A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: The Isle of the Lost (Descendants #1)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Format: Epub
Rating: 2.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: June 3, 2018 to June 5, 2018
Book Summary: 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.
Book Review: Color me slightly entertained.

Which really is a first of these ya books lately. Most of them have had the most annoying female leads to date but this one was a bit different.

This time we find that all the Disney villains of today and yesteryear have been placed upon an island and left there. Even those villains whom had died in their own stories have been brought back to life and placed upon this island encased in a dome. Magic is gone on both the island and the Kingdom. Now the Descendants want to return the magic back to the island and reclaim the glory of their parents had.

Malficent is currently in charge of the island. Unfortunately this does not sit very well with the Evil Queen. The Evil Queen has a party for her six-year-old daughter Evie but doesn't invite Malficent or her daughter, Mal. This causes Malficent to curse the Evil Queen and send both she and her daughter to live in isolation. Fast forward a few years, Malficent's daughter rules the school. And when Evie arrives, Mal turns her nasty attention to making Evie's life miserable. Then one day the island receives a brief bit of magic which awakens Malficent's beloved raven. This leads Malficent to believe that her Dragon's Eye is on the island and the Decendants set out to find it.

This was a rather interesting series. The idea of Disney villains having children is rather interesting. The only thing is exactly how? I know they could not be created through magic unless for some reason or another King Adam (sorry I refuse to call him King Beast seeing as Disney had already had a name for him) allowed them this brief moment.

Unfortunately for me, the storyline seemed to bore me. It seemed to drag along and the children of the villains seemed to be a bit one dimensional. It was like the author simply decided to take a villain, downsize them to pre-teen size, and slap them with teen angst and need to prove themselves to their parent. I sort of felt sorry for Mal, at times, because she was doing everything possible to prove to her own Mom that she could be just as evil as she was but the thing is when you are on an island filled with villains that have the same mentality as yourself, there is little you can do to prove yourself.

But this book is basically a prequel to the television series.

Will I continue this series? I just may because I would love to see exactly what happens with Mal through the series. I haven't seen the actual television series yet and that comes on Friday so I may just watch it.