The Isle of the Lost

by Melissa de la Cruz
published: Disney Hyperion, 2015
pages: 311

Mal's been living on the same magic-less island her entire life.  Her mother along with all the other villains were exiled there 20 years ago.  All Mal wants to do is make her mother proud but it's hard when her mother is Maleficent, the evilest villain on the island.  She wants to be just like her mother, or so she's trying to make herself believe.  Mal decides to join forces with some other villain kids to go after her mother's staff.  Will this be the villainous act that will finally get her mother's attention?

I enjoy reading this book.  I liked the characters, specifically Mal and Carlos.  Carlos was instantly one of my favorites because he seemed like the underdog of the group, the oddball if you will.  He has a specific set of technological talents that most people look to as a waste of time.  He doesn't have a lot of confidence or any friends really, but he is possibly the most resourceful one of the group.  I love that he gets a chance to shine.

Mal struggles with wanting to make her mother proud and knowing that she doesn't necessarily want to do and be just like her mother.  She knows that what she should want to be.  The battle of good and evil is most evident within herself.  The inner struggle leads to some good character development which is always welcome.

I sort of felt like the adventure they went on didn't take up enough of the book.  It went by quickly and the climax of the story was a bit anti-climatic.  I wasn't satisfied at all and maybe that was because the book is meant to be a direct prequel to the movie.  I was a little cautious about that when I found out about the book.  The book just felt like a giant preamble to the real action that was supposed to happen in the form of a movie.  The ending emphasized that point for me.  It ends in the middle of things, which I've never been a huge fan of anyway.

The thing I liked most about this book was the characters.  I liked learning about the sons and daughters of the villains of all my favorite childhood stories.  I thought that was really cool.  This may not have been my favorite book, but Melissa de la Cruz definitely made me reminiscent of my childhood.

Stars: 3/5

Praise:

"Disney lovers and fairy-tale alike will need to get their hands on this book."
     --School Library Journal