Spells and enchantments delight in the exciting continuation of Ridley Pearson’s Kingdom Keepers series with Kingdom Keepers Inheritance: Villains Realm. The children of the Kingdom Keepers take on the mantle of protecting the Disney Parks from the Disney villains. For years the villains have been silent as the original Kingdom Keepers grew to adulthood, but now the time has come for them to rise, and the new generation of heroes must also rise to protect the magic kingdoms.
In the first book of the series, Eli Whitman, the son of Kingdom Keepers Finn and Amanda Whitman, fought against Carnius in the North African Union who was trying to destroy the magic of the Disney Parks. Now Eli and his ‘cousins’ the children of the Kingdom Keepers and Fairlies must regroup for a bigger battle to come.
Construction has been ramped up at all the Disney parks across the globe. The Walt Disney Company CEO, Walter Wright, has just approved the construction of the Villains Realm lands for all Disney Parks. The problem is, Walter Wright until recently had vetoed this Imagineering project. So, what made him change his mind?
To add to the odd corporate maneuvers, Kingdom Keepers Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philby have all been put on leave from their positions at Disney and are not allowed to associate with each other. Their children, Eli, Blair, Charlie, Marty, and Lily must take up the task and save the Disney kingdoms.
As the conspiracy unravels, Eli and Blair will use a revered magical Disney artifact, Mickey’s magic wand, partner with Fairy Godmother, and try to stop the villains from creating more of Walt Disney’s magic ink for nefarious reasons.
Ridley Pearson continues to create his own magic while playing in the Disney sandbox. Kingdom Keepers Inheritance: Villains Realm shows that Pearson can adeptly propel the narrative from the first book forward while also building to a fantastic conclusion to come.
What always appealed to me with Pearson’s saga is that he brings the Disney Parks alive for readers and has created magical and exciting adventures that readers will love and want to revisit many times much like the Disney Parks.
Kingdom Keepers Inheritance: Villains Realm keeps the spirit of Walt Disney’s dream alive, builds on the established narrative from Pearson’s previous work, and gives a new and playful life to the Disney characters that are beloved.
Thankfully, we get the return of the big bad villains, The Big Bad Wolfe, Ursula in her human form, and even the return of Maleficent. Readers who have looked for their return, get to see the villains that have dominated this series in the past shine in this futuristic tale.
Pearson always manages to pull out a classic Disney character and give them a starring role in his narrative. The villains have usually had center stage, but in Kingdom Keepers Inheritance: Villains Realm the Fairy Godmother of Cinderella gets to shine.
Not only does Pearson highlight and enhance the humor of the Fairy Godmother character but he transcends the animated classic with a new but familiar personality for the readers to enjoy. The fact that Pearson creates a further backstory about the popularity of Fairy Godmother and about how Disney made a solo movie about her that sent her fame skyrocketing, seems just in line with what the real Disney company would do.
Since Pearson has set this series in the future, he must satisfy fans’ desire to have an adventure in the Disney Parks with the characters that we all know, while at the same time playing Imagineer and designing a new world in the Disney Parks.
Kingdom Keepers Inheritance: Villains Realm is a joyful adventure, with a little bit of villainy that only the Kingdom Keepers can overcome. Just like his first book in the series many years ago, Ridley Pearson manages to capture the essence of Disney Parks and allows readers to step into the shoes of the characters while having a brand-new adventure.