Halloween Town Residents would remember the Doctor having children. Even if he's been more of a recluse, Jack Skellington has been known to stop by, as the King and all, and I reckon the Mayor does so too so he can check in on things, so why would no one make mention of his prior kids or recognize them to begin with?
As characters themselves, Dahlia and Dorian are utterly boring with nonsensical motivations and a ridiculous backstory. Once Sally came into the picture, the Doctor much favored her over the twins, and they became jealous and were essentially kicked out because of her. So, they hold a grudge and retreat far away -- where they happen to come into contact with a cave that has magical soil which gives them their dark powers. (What?)
This leads to them being forgotten and creating Shadow Town, a refuge for the other creatures/characters that are forgotten by the humans or the holiday worlds/whatever themselves, and they have sanctuary somewhere. Something something drama, the forgotten members start getting remembered because of Sally's integration of the holiday and concept worlds and they go out on their own (what? wasn't Jack responsible for that with his discovery of Christmas Town?) Dorian becomes angsty not wanting to let go of his citizens, Dahlia disagrees with his ways and retreats to the Recluse Woods to 'return' to Halloween Town...yadda yadda. These two really lost me - they don't feel like huge threats because you know Sally will defeat them, and the fact that they just keep kidnapping every resident of every town eventually gets tiresome after awhile, and becomes less of a worrying threat.
So, besides these new characters, I'd like to mention Sally, and how she's written/characterized in here particularly.
She feels oddly changed in this book, in the sense that she is now overly in love with the concept of Dream Town and her parents. Whoo, BOY!!! Albert and Greta. I'm not sure if it's character assassination, purposeful flaws/complexity, or neglectful writing, but they are just...awful in here. As in, they don't really believe in Sally, that she can save Halloween Town/her citizens, and at one point in the story, Greta's 'advice' to her is to know when to cut people off, to call it quits before she seriously puts herself in harm's way, and this is in reference to the fact that her husband and their people are missing and she wants to get them back. She is essentially telling Sally to cut off Jack Skellington, her people, and start over, because that's what THEY did.
...Sally gets upset by this, but to MY utter shock, it doesn't spiral into a deep argument at all! She tells her parents that she doesn't want to do things their way, asks for their support, and of course, they agree to do that and stand by her so everything is 100% forgiven and they hug and Sally thinks to herself, "well, families are supposed to be complicated! Everything's okay!" OH MY GOD. WHYYYYY is Sally so goddamned forgiving of Albert and Greta, no matter what they do or say to her? She is blindly in love with her parents, refuses to see their flaws/harmful words and advice/teetering-on abusive behavior because she is *so* obsessed with the idea of having a loving family coming from a wonderful town that she talks/fawns more over than her own Halloween Town! (I will forever bring up the fact that they locked her in a room at one point just like Finkelstein did, and have never faced any consequences for repeating her abuser's actions! In fact, their possessiveness over her, in the means to not lose her again, is making them repeat the Doctor's behavior, even if unintentional!)
(Seriously, it feels like Sally just wants to stay in Dream Town by this point. At the end of the book, there is a particular passage that actually managed to piss me off. Sally tells Dorian that, when she spent her first night in Dream Town, in her old room, it was the first time she ever truly felt 'at home'. BUT! In the original LLTPQ novel, Sally says her home isn't in a PLACE, but a PERSON, and that person is JACK SKELLINGTON! SHE SAID JACK IS HER HOME! Why the FUUUUCK is that getting retconned just to rizz up Dream Town? I am so sick of this, im so sorry, this particular detail just really ruffled my feathers)
Earlier in the book, Sally has this odd moment where she becomes jealous of Luna because she is spending so much time with her parents (her own mom and dad are on this weird getaway vacation/expedition to other holiday worlds and can't be reached at all at any point in the story. Weird, whatever), and is practically acting like their daughter. This makes Sally envious around her and, for some reason, she ropes her into her own complicated feelings/angst with her parents at the end of the book, even though Luna has done nothing, and it was Sally who encouraged her to shadow the Governors in the first place. Again, this obsessiveness with her parents is grating more than it is endearing.
