The Kingdom Blog Tour: Q&A with Jess Rothenberg!

**This post is sponsored by Macmillan and Glasstown Entertainment for the release of The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg** 


I can't tell you how excited I am to be participating in the blog tour for The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg! The Kingdom is my favorite YA book of the year thus far, and I can't see that changing. This book is just so creative, so original, so unique, and so smart. I can't recommend it enough! Jess so kindly agreed to do a Q&A with me, about the book, her inspiration, and whether we will be seeing more books in the world of the Kingdom!

Q&A with Jess:

1. How would you describe The Kingdom using only pop culture references (example: Gilmore Girls meets Pretty Little Liars)?

The HBO series Westworld meets Disney World meets the Serial podcast for teens!

2. If your two main characters, Ana and Owen, were Disney characters, who would they be?

Ooh, that’s a tough one… it’s not an exact science, but the closest fit would probably be Belle and Aladdin.

3. The Kingdom deals with a lot of complex issues, such as what it means to be human and toxic masculinity. What societal issues did you want to explore, and why did you choose a futuristic theme park to explore them?

When I originally started working on this book three or four years ago, it was much simpler, conceptually, and more of grounded, contemporary story of love, betrayal, and murder in a theme park. But in the last few years there’s been such an enormous cultural shift—so many crucial issues coming to light dealing with harmful beauty standards, the control and commodification of women’s bodies, global warming and the environment, and of course the Me Too Movement—and the story slowly began to evolve into something deeper and more complex, a place for me to explore my feelings on and reactions to a lot of these things. The Kingdom is this beautiful, aspirational world—a glittering, wholly immersive escape from reality—but beneath all the glitter and perfection, there’s a lot of very dark stuff going on dealing with power, desire, who gets to have it, and at what cost. And really, perfection is a lie. It’s a story Ana and her sisters have been quite literally programmed to tell, just as we are all programmed to tell it and (though it’s not pleasant to think about), to perpetuate it.

4. Ana and the other fantasists physically mirror the diversity of the world; Zara is Nigerian, and Yumi is Japanese. What countries do Ana, Nia, Eve, and the other fantasists represent?

The Fantasists were developed by the Kingdom park as a kind of idealized “It’s a Small World”—their multicultural, multiracial physical traits meant to mirror the world of the book’s near future setting. In the novel, the seven Fantasists represent seven lands around the globe: Eve represents Europe, Ana is North America, Kaia is Polynesia, Yumi is Asia, Zara is Africa, Zel is South America, and Nia is Oceania. “We are as colorful as the rainbow,” Ana explains early on, “created to celebrate our international unity and reflect the diverse world in which we live.” The illusion, of course, is that the Fantasists are not real girls—they are technological creations of a powerful corporation programmed to tell (and ultimately sell) a specific story—without any true racial or cultural context of their “identities.”

5. The Kingdom is easily one of the most creative and unique books I have ever read. Never in a million years would I be able to come up with a premise so fantastic, so I have to ask: where did you get the idea for The Kingdom?

Thank you so much! The inspiration for the book came from my mom, originally. She worked at Disney World in Orlando one summer when she was in art school, so I grew up hearing a lot of wild and crazy stories about what it was really like to work behind the scenes of the “most magical place on earth.” The divas; the drama; the late-night cast parties; the fraught romances, secret tunnels, and castle passageways. I remember, as a kid, being so obsessed with the idea of this whole other world going on literally right below guests’ noses—a world that was both exciting and aspirational, for sure, but also a lot darker than it seemed—and always thought a theme park of the future would be a really fun, and potentially very creepy place to set a story.  

6. Is The Kingdom a standalone, or do you plan to write more books in this world?

I mean, never say never! For now, the book is a standalone. But Ana’s world has plenty of possibility. You never know what might happen. ; )

About the Book:

Welcome to the Kingdom… where "Happily Ever After" isn’t just a promise, but a rule.

Glimmering like a jewel behind its gateway, The Kingdom™ is an immersive fantasy theme park where guests soar on virtual dragons, castles loom like giants, and bioengineered species―formerly extinct―roam free.

Ana is one of seven Fantasists, beautiful “princesses” engineered to make dreams come true. When she meets park employee Owen, Ana begins to experience emotions beyond her programming including, for the first time… love.

But the fairytale becomes a nightmare when Ana is accused of murdering Owen, igniting the trial of the century. Through courtroom testimony, interviews, and Ana’s memories of Owen, emerges a tale of love, lies, and cruelty―and what it truly means to be human.

About Jess:

JESS ROTHENBERG is a writer and freelance editor who grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. A former editor of books for young readers, including the #1 International Bestselling Vampire Academy series, Jess lives in New York City with her husband, son, and cat-who-thinks-he’s-a-dog, Charlie. Her debut novel for teens, The Catastrophic History of You & Me, has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

XOXO,

Isabella