The Isle of the Lost (Descendants, #1) By Melissa de la Cruz

REVIEW The Isle of the Lost (Descendants, #1)

In a magical universe that makes absolutely no sense…
The various kingdoms seen in Disney animated films are now a single entity, the United Kingdoms/States of Auradon (the book uses both). Many of these movies take place in the real world and some during specific eras, but never mind. Auradon also boasts modern technology and clothing.

The leader of Auradon is the Prince once known as the Beast (not to be confused with the Artist Formerly Known as Prince), who is referred to as “King Beast” by not only his subjects, but his wife and son.

The King banished all the villains and dangerous criminals to a penal colony, the Isle of the Lost. They include Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar, Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, Ursula, and Dr. Facillier…

Wait, you say, didn’t most of those characters die at the ends of their respective movies? Yes. But our “heroes” brought them back from the dead to incarcerate them. All this was twenty years ago.

On the Isle, where everything is grimy and foul, we meet Mal, Maleficent’s angst-ridden daughter who takes out her anger on her peers. She’s friends, in a self-serving way, with Jay, strapping son of the sorcerer Jafar and accomplished pickpocket. Their paths tangle with Carlos, Cruella de Vil’s geeky son, and Evie, the vain, sheltered daughter of the Queen who poisoned Snow White. Feeling threatened by bubbly Evie, and desperate for her mother’s approval, Mal goads her squad into helping her search for her mother’s missing Dragon’s Eye scepter. The thief who lays hands on this artifact will sleep for a thousand years…

Meanwhile, in the aggressively happy-go-lucky land of Auradon, Ben, the son of Belle and the King, is good-natured and handsome but not terribly bright. Ridiculous plot devices are converging to make the perfectly healthy King abdicate in favor of Ben, who fears that he won’t measure up. The lad has been having strange dreams, of a girl among the lost souls on the Isle, which give him an idea for a kingly gesture…

Content Advisory
Violence: Carlos and Jay are both severely neglected at home, and Maleficent verbally bullies Mal. Very little actual physical violence.

Sex: At a party, Mal lures Evie into a trap by telling her Jay is waiting to make out with her in a coat closet.

Language: Nada.

Substance Abuse: The book goes so far out of its way to avoid this that it becomes silly. Mal convinces Carlos to throw a party at his mom’s house while she’s away (where? They can’t leave the island, remember?). At this wild party, the kids imbibe root beer. Also, Cruella vapes these days rather than smoke.

Nightmare Fuel: The gargoyles at the bridge might frighten very young readers. Those who have a fear of tiny spaces or being buried alive might not do great with the scenes in Cruella’s secret passages or the treasure room.

Politics and Religion: As the kids scrounge for the answer to a riddle, Evie suggests the Golden Rule, which she dismisses as “Auradon greeting-card nonsense.” Jay distracts Dr. Facillier at a key moment with a stolen pack of tarot cards.

Overcrowded Crossovers and Accidental Allegories
As I said in a review of a different book, Disney might be the only corporation I know of that commissions and publishes their own fanfiction on such a grand scale. They now have three properties that are mega-crossovers featuring all their beloved animated characters:

- Kingdom Hearts, an anime-influenced video game. I know very little about it, but it seems well-loved online.

- Once Upon a Time, a gothic primetime soap. I really enjoyed the first half of Season 1 but after that, the cast grew far too big and the plotlines too convoluted for my taste. That said, plenty of people enjoyed it.

- Now there’s Descendants, an unholy combination of The Selection, Percy Jackson, High School Musical, and…The Great Divorce . One of these things is not like the others.

So how is Descendants similar to The Selection? They’re both silly stories with dystopian elements tacked on. Both feature a handsome prince who’s too pure for this world, who falls in love with a girl from the lower rungs of society who initially despises him and everything he stands for. I have no idea what Maxon saw in America, and I have no idea what Ben sees in Mal either. The romance is only hinted at here, but is the main plot of the first Descendants movie.

It’s like the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series in that everyone’s identity mostly comes from their parents. A big part of both franchises is the young heroes’ struggling to break free of their larger-than-life parents, but still—their parentage and the powers, virtues and vices that come with it are the main attribute of each character in both universes.

