A spellbinding story featuring one of the most powerful entertainment franchises in the world. This book deserves 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Disney Publishing Worldwide, Disney Hyperion for an ARC of this book.

I liked the other books in this series, but this one just fell short for me.

I love the Kingdom Keepers series! It was one of my favorites as a kid. And the characters I knew as a kid as grown up now and have their own kids. This is the story of the kids of the OG kingdom keepers and I love it! Saving Disney World theme parks must run in the blood since the stars align and the kids are called to save the kingdom as their parents once were.

What I loved: the idea of a villains themed theme park, the usual Disney shenanigans and cast of characters, the nostalgia this series brought me

I absolutely loved the original series unfortunately I really disliked this new one. It had so much potential but it seemed rushed and also not written to more of a current thinking and sensibilities. It just didnt have the magic that was prevalent in the original.

This book was received as an ARC from Disney Publishing Worldwide - Disney Hyperion through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was in love with this book series since book one was released. I am super ecstatic that Ridley Pearson decided to expand on the series, but this time worldwide. A villain park in Hong Kong and the story behind the missing child, and Eli's thirteenth birthday was absolutely heartbreakingly, brilliant. Epcot is one of my favorite Disney Parks in Walt Disney World, and I had to keep reading since there were more exciting scenes everywhere you turn. The Kingdom Keepers also reminded me of a group of superheroes such as The Power Rangers which made the book even more enjoyable. I know this book like its predecessors will succeed well in libraries, bookstores, and bookshelves worldwide.

A spellbinding story featuring one of the most powerful entertainment franchises in the world. This book deserves 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was full of nostalgia for me as I read the Kingdom Keepers series years ago. It was fun to revisit this world and I cannot wait for the next book.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.*

This book perpetuates cultural and gender stereotypes and is a bit hard to follow. There is no reminder of what happened in the previous series, so readers who haven’t read or don’t remember the original may be a bit lost. If you are looking for a fun Disney adventure, read the original series. I remember loving it.

This is a spoiler free review

Kingdom Keepers: Inheritance is a good book that’s full of fun Disney references, especially locations throughout EPCOT and Walt Disney World. I got a big kick out of every reference I understood.

I’ve never read any of the Kingdom Keepers series of books before and because of that I found this book to be confusing and hard to keep up with. As I read Kingdom Keepers: Inheritance a friend told me that the characters from the original series are in this story and are grown up with children of their own. I wished I had read the previous Kingdome Keepers series before trying to read Kingdom Keepers: Inheritance so I would have appreciated this book more.

When I have time I will try reading the older Kingdom Keepers series. I love Disney movies, cartoons and the parks. So I do think I would really enjoy this series once I’m caught up with all of the other books.

Stay awesome and keep reading!

I read the Kingdom Keepers series a while ago so I was a little fuzzy on the details going into this book. However, my enjoyment of the story was not deterred due to my lack of details. If you are just starting with this book, you should consider reading the original Keepers series first as the impact of the story and plot line will make more sense. I think you could manage this as a stand alone but it would be better to have all the pieces.

The original Kingdom Keepers have grown up and now have families of their own and most of their kids are 13 or just becoming, which is when the original Keepers figured out their strong suits. They warn their children to watch for special abilities without further explanation and none of the kids know their parents were Keepers. They know the Keeper lore in the community but the identities of those are somehow hidden. Which is weird because the original Keepers series talked about what celebrities the kids were, but that is a minor snag in the details.

Villain activity is up again in the World of Disney. This book takes place predominantly in EPCOT, a park I have not visited since 1992 so it did pique my interest to want to return and wander around. When one of the Keeper's kids is kidnapped at his own birthday party during a solar eclipse, through a magic portal no less, it is his friends who rally to try and find him and solve the puzzle of these mysterious "shimmers."

I confess I had a little trouble keeping characters straight, partly because it has been so long since I read the original books and partly because they were actually hard to keep straight. A family tree or list of characters in the beginning of the book would be helpful here, especially since several of the Keepers have married names and calling them Mrs. So-So was confusing. I also felt like this book lacked some of the magic of the original Keeper series, though it clearly lays groundwork for more books to come, hopefully with the flair that kept me turning pages in the original series.

