The Wooden Prince

Pinnochio. The story of a wooden puppet who becomes a real boy.

5 stars for world building
1.5-2 stars for character development
4 stars for creative retelling.

This is a highly original and creative retelling of Pinnochio. There is magic, talking animals, mechanical automatons, and a war between the humans and the Abatonians (magical creatures/land/race). The world was beautiful. The mechanical caterpillar, the flying soldiers, mechanical lion. Even the fact that pinnochio is an automaton was wonderful. It was truely an original retelling.

But as thrilling as the world was, the characters were dull. They were like a half baked loaf of bread. Good on the surface, but undercooked and douhy underneath. Most of the names and characters blended together. I wasn't emotionally invested in any of them.

I'm leaving it with a solid 3 stars. As much as I loved the world and retelling aspects, I kept putting the book down with little desire to pick it back up. I think this would make a great animated series. One that could invest time on building out the characters. I think the visuals would also help identify which characters were which.