It’s like High School Musical since they’re both impossibly light-hearted, wholesome stories about high school, presented as Disney Channel musicals.

The Great Divorce is a C.S. Lewis novel about Heaven, Hell, and possibly Purgatory. A group of people from a miserable, hateful city are given a chance to stay in a beautiful kingdom for a while. They’ve done nothing to earn this; it was granted to them by the merciful Son of a great King. The travelers find that they’d rather stay than go back where they came from.

I doubt that any of the Disney execs who concocted this franchise have read The Great Divorce. (Sometimes it seems like Lewis has been haunting Disney since they dropped the ball on the Narnia series; a lot of his favorite themes have seeped into Mouse House IPs of late, especially the Star Wars sequels). The resemblance is all the more startling because it was clearly unintentional.

I’m pretty sure that the allegory is accidental because SO LITTLE THOUGHT WENT INTO THIS STORY. The glaring flaws are not the fault of Melissa de la Cruz, who makes the best of the material she was given. The blame lies squarely with the committee that dreamt this thing up. The world-building in this franchise is so sloppy, it makes the Star Wars universe look as airtight as Middle-earth by comparison...

Consistency? What’s That?
1). No explanation is even VENTURED for why all these characters, whose stories take place across several worlds and a millennium or two, now live in the same era and geographic location. You’d need some serious hocus pocus to pull it off, but at least try to give a reason.

2). And WHY is this kingdom of Auradon a modern place? Weren’t the timeless settings of Disney fairytale movies a big part of their appeal?

The franchise itself isn’t consistent on how much tech the characters have. In this book, Ben muses that there must be more to life than the shiniest new chariots (his parents originally lived in the 1700s and would have used carriages), yet Cruella has a run-down car that Carlos is often forced to repair. In the movie, the kids arrive at school in a spiffy black limo. And Mal uses a modern tablet for the visual aids while she narrates the opening.

3). The Beast is the LAST Disney Prince who should be dealing out punishments and refusing to consider others’ views. It’s like he’s learned nothing from his time as a monster, cursed precisely for his lack of compassion. If anything, he should be erring on the side of mercy. To quote King Edmund the Just, “Even a traitor may mend. I have known one who did.”

4). Not only did they get the poor guy’s character completely wrong, he is referred to throughout as “King Beast.” Would it have really hurt to give him a name? A lot of fans call him Adam, which doesn’t sound quite right for an 18th century French prince, but really suits him as an individual.
What would have been interesting is if the Islanders called him “King Beast” behind his back. As an insult.

5). Same thing with the Evil Queen (who is often unofficially named Grimhilde), the Fairy Godmother, the Genie…The characters actually refer to the Evil Queen as “Evil Queen” as if it’s her name. This would work in a full-blown satire like the Shrek movies, but the Descendants franchise seems like it’s striving for poignancy over comedy.

6). The kids’ names are mostly a mess too. Mostly, not all. Evie is actually a rather clever name for the daughter of someone who tempted a girl into eating the wrong apple. Maleficent is certainly arrogant enough to name her kid after herself; maybe Jay is short for Jafar Junior as well. And Ben is a name that I’m just fond of—a character named Ben is always a good guy, even if he starts out a bad guy and has to be dragged kicking and screaming back to the Light (looking at you, Ben Solo).

But the other original character names range from uninspired to cringey. For instance, Mulan and Li Shang named their daughter Lonnie. After five minutes of searching Beyond the Name, I came across Zhihao, a unisex Chinese name meaning “will, purpose, ambition” + “brave, heroic, chivalrous.” (I accept that I got this information off the internet and apologize if the translation is incorrect). Now doesn’t THAT sound more like Mulan’s style?

7). Some of the characters are way off-base. Jafar acts more like the Governor from Pocahontas than himself, and the Evil Queen seems to have turned into Mrs. Bennet.



8). Let’s not acknowledge the existence of Doug, son of Dopey. The idea that someone took advantage of that childlike, helpless character is frankly disturbing…

Who Exactly is Our Target Audience?
The Isle of the Lost also suffers for being a middle-grade book. Not that being YA these days would have saved it. It seems that YA books are getting racier and darker, MG books are getting more infantilized, and no author can bridge the gap unless their name is Rick Riordan.

