Kingdom Keepers: The Insider

Summary: Book 7 in the newly updated Kingdom Keepers series, Finn and the rest of the Kingdom Keepers have been living a peaceful life for the past three years after the final encounter taking place in a Mexican Aztec temple. Much to their surprise, the Overtakers did not take the defeat well and have been slowly restoring their powers for the past couple of years and are headed for a new target Disneyland. The Kingdom Keepers must make one last stand against the Overtakers or risk losing everything they and Walt Disney have worked for to preserve the magic and the parks by finding the one character who started it all, Mickey Mouse.

Suggested age rating: 13+ based on constant action and fighting sequences, minor indecency, darker undertones, and the use of light and dark magic.

Review: The end of the first series of the Kingdom Keepers was excellent, it brought everything full circle from the very beginning as the author incorporates a perfect send-off for the characters we have loved over the entirety of the series. The one big drawback of this novel I have is the rather dark first half considering it being a Disney book aimed at a younger audience when it felt more like a young adult novel based on these thematic elements. If the whole book had stayed this way, in all honesty, I would not have finished it, but eventually the mood lightened during the second half making up for the beginning as it brought back the true magic of Disney and the feeling of reading the first book all over again.

Language: A character swears, but what words are said is unknown.

Indecency/Sex: A boy kisses a girl's neck and cheek and a woman is said to be both a man's wife and sister.

Violence and Gore: Mention of a character ripping a villain's heart out and killing them, mention of a boy dying, sacrifices are mentioned, several wraiths, ghosts, and zombies are killed, wraiths and other monsters are mentioned to feed on souls, a character stabs a zombie breaking its bone, a zombie is shot through their eye with an arrow and their skull shatters, acid is used, a monster bites a man's head off and is described graphically, and a man is stabbed in the chest.

Frightening Scenes: Several monsters, ghosts, zombies, and wraiths attack characters.

Substance Abuse: Mention of tobacco and a character's voice is described as drugged.

Spiritual Content: Ghosts, demons, zombies, wraiths, and monsters are present, a character is mentioned as being a bat god, spells are cast, several Egyptian gods are talked about, and heaven and God are mentioned.

Genres: Fantasy, fiction, middle grade, Disney.