Kingdom Hearts is a light-hearted story about the magic of friendship and the rewards of courage. I have never played the games that the novel recaps, so I am unable to compare how well it follows the events of its source material. However, I had a surprisingly difficult time staying interested in the novel because the writing was so dry at times. Some chapters recapped fight scenes with too much detail, and neglected elaborating on the characters' emotional worlds. Still, I am glad that I finally understand more of the story, which once felt much more challenging to piece together.