--And this isn't even TOUCHING the other odd changes to Sally as a character. If you couldn't tell from the cover, Sally now weilds a needle that she uses a spell to enlarge or shrink, which means she can use it as a sword/weapon. She and Jack even go sword fighting together in the graveyard. This is...such a weird, WEIRD concept to give to Sally from TNBC, you know, the shy, timid ragdoll whose courage came from her cleverness and quiet methods that spoke just as loud as Jack's physical fight with Oogie Boogie. She is methodical, not a violent fighter, but SOTPQ will show you otherwise with her getting into quite a bit of fighting and physical scenes, even giving her a weapon. At one point, she even rides a horse and fights, just like a badass heroine! Woah!
I'm sorry, but this doesn't feel like Sally to me. She has her seams to worry about, she is a delicate thing considering everything. Disney Mirrorverse gets a pass from me because that is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE -- and if Sally had a different upbringing, was trained since her childhood to learn how to fight, then I could believe it. But with the Sally we know, who learned to act in silent ways, I just don't buy this new, confident, horse-riding sword-wielding Sally that is given to me.
Also? I hate Scorch. I despise this character that did so much harm for Sally and her Town, just to get forgiven in the end because he's a big, friendly dragon who was manipulated and really, he means well! But, my god! I still don't think a dragon belongs in Halloween Town, he's defaulted to a cute side-kick character in here who only has good things to say and do. I have not forgotten what you've done, you wretched thing. I am the #1 Scorch Hater!!
As a Sequel/Continuation
I really don't know what to say about this book as a sequel to the movie. You genuinely need to read the other books to even understand what it going on here. You cannot pick it up and know why Sally has a magical mirror, who Albert and Greta are, who Luna and Scorch are, what all these other worlds are, without reading LLTPQ and HOTPQ.
I guess it picks up things from HOTPQ just fine, reuses those characters, and adds onto things. So, in that instance, it's alright, I guess. But I cannot give you an answer to its legitimacy as a sequel to the movie. It is so absurd at this point, so strange in its concepts, a dragon lives in Halloween Town, Sally has a magical mirror shard, Dr Finkelstein has been exiled, etc. etc. etc. fans of the movie will be a little lost, I'm afraid!
Jack X Sally
If you were hoping for some good Jack Skellington X Sally content in this book, prepare to be sorely disappointed, because absolutely nothing happens between them. Sure, there's a few cute moments where they flirt and kiss in here, but it feels so toned down compared to what we got before in LLTPQ and HOTPQ.
And, yes, Sally's motivations continue to be Jack -- but it feels oddly misplaced in this story, because, as I've expressed, Sally seems more focused/loving of her parents and Dream Town more than she is for Jack and Halloween Town. She apparently doesn't even consider him her 'home' anymore...
There was one scene I liked in the book that introduced potential angst between her and Jack, as little as it makes sense. But I've been dying for a doomed narrative between Jack and Sally, there's so much for it, especially since she was willing to physically give up a part of herself just so she could save him, and we know Jack would do the same in return.
Disney's (continued) meddling
If you read my last review on Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, you'll recall I also had a section in my review mentioning Disney's meddling in that story. In that book's case, it was somewhat minor of a change but something that ended up changing quite a bit of the story. And if you read in between the lines, you can obviously tell it was done last-minute. This is proof of Disney meddling with Megan Shepherd's initial vision/ideas, and they continue to do so with this book!
So! If you'll recall the same Q & A done by Megan Shepherd (here are my notes), she disclosed a few things about the next book at the time, which meant she was talking about Shadow Over the Pumpkin Queen. In that interview, she mentions planting seeds/concepts that were to be explored in the next book, but Disney decided her ideas were "too dark", and asked her to change the story. She claims there was a specific world she wanted in SOTPQ, and at the time of the interview, this book was supposed to be based on Greek Mythology.
However, if you read the final version of the book...there is absolutely nothing to do with Greek Mythology or Figures whatsoever. None. Which gives me, and other readers, the impression that Megan was asked to completely rewrite the story to get rid of these elements -- to pivot from anything "too dark". Which means that the end result is something that caters more to children, a general audience, rather than exploring themes like death and mythological parallels. The story is missing the author's initial vision and intentions, which can show terribly in corporate meddling when you get a story like this.