Ideally, this series would have crossover appeal. It’s clean and has the middle-grade emphasis on friendship and cool clothes, but the characters are teens—half of whom are what Kenny Watson ( The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963) would call “official juvenile delinquents” —and their familial and romantic relationships could be super angsty. Indeed, the Descendants movies seem to have a large teen-and-young-adult fandom even with their shallow emotional beats and garish aesthetic.

I just think that the series, both the books and the movies, could be better if allowed to explore some of the unpleasant or edgy parts of the story.

A big one is how some of the villains were raised from the dead to be imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. Who among the Disney good guys has the power to do this, and why would any of the good guys consider it justified? Reviving your enemies just to punish them is a villain move. Punish the living criminals by all means, but let the dead rest.

Some small ones are the party Carlos throws at Mal’s behest, a wild party among delinquent teens where they dare to break out the…root beer. Or the scene where Mal acts disgusted by Cruella’s smoking habit and the puppy-pelt enthusiast reassures her that it’s only an e-cig. (Which might have its own health risks, but that’s outside the scope of this review).

Am I arguing that children’s books should feature more substance abuse? Of course not! But bending over backwards to avoid it, in a context where it’s clearly happening, just insults the reader’s intelligence. How would Cruella even get e-cigs? All the gadgets on the Isle are supposed to be hopelessly outdated.

The root beer thing isn’t unique to this book; there’s a joke about the notoriously rowdy centaurs breaking into some in The Last Olympian and it jarred me right out of that book too. The only time I’ve ever seen it work is in Diary of a Wimpy Kid II: Rodrick Rules, a scene that mostly succeeds thanks to great acting from Steve Zahn and Devon Bostick.





Other than that, either make a joke out of the trope itself, like the “age-appropriate beverages” gag from Over the Garden Wall, or have Carlos secretly switch real beer for non-alcoholic beer like in Freaks and Geeks.

Or, hear me out, let the kids drink real beer. Because they’re rotten and proud of it, and the whole point of the series is that they learn to be kinder, more responsible people.

This also applies to their ostensible quest: Mal wants to effectively kill Evie by putting her to sleep for a thousand years. I don’t remember this even being discussed by anyone except Mal. Isn’t that a major part of their arc as friends? Of course she thinks better of it once they get there, but that doesn’t absolve her of her murderous intent.

Seriously, the only actual villainy committed by these kids is petty theft, white lies, and easily-remedied acts of vandalism. That’s about as much of a redemption arc as the Hagenheim books, where characters are desperate for absolution because they talk too much or they stole something under duress when they were five.

Please. Give me Zuko or Edmund Pevensie—someone who actually messed up and needs forgiveness—over this cast of mildly rebellious hooligans.





Conclusions
I don’t think any of the myriad flaws in this book are the fault of the author. Melissa de la Cruz was probably given a very short, harried timeframe to write this, and I doubt any of the main characters, settings, or MacGuffins are hers.

If anything, this book proves that her prose is pretty good, because it flows so nicely that the ridiculously convoluted plot and backstory seem simple.

The characters of the kids are all consistent and exactly what they set out to be. Mal is conniving and arrogant, Jay thinks he’s hot stuff, Evie and Carlos are actually sweet, and Ben is a cinnamon roll. The scene where Carlos and Evie leave the party to watch mainland programming on an ancient rabbit-eared TV is genuinely poignant.

This book won’t hurt or scare anyone, but it might have been better if it dared to, just a little. As is, it’s a valiant attempt to make a confusing, half-baked franchise palatable, and it does a decent job. Kindle Edition

At times reminding me of both Halloweentown and the potions classes in Harry Potter, The Isle of the Lost serves up some classic Disney Channel Monstober feels. Unfortunately, with the way that their original programming has been lately I doubt the actual movie will be as good as this prequel novel.



Can I just take a second to complain about continuity? Disney has its original classic animated fairytale movies, Once Upon a Time, and the new revised live action films such as Maleficent, so what is canon anymore? Further: how does it relate to this book and accompanying movie? It’s hard to know which versions of the heroes and villains to picture when Disney’s multiverse is so out of whack lately.



