Book Review: Shell Game

Kingdom Keepers: Shell Game, by Ridley Pearson

Shell Game is the fifth book in the Kingdom Keepers series.  This is the first book in the series to feature the Keepers in a location other than the Walt Disney World parks in Florida.  This time, the Keepers are aboard a Disney cruise ship, the Dream.  After the OTs try attacking the Base in the parks, they manage to sneak on board the ship and proceed to terrorize the Keepers in a number of ways.  New villains are introduced this time, as the Keepers deal with growing up and facing new challenges among themselves like love interests and ranks among the group.

Warning: Spoilers follow here.

In keeping with my tradition of not exposing the ending to a KK book, I have come up with a list of questions I have that I feel were either not addressed whatsoever in the book, or weren't addressed enough.  However, some of these contain spoilers, so don't read them if you haven't read the book.

1. Who is the OTK with the red tips in her hair, and why does her hair stop Philby from leaving the stateroom when the other holograms attack him?
2. How did Amanda and Jess cross over?
3. Who was the friend Amanda and Jess were emailing in the beginning of the book, and what did the friend do after escaping?
4. What did Maleficent mean by, "the truth about Wayne?"
5. Where did Dillard come from?
6. Is Storey really Mulan?
7. What's up with Wayne, and why is he acting so weird (as in, how he acted with the train and the fox at the beginning)?
8. How did Finn get so much strength at the end?
9. Do the title and Killers quote in the book indicate that one of the good guys is actually turning bad, and are playing a game of some kind with the Keepers?
10. What's up with Finn's factory/ship déjà vu?
11. Why was there a double Mickey sighting?
12. Why did Wanda want Amanda and Jess on-call?
13. Where is Wayne, and why isn't he communicating with Finn directly?
14. Why did Wayne keep leading Finn to danger in the beginning?
15. What was Tia Dalma's role?
16. What's in the journal?
17. Why is Stravinsky important to the journal or Chernabog?
18. What'll they use the "broom ooze" from the beginning for?
19. Where is Maleficent on the ship?
20. Why are the OTs attacking the ship, and trying to get to California?

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I give the book a 4/5.  There was so much in this book, and there is so much still to be answered.  Sometimes, while reading the book, I got the same feeling one gets when watching a movie series that is directed by the same person up until a certain point, where one can then tell the same person didn't direct the most recent movie.  At points, I felt like the book was written by someone else; it read differently, and I don't doubt that it was supposed to, as the Keepers are getting older and this idea of becoming more mature is peppered throughout the story.  The cliff hanger ending is going to kill me until the next book comes out.  I liked that all the former stories ended nicely with a bow on top, and Shell Game really tripped me up.  I can't wait to see where the story goes, and I really hope that all my questions are answered in KK6.  I have faith in you, Ridley! :)

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And yes, I did read halfway into The Postcard Killers and then stopped to read KK5.  And I'm about to do it again, because this week I'm diving into Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  Justin jumped the gun on that one, and read the book last summer and loved it.  So now I'm going to read it before we see the movie next weekend.

For Next Time

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith

"When Abraham Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died from an ailment called the "milk sickness." Only later did he learn that his mother's deadly affliction was actually the work of a local vampire, seeking to collect on Abe's father's unfortunate debts.

When the truth became known to the young Abraham Lincoln, he wrote in his journal: henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become learned in all things—a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose."

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for reuniting the North with the South and abolishing slavery from our country, no one has ever understood his valiant fight for what it really was. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years."

-Barnesandnoble.com