I will be going more into this with my overall Pumpkin Queen Series review/thoughts post, but for now, it really hurts me to know Megan was asked, several times with these last two books, to pivot from what she wanted to write simply because Disney was too scared, too worried, or just didn't want it. They're not known for making the smartest or best creative decisions (live action remakes), so the fact that she has to listen to them and change whatever they or Tim Burton's assistants wants...kills a lot of potential these stories could have.
If Hour of the Pumpkin Queen had Jack and Sally wanting a family, and this final book explored their parallels between Greek stories or Gods, I feel like we could've gotten so much better. As it stands, Shadow Over the Pumpkin Queen feels like a generic story written for the big screen to make some money in the most inoffensive ways possible. I can see this being a movie, and that's not a good thing on its own. It's a shame because there's no risk, no mature elements, there's nothing 'adult' about these books anymore. Nightmare has so much potential to cater to the adults that grew up with the movie - yet, Disney still wants to pander to children and take the safest routes possible.
And these books have suffered for it.
The Epilogue
Hmm, guess what? This story comes with an Epilogue. And the closest people I know hate it because it has a looooot of audacity.
The Epilogue mentions a happy ending where the Mummy Family has a new baby. First of all, *what* mummy family? We've only seen the Mummy Boy, the cyclops with one eye. Unless they meant the CORPSE family, but I believe the Corpse Mom is referred to exactly as that in this book. I am genuinely dumbfounded how they allow a side character to have a baby while Jack and Sally have Disney constantly breathing down their necks any time they even think of having a family together.
The Epilogue comes across as disappointing, it ends on a sweet Jack/Sally note where Sally confesses that she wants to entrust Doctor Finkelstein a little bit more in how useful he can be, and to change his sentence to community service in Halloween Town instead. (after all, he helped her catch a star, which she needed to save the town) While Jack is surprised, he goes along with it.
--My feelings about all this aside, it reads strange and out of character for Sally. She would still want nothing to DO with the Doctor in these circumstances. It feels like a lame 'have compassion!' lesson that Albert and Greta were lecturing Sally about earlier in the story. It's backtracking because Doctor Finkelstein *IS* an essential character when it comes to Nightmare -- he's the town's mad scientist, capable doctor, the smartest in town. And because Shea Ernshaw villainzed him and had him exiled in the initial book, you really can't use him anymore unless you cross SEVERAL lines that make Sally uncomfortable like in this book. And something monumental would have to change her mind to keep him around -- like this one.
Everything just feels like it's cancelling out each other. Backtracking. Changing one's mind. But of course, I'll go more into this in my other Pumpkin Queen series review. (coming soon, who knows?)
Overall
Another unfortunate case of this book suffering from Disney's meddling, which turned into a super safe, non-risk-taking, easily-generic movie-makeable plotline that strays so far from the characters we know in the movie in favor for a dramatic, action-packed storyline that will *surely* keep readers interested.
My head hurts just trying to keep up with everything in these books. I'm so glad they're over with and I hope it stays this way. I'll be explaining why soon - but for now, this book was easily my least favorite in the series, and I believe it's because Megan was forced to practically rewrite it from the ground-up just to please higher Disney management with boring stories and boring concepts. I do not blame her one bit -- Hour of the Pumpkin Queen was excellent because she did not have to rewrite the whole thing -- but when she was forced to, it's pretty easy to tell.
Let me know your guys' thoughts/take on this book!
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Overall, I wasn't a fan of this book that ended the Pumpkin Queen trilogy. Ever since the outrage of the initial Long Live the Pumpkin Queen novel, it seems the general masses have been quiet on this series - and I can't blame them, because I do not think this story needed to become a series and span across two more books when they do nothing but follow the same formulas.
This review will be a bit lengthy because I have a lot to say and rant about. Buckle in if you're interested.
Spoilers under the 'read more'!
The Cover
Let me first start off with my continuous grieving with how the covers continue to showcase Sally in her patchwork dress without her ring, crown, or new chiffon gown. These were details added to her design to show she has grown, she is married and a ruler now, and she has moved on from her past as a prisoner ragdoll who had to make her clothes out of scraps.
