I bought this book on a whim as a fan of A Nightmare Before Christmas. I’ve always loved the look of that film, and thought this book would be an interesting read. However, I immediately regretted my decision. No, it wasn’t the book itself… it was more having to carry the book through the store and parking lot to my car. It almost felt like the entirety of the area locked onto my book and were judging me harshly for wanting to read a Sally-focused sequel to a children’s movie about Halloween and Christmas.
But I bought it. And honestly, it wasn’t bad.
Now right off the bat, this might not be for you. Honestly, my audience is a mixed bag on this site, anything from poetry enthusiasts to pulp story lovers. If you fall into that niche of people who liked A Nightmare Before Christmas and enjoys Young Adult books, this might be right up your alley.
So the story is a direct sequel to the movie. It picks up shortly afterwards with Sally and Jack getting married. However, that means she’d be the Pumpkin Queen, a royal figure over Halloween Town. This is, of course, not in the movie, but it adds an interesting royal aspect to an otherwise familiar environment. The fan favorite characters reappear from the witches, vampires, the mayor, and others.
On their honeymoon, Sally and Jack travel to several places, but prominently is the Valentine’s Town with its own Queen Ruby Valentino. However, it doesn’t last long and soon Sally must return and prepare for her duties. It’s this aspect that shows us Sally’s main motivation in the story: she’s nervous about being a queen. This leads Sally to attempt to run away, but end up in one of the doorways and release something (I suggest playing Metallica at this part). Now all of the holiday residents end up falling under a spell and it’s up to Sally to figure out what’s going on. The story progresses perfectly fine, but there’s a few revelations I thought were a bit unnecessary.
I have a few issues with the story. Jack sort of drifts in and out of the story as the plot needs, without much explanation, then he disappears altogether. There’s also the addition of the royalty element which seemed like, in the movie, it was only a title given to Jack for being the best Halloween planner in the entire town. However, it’s now a literal king and queen.
However, there’s a lot that I like. The way it’s told from Sally’s perspective gives the story a better grounding than if it was from Jack’s. She just wanted to marry Jack, not be a queen. Likewise, the world and environments are so interesting that it ties the whole story together. There’s a suggestion of Ancient Realms that predate the holidays, and gives the whole story some interesting worldbuilding.
Overall this story is good. A lot of people complain online that it reads like a fanfiction, but what would you expect from a book sequel to a hit film? The author does her best to nail the feeling of the original, and even through it feels like a Hot Topic kid’s daydream, I like it.
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You may like some of my other reviews:
- Book Review: Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock
- Book Review: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Book Review: Fury by James Alderdice
You may also like some of my other work:
Frank Ormond 