While I appreciated that most of the villains’ children basically shared the name of their parents, it was very simplistic and felt a little too childish. I liked seeing Dr. Facilier and Ursula, though I doubt they will be in the movie.



Readers will be left with the following questions:
-Who is Mal’s father? (Also, who are the other parents to most of the other kids??)
-Are Mal and Ben going to be an item?
-Wait, is Carlos like Mulan on OUAT?
-Why do all the costumes look terrible?!
-Seriously, you put Kathy Najimy in this and not Hocus Pocus 2? Get your priorities together, Disney.



Kindle Edition 3.5 Stars :) We Evils Live…

Let’s meet the son and the daughters of our beloved villains.. Do you excited for these wicked lovely?



Tell you lovely, this book is the prequel of Disney TV show ‘The Descendants’ The story is nothing like the show, guys. So reading this will introduce you how the story begin. The characters and so on.



Mal, our heroine and Maleficent's daughter. This girl is wicked ( the Most wicked of them all ) I just love her!! She just loves to ruin other people! Haha and a person who is ruined by her is Evie, Evil Queen's daughter who I think is a nice pretty girl.

Help Mal doing thing at her side is Jay, the son of Jafar. The thief boy!! Mal’s frenemies and just awesome! And lastly, Carlos, Cruella de Vil's son who is so intelligent ( because he can invent things )



Once upon a time.. at The Isle of the Lost where all the evil villains were exiled from the Kingdom of Auradon ( the mainland ) They live under the imprisonment without magic to use. That’s why the story begins.. Maleficent want her daughter to retrieve the Dragon's Eye so her magic can return. Well.. Mal want her mom to be proud so she does the journey ( with the help of her 3 friends ) to find the Dragon's Eye and give it to her vicious mother.


WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT?



How Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos become friends. Their relationship grow from enemies ( at least to Mal ) to best friends. It even has the school that teaches about the evil things. How to be bad! LOL! I just so much laugh at all the freakin’ courses this school has! How can I attend one? I think I might get straights As from this academy. lol!

Their Adventure for their Quest to find the Dragon's Eye



How Ben and Mal first met. Who is this Ben? Aww.. he is the son of King Beast and Queen Bell. The Crown Prince of Auradon. I love him!! But there are very few pages times for him in this one. ): Whatever, read this and you will understand Ben and Mal romance in the show.

LASTLY, THAY DON’T GO TO AURADON, YET GUYS!!!

Overall, this is a nice read about friendship ( Don’t expect about romance ). Though I prefer the show so much more, but I just love the concept of this story and lovely evils. :) Kindle Edition

Once upon a time, during a time after all the happily-ever-afters after that, all the evil villains of the world were banished from the United Kingdom of Auradon and imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost.

The Isle of the Lost is the story of the descendants of the villains in some of the best-known fairy tales. It follows Mal (Maleficent's daughter), Jay (Jafar's son), Evie (the Evil Queen's daughter) and Carlos (Cruella de Vil's son). They live with their parents on the Isle of the Lost where they eat Auradon's leftovers, dress in rags and pretty much use whatever the kingdom rejects or has no use for anymore.
Mal holds a 10 years old grudge against Evie for not being invited at her 6 years old party. And since Maleficent in the ruler of the island, she had the Evil Queen and her daughter banished. When Evie finally gathers the courage to go to school, Mal is determined to have her revenge. And she hopes to accomplish that by cursing Evie to a thousand years old sleep with her mother's staff, the Dragon's Eye. Only problem is, Mal has to find it first. In order to do that, she enlists the help of Evie, Jay and Carlos. And so their adventures begin.

Growing up with Disney movies, I loved this book. I got to see many familiar faces, such as Lady Tremaine, her cat Lucifer, the Beast (now King Beast), Snow's dwarfs and many more. I must say, Dr. Facilier as a headmaster was most intriguing.



Needless to say, he was bribed at some point with tarot cards.

I think this is a very good book for kids nowadays. I can see how the writing style is just right so as to attract young readers and maybe open their appetite towards reading. My son was talking about The Descendants movie a few months ago and I didn't know what it was about. Today I told him I was reading the book and he was impressed. Now I'm going to see the movie to know what happens next (the book is the prequel to the film).