But Disney must want her to be recognizable, or the artists have never read LLTPQ, so we've gotten two covers where nothing about Sally has changed (except now she wields a needle. Hah.) The initial cover for the first novel was so gorgeous, showed Sally with a CROWN on a THRONE, but now she's defaulted to how she was again, even the graphic novel cover ended up looking this way, and I'm disappointed.
Otherwise, the cover is pretty, and there were some color variations among store exclusives again. I do love that a lot. I love having some options on what I want. If the Walmart edition had been posted sooner, I would've preordered their blue cover. Alas!
The Story
What a boring mess. And I mean that, truly. A lot of the reviews for this book mention it following the same formula as the other two. And it does! Everything is going well until suddenly, it's not, a big thing happens that threatens Halloween Town + the other worlds, Jack gets taken/kidnapped, and it's up to Sally to go on a long journey to save him and the town, which she does by the end of the book.
There's nothing new to this concept. There's only a couple of new characters, but you're guaranteed new towns. I will continue to share my skepticism with the fact that these new towns aren't holiday-oriented at all, they're more focused on concepts more than anything, and that shows with places like Chance Town, Shadow Town, and Weather Town. It seems like every idea that deals with the humans will have its own town in this universe. I don't know how to feel about that. I've always wanted to see Nightmare's potential with all the holidays/celebrations that the humans have, but we don't get that anymore. There are little glimpses into the holiday towns, but they're never the focus. Hmm.
The story suffers from the godforsaken "complete three tasks" trope. And it's under a time constraint, which Sally fails to do in a timely fashion. I find that odd because isn't she supposed to be clever? Surely, she would've thought of a way to overcome the first riddle in a much sooner method/time? Were we supposed to read the days passing and her failing just to make it seem more dramatic? No WAY would Sally let her people wait that long. And the way she hurts herself trying to fly? It was surprisingly graphic for what it was and I just doubt that Sally would've been this thoughtless to begin with. And also, exploring that she has a patch now in the front and back of her body would've been interesting, but of course it's a one-off detail.
She barely manages to complete these tasks, in such dramatic ways like visiting Chance Town to try and get a luck drop so she can overcome the impossible Hinterlands Maze and literally create a glowing star of gas with Doctor Finkelstein in the midst of a strong storm that nearly blows them all away, for the powers of a...god-like horse. And when she DOES get those powers to combat the Big Bad, it doesn't feel like it pays off well, as Sally mostly fights hand-to-hand with him rather than relying on the moonlight she struggled so hard to get.
I was expecting the horse to stomp Dorian to death with its light-up hooves and Sally would get to kick back and watch. But, no. Disney NEEDS to show her fighting and being competent and capable because they made her fail so much! She needs to succeed in taking him down using her OWN HANDS because it's so awesome, so badass! Look at her needle sword! Isn't that COOL? /Sarcastic
Some scenes feel like they spread out longer than they need to. Fun fact, but this book has the most pages in all three novels! Including its Epilogue (which is longer than it needs to be), it comes to over 400 pages. The others, while close, did not reach this number.
There's some new world-building to this book, which includes an abandoned hospital in Halloween Town that Sally learns about (which apparently had a portal in it leading to the human world?? and oogie accidentally burned it down when he brought a pinball machine back and it caught on fire? something about the hospital being for ghosts? none of that makes sense.), Recluse Woods, which is the outskirts of the forest surrounding Halloween Town where residents just. Go off to if they're tired of things and want to vanish off the grid. I don't know how Jack wouldn't know about this within his own town, these new locations just seem...odd?
Speaking of Jack, good god, these books continue to fumble him terribly. He is the most useless in this book he ever HAS BEEN. He is taken early on and imprisoned in Shadow Town, which is a town deep underground that has no sunlight and is only lit by glow worms and such. Sally communicates with him using the mirror from the prior book given by Lady Lore, and each time she speaks to him, he appears weak and pleading with her to give up and forget all about him.
