Since I’m having a hard time staring at this cover without turning on Netflix right this second, let’s get right to business, shall we? Julie and the Phantoms: The Edge of Great is based on season one of the fantastic Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms. If you haven’t heard of or binged it, here’s the rundown: ever since Julie’s mother passed, she has lost her passion for and ability to play music, which is a huge dilemma considering she’s a student at a performing arts high school and they kind of need you to…you know….make music to keep your spot. Close to being kicked out, Julie finds a perfect band to play with last minute. The only caveat? All of her bandmates are ghosts who died twenty years ago. Luke, Reggie, and Alex were on their way to stardom back in the 90s, before a few particularly nasty hot dogs took them all out. Now united with Julie, the only person who can see them, they get a second chance at becoming the rock stars they were fated to be. Together, Julie and her ghosts embark on an epic journey full of their passion for music and their dreams that feel closer than ever.
The good news is that if you loved the show, you’re going to devour this book. With prose that flows and short chapters that fly by, you get the opportunity to feel productive while racing through this book and not like you’ve just been sitting in front of Netflix for a good five hours. You get to jump into the characters’ heads and spend a couple of hours with the three cutest ghosts in history (okay, plus Casper, but still) and read the lyrics of the songs that made you so excited about the show in the first place.
The bad news is that if you don’t know the show, you might end up being pretty confused while reading this. The narrator relies heavily on the assumption that people have watched the show when it comes to descriptions of places and characters. Such spaces like the music studio Julie’s mother spent most of her days in or the Orpheum that is one of the central spots for both Julie and the ghosts, for differing reasons, are barely described. There are also shifting POVs in the novel just like in the show when we follow different characters. Alex, for example, gets a nice little romance arc that warms my heart just thinking about it, but unlike in the show, it’s hard to distinguish here between the characters; there’s little to no personality beyond the little quirks that create much more fleshed-out characters in the show. It’s quite the feat to have six different POVs in any book and make their voices distinct, much less in a novel that is just a bit over 200 pages. There are perfunctory sentences about secondary characters, like Flynn is Julie’s best friend, Will the love interest for Alex, but I was hoping that the novelisation would seize the opportunity and delve deeper into the inner thoughts of everyone. For example, the moments when all seems lost or characters develop; especially Luke’s secret about his song Unsaid Emily could have been a highlight of the book but fell a bit flat without remembering the actor’s tearful expression during the episode.
Nevertheless, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy every second of reading this. I’ve watched the show three times so far and thus loved the idea of switching to the novel. For fans, it truly is the best of both worlds as you get to spend more time in Julie’s world and decide for yourself where the story will take you since, interestingly enough, the novel does not end on a cliffhanger like the Netflix season does, which will now leave me in another bout of begging Netflix for a second season.
True to the show, the novelisation of Julie and the Phantoms offers devoted fans the chance to relive the epicness that is this story of passion for music and friends that stick together through thick and thin.
Julie and the Phantoms: The Edge of Great is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of December 29th 2020.
Will you be picking up Julie and the Phantoms: The Edge of Great? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Learn how Julie and the Phantoms bring their rock-and-roll dreams to life in this novel based on season one of the new Netflix show from Descendants director Kenny Ortega!
After the passing of her mom, Julie has lost her passion for music and is on the verge of being kicked out of her performing arts high school. That is, until she makes the ultimate comeback with her new band, Julie and the Phantoms. There’s only one catch: all of her bandmates are ghosts.
Back in the 1990s, Luke, Reggie, and Alex were on the cusp of rock stardom with their band, Sunset Curve, before an unfortunate encounter with Los Angeles street food brought their rock band dreams-and lives-to an end. Now, with Julie as their lead singer, the guys have a second chance to make it big and to help Julie discover the real power of music.
This novel based on season one of the hit Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms is told in alternating points of view and includes a full-color photo insert and exclusive story content not seen on the show!
