Return to the Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

Melissa de la Cruz has done it again! She has written another great novel for the Disney's Descendants book and film series! First she wrote The Isle of the Lost which was the prequel to the Disney's Descendants film. I read that novel and watched the film, both of which I wrote about in a previous post. If you haven't read the prequel or seen the film, I recommend that you read my post about both of them and then read/watch them. If you've already done that, and enjoyed both of them, then you'll be excited to know that now she has written Return to the Isle of the Lost, which comes right after the film!

The story in this novel starts after the events of the film. Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are still attending Auradon Prep, a school for the children of Auradon, otherwise known as the children of Disney heroes. Although Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are the children of Disney villains, they have decided to be good and continue learning to be good which was Prince Ben's intent when he invited them to attend the school. Ben is now the king of Auradon, having had the title handed down to him by his father, the Beast. He is also Mal's boyfriend. All of the children from the Isle of the Lost receive strange messages telling them to go back home to the Isle. They find these messages to be very strange and are unsure of who sent them. Was it their parents or someone else from the Isle of the Lost? How did someone even get these messages to them in the first place? Strange weather has also been happening in various parts of Auradon as well as reports of a strange creature in Camelot which requires the attention of King Ben. The story then follows the villain kids as they find out more about why they are needed back on the Isle on the Lost as well as Ben's investigation into the strange weather and creature.

I realize that the books and film are meant for a younger audience, but an older audience can enjoy them too! As I mentioned in my post about the prequel novel, there are references to popular culture but changed to fit into the world of the story in this novel too. The characters are also interesting since they possess personalities similar to their parents but are different in so many other ways and, in this novel, you can see just how much they have changed! The stories in the books and film are very structured, as is the Disney style. I especially noticed in this novel that it really follows a "fairy tale" way of telling the story. Each of the "villain" heroes has their own challenges that they must overcome and each one gets their turn in the spotlight. My only problem with this book was that I found that the ending seemed a bit too fast and the reveal seemed a bit too sudden. I had no idea who the culprit of the strange weather and creature could be and felt that there could have been more of a build-up or more clues to it before the big reveal. I also thought that the whole situation of the characters dealing with the culprit after the reveal could have been dragged out a bit longer as well (it only took up one chapter). I still enjoyed the story, however, and look forward to more!

Cheers,

Kay