...So, my question is, how in the hell would Jack grow weak without sunlight? He doesn't have skin. Why would he need the sun? Isn't he, and the other monsters in town, creatures of the night? Like the vampires and werewolf? Wouldn't they THRIVE in a dark environment? I get the Villain is weakening them and all, but surely, they would be hard to combat since the dark is THEIR territory? I can understand the other towns and their people, sure, but JACK SKELLINGTON??? HIS RIBS SHRINKING BECAUSE OF NO SUNLIGHT? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!! He's the master of fright -- SURELY he would have experience and mastery navigating the dark so he can scare and frighten others. Why was he resorted to a damsel stuck in puppet strings. Are we also forgetting Jack can pop out his bones if need be. The vampires -- how could they have not done anything at all???
I get Disney wants to present Sally as a strong, female lead, but they keep pushing aside Jack so they can make that happen. He is more than capable of protecting Sally, saving her, fighting and saving his town as he's done it more than once. I get Sally is now getting her spotlight, but for Jack to be made into a useless damsel for EVERY STORY? It's just doing him dirty at this point. What a letdown.
There's some new revelations, plot twists, etc. in here that I'll get to later in the review.
The Writing
I am inserting a section for the writing in here because there are quite a few things bothering me about it. There are several phrases that keep getting repeated throughout the story, like Sally fidgeting/pulling at the loose seam on her wrist, Sally falling and landing like a "pile of laundry", her fish hook eyelashes, etc.
For a Disney published book that likely had editors and proofreaders, I am amazed that these phrases were not substituted/changed/reworded etc., because I and others easily noticed these words and phrases keep getting repeated, to the point where it breaks you out of the story. If you're like me, you get aggravated wondering if Sally is going to yank on her wrist thread on every single page.
Stuff like this really makes it feel like this story was written hastily, changed several times, and it comes off as repetitive and some descriptions just...aren't accurate for how Sally would describe or view them at all.
The Characters
We are introduced to only a couple new characters in this one, as SOTPQ mainly features the return of recurring characters from the previous books. Luna, Albert, Greta, Scorch, the Holiday Town Ambassadors, and even a minor pixie character named Pearl tags along with Sally in the story.
The two new characters we get are the villain(s) - the final reveal of the dark prince mentioned in HOTPQ, named Prince Dorian Dark, and his twin sister, Princess Dahlia Dark.
So, there is a """big reveal""" with these characters that first gets mentioned a little further than halfway through the story, and you are reminded of it a few times to where you understand the situation before it's ever revealed. Dorian and Dahlia are Doctor Finkelstein's first creations before he kidnapped Sally - and were therefore her brother and sister in all practical senses. Sally had apparently been experiencing some flashbacks to a particular memory that included Dorian, and she recognizes them as the Doctor's creations due to Jewel's mismatched eyes, which they all share.
.... *Sighs and pinches the bridge of my nose* ...
--So, this 'revelation', instead of being anything mind-wowing, just brings more plot holes and complications into the picture. If you recall in the initial Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, the Doctor confesses that the reason he kidnapped Sally to begin with was because he couldn't create life, no matter how hard he tried. He claims to have failed and given up. But...Dorian and Dahlia are legitimate, living manmade creatures. Granted, Dahlia refused to do housework and Dorian expressed no interest in science, so neither of them were what he *wanted*, but this still meant that Finkelstein had children prior to Sally, and it makes his reasoning in LLTPQ completely null.
--Also, I'm pretty damn sure the other Halloween Town Residents would remember the Doctor having children. Even if he's been more of a recluse, Jack Skellington has been known to stop by, as the King and all, and I reckon the Mayor does so too so he can check in on things, so why would no one make mention of his prior kids or recognize them to begin with?
As characters themselves, Dahlia and Dorian are utterly boring with nonsensical motivations and a ridiculous backstory. Once Sally came into the picture, the Doctor much favored her over the twins, and they became jealous and were essentially kicked out because of her. So, they hold a grudge and retreat far away -- where they happen to come into contact with a cave that has magical soil which gives them their dark powers. (What?)