That said, I highly recommend this book! Kindle Edition This isn't the most riveting of stories, but it has charm. I love how it is focused on the classic villains and their children, but it still has that Disney feel to it. Even though these main characters are supposed to be evil the story ends on a heartwarming note and there are relatable themes with a moral to the story. It's overall very cute and fun to see all the Disney characters in one book. Kindle Edition

Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that's been left to rot and forgotten by the world.

But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon's eye: the key to true darkness and the villains' only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it...who will it be?

Maleficent, Mistress of the Dark: As the self-proclaimed ruler of the isle, Maleficent has no tolerance for anything less than pure evil. She has little time for her subjects, who have still not mastered life without magic. Her only concern is getting off the Isle of the Lost.

Mal: At sixteen, Maleficent's daughter is the most talented student at Dragon Hall, best known for her evil schemes. And when she hears about the dragon's eye, Mal thinks this could be her chance to prove herself as the cruelest of them all.

Evie: Having been castle-schooled for years, Evil Queen's daughter, Evie, doesn't know the ins and outs of Dragon Hall. But she's a quick study, especially after she falls for one too many of Mal's little tricks.

Jay: As the son of Jafar, Jay is a boy of many talents: stealing and lying to name a few. Jay and Mal have been frenemies forever and he's not about to miss out on the hunt for the dragon's eye.

Carlos: Cruella de Vil's son may not be bravest, but he's certainly clever. Carlos's inventions may be the missing piece in locating the dragon's eye and ending the banishment for good.

Mal soon learns from her mother that the dragon's eye is cursed and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She'll just need a little help from her friends. In their quest for the dragon's eye, these kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain't so bad. The Isle of the Lost (Descendants, #1)

Does what it sets out to do, and does it with great fun.

I normally wouldn't have picked up a tie-in book for a TV movie, but I love just about anything Disney, and my kids and I are looking forward to the Disney Channel Descendants movie this summer. Also what caught my eye is that this is a prequel, and it's written by Melissa de la Cruz, a legit bestselling author. And it has to be said that the book is gorgeously designed with one of those suede-feel covers and a thorn design on the chapter headings . . . I am such a book junkie I just want to pet it.

So at first, I will admit, I did a bit of eye-rolling. There's been quite a few books out there lately about schools for fairy tale characters or their kids, and I haven't exactly enjoyed them all. And yes, yes, we get it, the villain kids like wearing black and are misunderstood, and the princesses all wear pink and eat nothing but cake. But where this stands out from the others is that the characters are three-dimensional. This is both a combo of Cruz's good writing, and the fact that she doesn't have to invent whole new personalities for characters like Maleficent, she can just use the Disney characters we all know and love, and then riff on them. The descendants soon begin to stand out beyond being Maleficent's daughter or Jafar's son, though, which I loved. There's not a lot of plot, but there is a fun insight into these characters and their situation, and it's a great set up for the TV movie, which I'm now even more jazzed about. Also, I can see there being more books and movies (this book is listed as being Descendants #1), which I'm sure I will also enjoy. Kindle Edition Review also posted at Young Adult Hollywood. Win The Isle of the Lost + Disney DVDs prize pack here.

“Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”

The Isle of The Lost follows the story of villains who are cast aside on a magical dome where they are locked away from the kingdom of Auradon.

We have Maleficent, their elected ruler of the isle and Mal her most evil daughter, The Evil Queen and her daughter Evie, Jay the son of Jafar, who is great at pick pocketing, Carlos, the nerd and inventor of many things who also happens to be the son of Cruella de Vil.

My all time favorite author Melissa de la Cruz is back with her Disney prequel novel for Descendants titled “The Isle of the Lost.” And she did not disappoint.

The writing and premise of this book will surely enchant young adult readers. The story is snarky filled with evil banter and schemes. Perfect for Disney fans. We will definitely be tuning in for the movie companion! Kindle Edition 4 stars! This was adorable!

Once upon a time, during a time after all the happily-ever-afters, and perhaps even after the ever-afters after that, all the evil villains of the world were banished from the United Kingdom of Auradon and imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. There, underneath a protective dome that kept all manner of enchantment out of their clutches, the terrible, the treacherous, the truly awful, and the severly sinister were cursed to live without the power of magic.

