amazing

so good

This book opens like any other: Once upon a time. But it's not your typical happily-ever-after. Queen Belle and King Beast of Auradon banished all the villains of the fairytale world to the Isle of the Lost, an island protected by a magical barrier that traps all the evil-doers inside, and takes their powers away in the process. All the villains are stuck there with their kids-- yep, that's right, the villains have kids! But this book is about 4 certain descendants: Mal, daughter of Maleficent; Jay, son of Jafar; Evie, daughter of Evil Queen; and Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil. Ever since Mal wasn't invited to Evie's birthday party when they were younger, she's been determined to get her back. This year, as her Evil Scheme project at school (yes, villains teach their kids how to be evil at school😜) cunning Mal is planning to really get her. And it's going down at her midnight party, with the help of her thieving partner, mischievous Jay. Meanwhile, beautiful Evie and intellegent Carlos try out Carlos's new invention: and it breaks a hole through the barrier! Even if it's only a small one, it allows them to grasp a bit of magic from the mainland. And as they discover later, this magic awakens Diablo, Maleficent's raven sidekick, and Maleficent's infamous scepter. And there's different reasons everybody wants to venture to find it: Mal's evil scheme to "dethrone" Evie never worked, and she's looking for a way to prove to her mother that she really is evil. Jay wants to get the scepter so it can be the "Big Score" his father has been raving about, the one that will make them rich. Evie just wants to make friends, and live on the mainland. Carlos wants to get away from his mother, who treats him like a maid, and continue his inventions. For these reasons (that they all keep to themselves), they band together and journey through the Isle of the Lost to find the scepter. Through the obstacles and challenges that face them on their way, they find that they need to use every one of their different strengths to help them continue on. Will they find the scepter? Who will make the move to take it for themselves? And are these villains really that bad?! As the back of the book states; Bad tree. Bad apple?? This book was so good! I love the idea of descendants of the classic villains! Melissa De la Cruz did a great job bringing this idea to life in her amazing writing. I actually watched the movie Descendants (BTW, it's a great movie if you want to check it out) BEFORE reading the prequel, but luckily that didn't really matter. All in all, I recommend this book for anybody! 5/5 stars!