This book was okay, it had its good and bad points – once again it would have been better if this book was a movie or part of an ongoing TV series. It was a light read and still entertaining. In my opinion, even though this book was good – just served as filler since “Rise of the Isle of the Lost” actually sets the stage nicely for Descendants 2 – to be discussed in the next post. Even though I consider the book to be filler, it was still good in the way that expanded on both character development and the world in which they live.
One of the major highlights is it
actually expanded upon the “Descendants world” as it took place
in both mainland Auradon and the Isle of the Lost. As well, it even
allowed the reader to explore the other states that make up the USA
(United States of Auradon) such as Camelot, Neverland, and
Charmington Cove (where Cinderella lives) along with providing a
deeper understanding of the make up of the Isle of the Lost.
I
believe that Del la Cruz did an excellent job with the development of
the villain kids (VK’s), making them feel genuine and well rounded.
The raw emotions of the VK’s are very well illustrated throughout the
book as it shows in the first few chapters that they actually like
being in Auradon better than the Isle thus strenghthening their
internal struggles such as conflicted feelings about their former
home along with their parents.
I also like the fact that it touched on another important issue – just because people live in the same place does not mean they are all the same. For example, the formation of the Anti – Heroes club on the Isle shows that not all of the residents want to be villainous all of the time or the fact that despite the fact that Prince Chad lives in Auradon and was raised in Auradon, he is still a jerk at times (Being a jerk once in a while doesn’t necessarily make you evil) but being a jerk doesn’t make you good either. Chad was a jerk when he planted Jay’s face into the ground. I must admit that the whole anti-heroes club was a good twist when the VK’s learned that some villains wanted to learn how to be good, it came as a surprise.
One thing I must say about this book as it actually shows the growth of Prince Ben to King Ben – you get to discover the beginning of Ben’s roots as a leader. He actually has to use his brain and consider issues such as should magic be used in Auradon to solve problems even though it has been banned except for special occasions. Even in the so called good world – this illustrates that one as a leader cannot look at things as black or white since there are many gray areas. One of the things I like about Descendants thus far is it does show the conflicts when examining issues.
Despite that being said – the journey for each VK’s unique talisman seemed to be filler although it taught us more about their histories. The most unique thing about the journey is that the reader finally got to see Carlos stand up to his mother – in person – sort of, or that Mal needed to realize that she needed to depend on her friends. This is obvious.
The book was good, but definitely not the best in the series. In my next post, I’ll examine “Rise of the Isle of the Lost” and how it is an excellent lead into Descendants 2.
3.5/5 
Are you serious? I thought this book deserved way better than 3.5. I would have given it a 4.5 for the Ben aside alone.
When I gave my rating I based it on the whole book – while it is true that the reader got to learn more about Prince Ben, which was important, I found that the book as a whole wasn’t as enjoyable as the rest of the books and movies as a whole.