Promchanted by Morgan MatsonMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
I received an ARC of this book.
First, let me say that "Sleeping Beauty" has always been my favorite Disney movie. It's style of drawing is beautiful, Maleficent is a great character, and I love the setting. So I was excited about this book. BUT... This book just had too many flaws for me to enjoy it, even when I take a step back knowing I am not the intended audience. This book contradicted itself, was full of unlikeable and/or two-dimensional characters who acted and felt one way on one page and then completely different in the next chapter, had characters make decisions that they completely went back on later in the story, had no through line, and just didn't make any sense.
This is supposed to be the story of Stella, a junior in high school who is so detail-oriented that she even makes a spreadsheet on her phone (seems to me like that would be a lot easier to do on a laptop, but that's just me... And could you not just keep a calendar?) every morning to organize her day. She ends up going to Disneyland before her prom (you might think that's a huge part of the story, but it's not. Apart from the unnecessarily detailed descriptions of how Stella has created 4 different spreadsheets about what rides they need to go on, when they have to eat, what time they need to be in line, and essentially what they are and are not allowed to do, according to her plans.) with her best friend, her best friend's girlfriend, and a literal "rando." And of course Stella decides she does not like said rando, Reece, because he witnessed her breakup with her boyfriend weeks earlier, and he doesn't respond the way she feels he should to all her spreadsheets, rules, didactic pronouncements about what one should and shouldn't do at Disneyland, and generally unpleasant personality (not to mention the fact that she is mad he is there at one point, and then a few pages later is mad that he wants to do his own thing). All of this "backstory" (complete with a whole scene about how Stella has to show up at the gym earlier that day because the prom decorations aren't arranged to her "logistical expert" standards and she doesn't like that the theme is "fairy tale," just because her boyfriend broke up with her, even though she LOVES Disney--which is supposed to be a major part of her personality) just makes the pace of the first part of the book too slow and honestly, a bit boring.
I felt like the story should pick up when Reece and Stella finally, by some weird (not really ever explained in the book--if you're counting plot holes, you'll probably lose count, but here's one,) reason end up in the DISNEY CARTOON version of Sleeping Beauty (this is also important to remember, because although they have not actually travelled back in time to an actual historical event to real time in the past, they for some reason feel if they do anything to disrupt the storyline of animated characters who were designed by Walt Disney--a la the butterfly effect--cataclysms will occur that could warp the space time continuum. Again, it made no sense). And this is the point where the book got even more contradictory. Stella, who prides herself on being so detail-oriented, for some reason cannot remember the details of Sleeping Beauty (another plot hole: she has trouble remembering the details in stories even though she has somehow genetically inherited a genius-level propensity for figuring out logistics? How does she function in school? What happens when she has to read a novel in English, or remember dates in history, or use formulas in math? Not to mention the fact that SHE LOVES DISNEY), and has to have Reece explain everything to her--characters, details, major plot-points, seemingly obvious things that any normal person could probably figure out just by using common sense. And then when he tells her how she should or shouldn't behave or what she should or should not do in order to keep the movie flowing like it should, she gets mad, ignores him, or just acts in an incredibly stupid manner. Reece keeps telling her they are in 14th century Europe, and she needs to speak and behave appropriately (yet another plot hole: they are NOT in the Middle Ages, they are in an animated movie. If they were actually in feudal Europe, they would be speaking a different language, Stella's actions would probably have her burned at the stake as a witch, and THERE WOULD BE NO FAIRIES OR MAGIC. Here, the author and in turn the characters need to stop emphasizing that they are in the actual past, and focus more on the fact that if the story doesn't unfold just as it should that they may not get back home. That would make much more sense).
At this point, I just started skimming. I didn't feel like anything that happened would really have any important impact on the story, because the character would most likely just go back on their statements or contradict their actions in the next chapter. Phillip and Rose meet a week early, (but that's okay, even though it doesn't happen in the movie...? Again, I'm confused). Stella and Reese spend a week showing them how to be modern teenagers, complete with current slang (I thought we in medieval Europe? But then again, Phillip and Rose talk just like Stella and Reese... Confused... Now, it would be a bit more believable if the fact they are in a MADE UP cartoon was emphasized, but it's not...), manage somehow to avoid Maleficent (again, a great character. She was severely underused in this story). Then, it JUST SO HAPPENS that
Okay, I am too tired of this to keep going. But there are so many more things I could list that make this book just not good. More plotholes, more things that make Stella unlikeable, more times we could have really used Reece's POV, more examples of the 2-dimensional nature of Phillip and Rose, more GLARING incongruity...but I'll stop here. I didn't like this book. I am shocked that Disney approved of it. I really hope this isn't a series. I am surprised this got past an editor. I DO NOT recommend it. The premise was great. The execution was atrocious. Philip, Aurora, Flora, Fauna, Merriweather, and Maleficent all deserve better.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment