I’ll be the first to admit that I am a huge child and Disney-themed books will almost always intrigue me…especially ones that have been turned into movies.
I saw the first Descendants movie when it came out (in 2015, I think?) but was completely unaware that there were books that coexisted with the movies. Talk about a mind blow. I had to read them all.
So that brings us to now.
I have to say, the premise of the Descendants story is really intriguing, and I think overall it probably works better as a book than as a DCOM (though I think it might work even better as a big-budget film, but I don’t get to make those calls, unfortunately.) I think it would have worked even better if it could have been a YA book with a bit of that grit that could make it really something new, but again, this is Disney, and talking about blood is off the table, especially in books for kiddos.
(Yes, I’ve read the Kingdom Keepers books, and I will say those are definitely darker than Descendants, which seems odd given the premise.)
The first hundred or so pages lagged a bit and it took me a while to get into this book. I put it down several times before finally resolving to finishing it. I’m happy I did, as the book gets moving after that point and has an interesting story to tell, but again, I think it is trying too hard to make this “mean/evil” characters squeaky-clean Disney characters. They keep telling me that Mal is so mean and cruel and blah blah blah but in reality, the meanest thing she does in this book is lock a girl in a closet. Jay is super edgy for stealing worthless stuff every other page, and Carlos and Evie are honestly good kids…none are “evil” as the book keeps reminding me at least twice per chapter.
So…I think this book has a lot of potential, and I plan to read on in the series to see where it goes from here, but I think it could have worked way better as a YA book where we could have been shown these evil deeds and not just told these characters are evil.
But it is a kids book, and I’m an adult, so maybe I’m just a “rotten to the core” critic 😉
Amanda Roach 