Overall if you or your family are fans of the original books, you'll like this junior version just fine.

I really enjoyed the Kingdom Keepers series. However,this book fell a little short for me. It got very busy very quickly. There seemed to be a lot of characters and nothing made much sense until almost halfway through the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the idea of the “Disney Magic” being so real in this book and how that magic was incorporated into the Disney Parks. I was beyond jealous of the families living in the future of Epcot! There were just so many components to spark the imagination within the story.

Having said that, I had a hard time with the negative gender stereotyping, how the young characters viewed their “flaws,” and how they viewed each other, it was heartbreaking to read this. While I am well aware that we can all view ourselves in a negative light, there was no positive light shone on these characters and how they could help one another. Which I believe is something that the literary platform has so much power in doing.

There were several other stereotypes made in the book, and to be honest, I am not sure how this was not caught before publication.

While I genuinely liked the idea of the Kingdom Keepers, the real magic of Walt Disney, and the Cast and Villains being real and all that entails, I cannot get past the negative thoughts that have been written that Middle-Grade readers would then read.

I was excited when I saw that there was going to be a new series of Kingdom Keepers. I started reading the series with my oldest child when they were younger, and we really enjoyed talking about the books and imagining the book characters coming to life when we went to Disney World as a family. But then I remembered that I was so mad at the ending of that series that I literally threw the book across the room when I was done.

But, since I had already received this book as an ARC when I remembered this, I was determined to read it anyway, because I was a bit curious about where the series was going.

To say that I was disappointed with this book would be an understatement. It has been several years since I read the original series, so I forgot a lot. I was hoping there would be information sprinkled in the beginning of the book to bring readers back up to speed. But that never happened. It’s like the author just assumed we finished reading the previous books a minute earlier.

There were quite a few negative gender stereotypes throughout, as well as many culturally insensitive comments. As this book is set in the future, I would have thought that comments like those would be a thing of the past, but apparently not.

I can now safely say I am done with this series and won’t feel the need to pick up any other books in the series, or anything written by this author.

I received a digital ARC of this book thanks to the publisher and Netgalley.

I read the original Kingdom Keepers novel over a decade ago when I was a Cast Member at Walt Disney World Resort. I remember loving the mix of behind the scenes and magic that we worked hard to bring to our guests each day.

Though I didn’t finish the original series, this new generation is more than capable of bringing new fans to the series who haven’t read any of the previous books, while also continuing the legacy.

Its also a lot of fun to imagine what the parks could be like in the future with additional countries in Epcot and an actual community living on property (different from the current Golden Oaks). Not gunna lie, I was a bit jealous of those kids.

The other thing too is the book helped get me interested in the past novels again and I plan to go back to read them all. It’s a great way for parents now to introduce their kids to the books, and connect over them and grow their love for the Disney Parks even more (and maybe one day, dream of being a cast member, like my kids want to now too).

Thank you so much to Disney Publishing for an advanced copy of Kingdom Keepers: Inheritance.

Star Rating: 2 stars
Genre: Fantasy Fiction (Middle Grade)
Pub Date: August 30, 2022 (according to Amazon; this one has been pushed back a few times, I think)

I wanted to like this book so much. I loved the original series, and this was one of my most anticipated middle grade books of the year. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

Maybe I just remember the original series differently, but this book was just cringey. Homophobic and gender stereotyping references abound, and this was really shocking coming from a company like Disney that is so accepting and diverse. Given that this book is set in the future, I was expecting the story to be even more forward thinking than current time (which may be my own bias showing, but still)...sadly, it is not. I could not in good conscience recommend this to middle grade readers, many of whom are already struggling with the feelings of growing up...for some, this book would only feed into the shame that certain political parties wish kids to feel for identifying certain ways.

I'm really disappointed that Disney publishing and Ridley Pearson put this book out into the world.