It's been 20 years since King Beast declared all the villains exiled forever. There is no magic under the dome that surrounds the Isle of the Lost, forcing the villains to have only their memories of evil deeds done in the past. It's not just the villains on the Isle though, it's their children there as well.

Mal, daughter of Maleficent. One of the most talented students at Dragon Hall, feared by mostly everyone in the school. Wearer of all things purple, including her hair. If only she could manage to impress her mother.
Jay, son of Jafar. Steals anything from anyone, all proceeds going to Jafar's Junk Shop, but he and his father are always on the lookout for 'The Big Score'...the one fat treasure that will somehow free them from the Isle.
Evie, daughter of Evil Queen ( from Snow White ). She's been castle-schooled for the past 10 years, because of a grudge between her mother and Maleficent, who is the self-proclaimed ruler of the Isle. She's now joining the rest of the villain's children at Dragon Hall, but will Mal inherit her mother's grudge against Evie and her mother?
Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil. He's not necessarily the bravest, but he's among the most clever. His invention may be the key to ending the villain's banishment once and for all.

The residents of the Isle live in isolation, surviving on food, clothing and furniture thrown out by the residents of Auradon and shipped second hand to them. The original villains eke out a living and get lost in their memories and regrets while their children attend school at Dragon Hall, learning about their parents mistakes and how to avoid them, perfecting their own evil schemes.

Meanwhile, over in the USA ( The United States of Auradon ) you see all the classic Disney princes, princesses and their sidekicks.They are all united under the rule of King Beast and Queen Belle ( Beauty and the Beast was always my favorite Disney classic so that was pretty exciting for me ).

Twenty years ago, King Beast united all the fairy tale lands into one under his crown; and for the past two decades he has ruled over its good citizens with strong and fair judgment, and only occasionally a tiny bit of his beastly temper.

Their son is Prince Ben...as handsome as his father but with his mother's gentle eyes, keen intellect and love of reading. Once he turns 16, he will be coronated as King so that Belle and the Beast might retire and enjoy vacation cruises, golf and bingo. As on the Isle of the Lost, there was no longer magic in Auradon either. King Beast and Queen Belle stressed scholarship over enchantment. Prince Ben is just starting to be introduced to some of the duties he'll be undertaking as King, but finds himself distracted by a mysterious girl who appeared in his dreams...a girl with lilac locks and mischevious green eyes...sound familiar? He also feels trapped in the life he leads and wants to do more, to really make a change and rule differently than his father.

When an invention by Carlos creates a hole in the dome, a bit of magic seems to creep in to the Isle, awakening some things that were never meant to be awoken. One of them being Maleficent's Dragon Eye sceptor and her crow familiar, Diablo. Once Diablo reports to Maleficent that the Dragon Eye has been awoken, Maleficent sends Mal on a quest to retrieve the sceptor and bring it back to her. Jay, Evie and Carlos end up joining her on the adventure, for their own reasons. But can it be that in their search for the ultimate evil weapon, they'll discover that just because they come from evil, doesn't mean they can't be a little bit good?

I really liked reading about all the Disney characters I grew up loving and all the villains that I loved to hate. Still haven't seen the Disney movie The Descendants yet, but I'm going to read the junior novelization of it next ( also my daughters book lol ). Kindle Edition When I first heard about this book, I knew I just had to read it. I was already planning on watching the Descendants movie on Disney Channel, so I knew I had to read the prequel.

I liked this book a lot. I loved all the Disney references, particularly how Gaston's twin boys were named Gaston Jr. and Gaston the Third. This was basically a well written Disney fan fiction. I was afraid it would be too juvenile, but it wasn't. If you like the show, Once Upon A Time, you'll definitely like this book. Overall, this is a great book for anyone who loves Disney. Kindle Edition “Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

----Desmond Tutu


Melissa de la Cruz,a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, pens her new YA book, The Isle of the Lost which is the first book in the Descendants series. This series opener tells the story of all those villains whom we all encountered in all the Disney Princess books and movies, from Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty to the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Jafar from Aladdin to Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians, when they were banished from the kingdom to a lonely island devoid of any magic or charms. This is the villains' story whom we all loved to hate them, but now we get to love them for real!