This leads to them being forgotten and creating Shadow Town, a refuge for the other creatures/characters that are forgotten by the humans or the holiday worlds/whatever themselves, and they have sanctuary somewhere. Something something drama, the forgotten members start getting remembered because of Sally's integration of the holiday and concept worlds and they go out on their own (what? wasn't Jack responsible for that with his discovery of Christmas Town?) Dorian becomes angsty not wanting to let go of his citizens, Dahlia disagrees with his ways and retreats to the Recluse Woods to 'return' to Halloween Town...yadda yadda. These two really lost me - they don't feel like huge threats because you know Sally will defeat them, and the fact that they just keep kidnapping every resident of every town eventually gets tiresome after awhile, and becomes less of a worrying threat.
So, besides these new characters, I'd like to mention Sally, and how she's written/characterized in here particularly.
She feels oddly changed in this book, in the sense that she is now overly in love with the concept of Dream Town and her parents. Whoo, BOY!!! Albert and Greta. I'm not sure if it's character assassination, purposeful flaws/complexity, or neglectful writing, but they are just...awful in here. As in, they don't really believe in Sally, that she can save Halloween Town/her citizens, and at one point in the story, Greta's 'advice' to her is to know when to cut people off, to call it quits before she seriously puts herself in harm's way, and this is in reference to the fact that her husband and their people are missing and she wants to get them back. She is essentially telling Sally to cut off Jack Skellington, her people, and start over, because that's what THEY did.
...Sally gets upset by this, but to MY utter shock, it doesn't spiral into a deep argument at all! She tells her parents that she doesn't want to do things their way, asks for their support, and of course, they agree to do that and stand by her so everything is 100% forgiven and they hug and Sally thinks to herself, "well, families are supposed to be complicated! Everything's okay!" OH MY GOD. WHYYYYY is Sally so goddamned forgiving of Albert and Greta, no matter what they do or say to her? She is blindly in love with her parents, refuses to see their flaws/harmful words and advice/teetering-on abusive behavior because she is *so* obsessed with the idea of having a loving family coming from a wonderful town that she talks/fawns more over than her own Halloween Town! (I will forever bring up the fact that they locked her in a room at one point just like Finkelstein did, and have never faced any consequences for repeating her abuser's actions! In fact, their possessiveness over her, in the means to not lose her again, is making them repeat the Doctor's behavior, even if unintentional!)
(Seriously, it feels like Sally just wants to stay in Dream Town by this point. At the end of the book, there is a particular passage that actually managed to piss me off. Sally tells Dorian that, when she spent her first night in Dream Town, in her old room, it was the first time she ever truly felt 'at home'. BUT! In the original LLTPQ novel, Sally says her home isn't in a PLACE, but a PERSON, and that person is JACK SKELLINGTON! SHE SAID JACK IS HER HOME! Why the FUUUUCK is that getting retconned just to rizz up Dream Town? I am so sick of this, im so sorry, this particular detail just really ruffled my feathers)
Earlier in the book, Sally has this odd moment where she becomes jealous of Luna because she is spending so much time with her parents (her own mom and dad are on this weird getaway vacation/expedition to other holiday worlds and can't be reached at all at any point in the story. Weird, whatever), and is practically acting like their daughter. This makes Sally envious around her and, for some reason, she ropes her into her own complicated feelings/angst with her parents at the end of the book, even though Luna has done nothing, and it was Sally who encouraged her to shadow the Governors in the first place. Again, this obsessiveness with her parents is grating more than it is endearing.
--And this isn't even TOUCHING the other odd changes to Sally as a character. If you couldn't tell from the cover, Sally now weilds a needle that she uses a spell to enlarge or shrink, which means she can use it as a sword/weapon. She and Jack even go sword fighting together in the graveyard. This is...such a weird, WEIRD concept to give to Sally from TNBC, you know, the shy, timid ragdoll whose courage came from her cleverness and quiet methods that spoke just as loud as Jack's physical fight with Oogie Boogie. She is methodical, not a violent fighter, but SOTPQ will show you otherwise with her getting into quite a bit of fighting and physical scenes, even giving her a weapon. At one point, she even rides a horse and fights, just like a badass heroine! Woah!
I'm sorry, but this doesn't feel like Sally to me. She has her seams to worry about, she is a delicate thing considering everything. Disney Mirrorverse gets a pass from me because that is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE -- and if Sally had a different upbringing, was trained since her childhood to learn how to fight, then I could believe it. But with the Sally we know, who learned to act in silent ways, I just don't buy this new, confident, horse-riding sword-wielding Sally that is given to me.