I have loved the Kingdom Keepers since the very beginning.. Kingdom Keepers :Inheritance will not disappoint. I recommend reading the series from the beginning though to truly understand the characters and what is taking place. Looking forward to reading more!!

Eli is kidnapped on his thirteenth birthday, to another time and place. Eli lived in a place called the communitree that surrounds all of Disney world, there are a lot of people that live there including Eli's best friends. What the kids don't know is the true story of how their parents became some of the people that live there. That is because their parents want to hide the fact that they are the original Kingdom Keepers that saved Disney from the villains when they were about the age of Eli and his friends are now. But will Eli friends rescue him and are the villains coming again?

This is a awesome stories that will hopefully capture a new a generation of audience and bring them back to the original books as well. These books are so much fun for anyone who likes Disney,, the movies and the parks. They have a lot of action, suspense, and twists and turns that will hold even the most reluctant of reader captive and up past their bedtime.

This review will appear on my blog on August 30th.

Kingdom Keepers: Inheritance by Ridley Pearson, 320 pages. Disney, March 2022. $18

Content: G (some violence)

BUYING ADVISORY: MS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Eli Whitman is turning 13 today, but his parents are out of town, having been called in to some secret meeting with Disney Corp in California. Eli and his parents live in the Communitree – the subdivision built around Disney’s Epcot. Most of his other friends are cool – their parents have known each other since before the kids were all born. Scoot, however, is kind of a bully and taunts Eli to use Finn Whitman’s sword (which Eli is NOT allowed to touch) is his VR battle with Jafar and Eli rips open a hole in time and space instead – allowing two mysterious figures to jump through. Now Eli and his real friends are the ones who must step in and stop the Disney villains’ latest plot to take over the world.

A fun, if complicated, introduction to the newest generation of Kingdom Keepers. You have to have read all of the other books (well, at least 3 or so of them) to understand the Kingdom Keeper background. Very fast-paced and involved. A good buy if you still have the whole series on your collection. Eli is white, but his friends are a diverse group like the original Keepers.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS

Finn Whitman and the rest of the Kingdom Keepers are grown up, married, and have children of their own. Dwelling in a prestigious housing community within EPCOT, life seems to be going pretty well for the families. That is until their children begin to discover that they have special abilities which beckon them on a quest to overcome evil, just as their parents did before them.

I really wanted to love this book. I was so excited when I heard Ridley Pearson was writing a new addition to the Kingdom Keepers saga, and was elated when I was approved to preview it.

My excitement faded pretty quickly once I began to read. Either my memories of the prior Kingdom Keepers books is faulty, or perhaps I'm just more aware of what I'm reading these days; I don't recall so many cringe inducing moments from the previous books. Not to mention that the book is set in the future, where I feel like kids would be even more aware than they are in current times. Statements like referring to a male character's long, pointy fingernails as "girly" or the absolute disgust of encountering curry seasoned popcorn are so out of place. In addition to just being behind the times, the overall story was not very well done. It ended with a cliff hanger, so I'm sure there are more books coming but sadly, I won't be reading them.

What would you do if one day you were playing a Disney game, but the game came to life, and people transported to your living room and started to attack you? Five friends a swept up in a plot to defend the Disney magic from new and improved Overtakers takers. Pavilions created in Disney parks outside of the United States have been built to represent the villains, allowing them to regain power, and they are back and ready to take back what is theirs. Will our newest hero's be up the task of taking them down?

Having read all of the Kingdom Keeper books, how could I not be excited to read the newest series. I love that the original Kingdom Keepers have grown up and that a new generation is going to be taking over defending the magic. I will say that it hurts my soul to hear that Soaring is an antiquated ride. I know this is set in the future but I hope that future generations appreciate some of the rides that exist now. It is quite fun to think though that Epcot might become somewhere people can live. Who knows if this comes true I might move down that way to be closer to the magic.

Thank you so much to Disney Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

This series will be another hit for Pearson. I had students that enjoyed the first series and will be coming back for more.