Synopsis:

Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that's been left to rot and forgotten by the world.

But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon's eye: the key to true darkness and the villains' only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it...who will it be?

Maleficent, Mistress of the Dark: As the self-proclaimed ruler of the isle, Maleficent has no tolerance for anything less than pure evil. She has little time for her subjects, who have still not mastered life without magic. Her only concern is getting off the Isle of the Lost.

Mal: At sixteen, Maleficent's daughter is the most talented student at Dragon Hall, best known for her evil schemes. And when she hears about the dragon's eye, Mal thinks this could be her chance to prove herself as the cruelest of them all.

Evie: Having been castle-schooled for years, Evil Queen's daughter, Evie, doesn't know the ins and outs of Dragon Hall. But she's a quick study, especially after she falls for one too many of Mal's little tricks.

Jay: As the son of Jafar, Jay is a boy of many talents: stealing and lying to name a few. Jay and Mal have been frenemies forever and he's not about to miss out on the hunt for the dragon's eye.

Carlos: Cruella de Vil's son may not be bravest, but he's certainly clever. Carlos's inventions may be the missing piece in locating the dragon's eye and ending the banishment for good.

Mal soon learns from her mother that the dragon's eye is cursed and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She'll just need a little help from her friends. In their quest for the dragon's eye, these kids begin to realize that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain't so bad.


Once again the Disney TV movie, Descendants compelled me to buy this book from Amazon, which was not a best buy, but definitely a worthy one. Who doesn't love Disney fairy tales with all those glittering happy-ever-afters but have you ever wondered what happened to all those evil characters who tried to ruin the lives of those fragile princess'? Here is the book which tells you otherwise that things which are good doesn't necessarily have to be perfect and good and things which are veil doesn't necessarily have to be bad and evil.

After all those fairy tales ending with happily ever afters even years later that, the United Kingdom of Auradon which is ruled by the Kind Beast and his queen Belle (The Beauty and the Beast) who's sixteen year old son, Prince Ben is soon going to be the next king, banished all those evil queens and characters to an isolated island, The Isle of Lost protected by a magnetic force field to stop any kind of enchantments or magic spells in that island. The only magic still exists in Maleficent's Dragon's Eye, that can save all those wretched people living a dreadful as well as dirty and hopeless life in that lost island. So who will it be to bring home that only piece of remaining magic from the kingdom to protect their identity and worth in the world?

Maleficent, Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella de Vil all have a child who studies in the Dragon Hall high school shared by the prince himself. So this is their only chance to get their hands on that piece of magic to save themselves from this hellhole. Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay are all suffering from identity crisis, which sixteen year old doesn't. The responsibility naturally comes on Maleficent's talented daughter Mal to whisk away that Dragon's Eye from the kingdom, and the pressure to prove her worth to her own evil mother is really high, can Mal do it with the help of her friends? Or does she wants to be a good person like Prince Ben and his family?

The writing style is really good with a strong and articulate narrative style that has lots of layers of mystery and hidden agendas, thus making the plot mystifying as well as engrossing one for the readers. The prose is elegant and eloquent with a fast pace. The plot is even masked with lots of actions that keeps the readers on their edges till the very last page.

The characters are nice, crafted strongly with lots of evil in their hearts along with a hint of little bit of goodness hidden behind piles of darkness, thus making them pretty much likeable. Mal is an ideal YA heroine who is brave as well as confused like anything with everything she wants to do. And same goes for the other kids too. All the characters are distinct and each of their evil quality makes them stand out in the rest. I loved the whole gang, and there's the kingdom, where people are not very humane enough to let you go with anything. The kingdom is home to so many secretive agendas to make sure the villains rot in their own personal hell.

The climax is a huge letdown as the book is opening the doors to the possibility of yet another Disney movie and with such an ending, I'm not too excited for it's sequel, moreover, nothing much happens in the book, only a bit of action, teenagers trying to find out their identity, a very brief romance, that's all!

Verdict: If you are a huge fan of fanfiction and fairy tales retellings then do grab a copy of this book for sure. Kindle Edition