Also? I hate Scorch. I despise this character that did so much harm for Sally and her Town, just to get forgiven in the end because he's a big, friendly dragon who was manipulated and really, he means well! But, my god! I still don't think a dragon belongs in Halloween Town, he's defaulted to a cute side-kick character in here who only has good things to say and do. I have not forgotten what you've done, you wretched thing. I am the #1 Scorch Hater!!
As a Sequel/Continuation
I really don't know what to say about this book as a sequel to the movie. You genuinely need to read the other books to even understand what it going on here. You cannot pick it up and know why Sally has a magical mirror, who Albert and Greta are, who Luna and Scorch are, what all these other worlds are, without reading LLTPQ and HOTPQ.
I guess it picks up things from HOTPQ just fine, reuses those characters, and adds onto things. So, in that instance, it's alright, I guess. But I cannot give you an answer to its legitimacy as a sequel to the movie. It is so absurd at this point, so strange in its concepts, a dragon lives in Halloween Town, Sally has a magical mirror shard, Dr Finkelstein has been exiled, etc. etc. etc. fans of the movie will be a little lost, I'm afraid!
Jack X Sally
If you were hoping for some good Jack Skellington X Sally content in this book, prepare to be sorely disappointed, because absolutely nothing happens between them. Sure, there's a few cute moments where they flirt and kiss in here, but it feels so toned down compared to what we got before in LLTPQ and HOTPQ.
And, yes, Sally's motivations continue to be Jack -- but it feels oddly misplaced in this story, because, as I've expressed, Sally seems more focused/loving of her parents and Dream Town more than she is for Jack and Halloween Town. She apparently doesn't even consider him her 'home' anymore...
There was one scene I liked in the book that introduced potential angst between her and Jack, as little as it makes sense. But I've been dying for a doomed narrative between Jack and Sally, there's so much for it, especially since she was willing to physically give up a part of herself just so she could save him, and we know Jack would do the same in return.
Disney's (continued) meddling
If you read my last review on Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, you'll recall I also had a section in my review mentioning Disney's meddling in that story. In that book's case, it was somewhat minor of a change but something that ended up changing quite a bit of the story. And if you read in between the lines, you can obviously tell it was done last-minute. This is proof of Disney meddling with Megan Shepherd's initial vision/ideas, and they continue to do so with this book!
So! If you'll recall the same Q & A done by Megan Shepherd (here are my notes), she disclosed a few things about the next book at the time, which meant she was talking about Shadow Over the Pumpkin Queen. In that interview, she mentions planting seeds/concepts that were to be explored in the next book, but Disney decided her ideas were "too dark", and asked her to change the story. She claims there was a specific world she wanted in SOTPQ, and at the time of the interview, this book was supposed to be based on Greek Mythology.
However, if you read the final version of the book...there is absolutely nothing to do with Greek Mythology or Figures whatsoever. None. Which gives me, and other readers, the impression that Megan was asked to completely rewrite the story to get rid of these elements -- to pivot from anything "too dark". Which means that the end result is something that caters more to children, a general audience, rather than exploring themes like death and mythological parallels. The story is missing the author's initial vision and intentions, which can show terribly in corporate meddling when you get a story like this.
I will be going more into this with my overall Pumpkin Queen Series review/thoughts post, but for now, it really hurts me to know Megan was asked, several times with these last two books, to pivot from what she wanted to write simply because Disney was too scared, too worried, or just didn't want it. They're not known for making the smartest or best creative decisions (live action remakes), so the fact that she has to listen to them and change whatever they or Tim Burton's assistants wants...kills a lot of potential these stories could have.
If Hour of the Pumpkin Queen had Jack and Sally wanting a family, and this final book explored their parallels between Greek stories or Gods, I feel like we could've gotten so much better. As it stands, Shadow Over the Pumpkin Queen feels like a generic story written for the big screen to make some money in the most inoffensive ways possible. I can see this being a movie, and that's not a good thing on its own. It's a shame because there's no risk, no mature elements, there's nothing 'adult' about these books anymore. Nightmare has so much potential to cater to the adults that grew up with the movie - yet, Disney still wants to pander to children and take the safest routes possible.
And these books have suffered for it.
The Epilogue
Hmm, guess what? This story comes with an Epilogue. And the closest people I know hate it because it has a looooot of audacity.
The Epilogue mentions a happy ending where the Mummy Family has a new baby. First of all, *what* mummy family? We've only seen the Mummy Boy, the cyclops with one eye. Unless they meant the CORPSE family, but I believe the Corpse Mom is referred to exactly as that in this book. I am genuinely dumbfounded how they allow a side character to have a baby while Jack and Sally have Disney constantly breathing down their necks any time they even think of having a family together.
The Epilogue comes across as disappointing, it ends on a sweet Jack/Sally note where Sally confesses that she wants to entrust Doctor Finkelstein a little bit more in how useful he can be, and to change his sentence to community service in Halloween Town instead. (after all, he helped her catch a star, which she needed to save the town) While Jack is surprised, he goes along with it.
--My feelings about all this aside, it reads strange and out of character for Sally. She would still want nothing to DO with the Doctor in these circumstances. It feels like a lame 'have compassion!' lesson that Albert and Greta were lecturing Sally about earlier in the story. It's backtracking because Doctor Finkelstein *IS* an essential character when it comes to Nightmare -- he's the town's mad scientist, capable doctor, the smartest in town. And because Shea Ernshaw villainzed him and had him exiled in the initial book, you really can't use him anymore unless you cross SEVERAL lines that make Sally uncomfortable like in this book. And something monumental would have to change her mind to keep him around -- like this one.
Everything just feels like it's cancelling out each other. Backtracking. Changing one's mind. But of course, I'll go more into this in my other Pumpkin Queen series review. (coming soon, who knows?)
Overall
Another unfortunate case of this book suffering from Disney's meddling, which turned into a super safe, non-risk-taking, easily-generic movie-makeable plotline that strays so far from the characters we know in the movie in favor for a dramatic, action-packed storyline that will *surely* keep readers interested.
My head hurts just trying to keep up with everything in these books. I'm so glad they're over with and I hope it stays this way. I'll be explaining why soon - but for now, this book was easily my least favorite in the series, and I believe it's because Megan was forced to practically rewrite it from the ground-up just to please higher Disney management with boring stories and boring concepts. I do not blame her one bit -- Hour of the Pumpkin Queen was excellent because she did not have to rewrite the whole thing -- but when she was forced to, it's pretty easy to tell.
Let me know your guys' thoughts/take on this book!
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Whenever I think of Jack Skellington having a human backstory — a backstory when he was alive — I instantly think of those song lines “A hundred bad days made a hundred good stories, a hundred good stories made me interesting at parties”
And what that means is that Jack had so many ridiculous near-death experiences, and each one taught him something. Something he can now use for his job in scaring. He knows how to instill the worst kinds of fears because he felt them all so many times and even learned to live with it before he finally died.
Now, however, he tries to forget those events. He tries to stop himself from thinking about those times, mostly because he doesn’t want anyone in the town to see him scared even once.
Although… those snowy forests in Christmas Town, the ones away from the village… They look an awful lot like the one he was murdered in…
Well, I finished Shadow Over the Pumpkin Queen today. Left feeling incredibly disappointed and having this feeling of relief that the Pumpkin Queen series is finally over (for the love of god please keep it this way). Out of all three books, SOTPQ was easily the weakest and most displeasing. Hour of the Pumpkin Queen was alright, but I do still fondly like the initial Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, despite its flaws.
I'll be writing up a review...will probably make a separate one for Sally's Journal, then collect my thoughts and overall takeaway on the Pumpkin Queen series in another post.
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Available at the last Haunted Mansion Holiday event in 2004, this bobble head figure depicts Scary Teddy from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas sitting on top of the coffin from the Haunted Mansion’s conservatory. Green hands with red nails attempt to pry the lid open. Jack Skellington has left a coffin and bat shaped tag on the coffin reading “Do not open ‘til Christmas.”
Some purple flowers have been left on the coffin lid and a few petals are scattered about.
Piece is approximately 7″ long and 5″ tall. Certificate of Verification included with printed event logo.
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