Book Type: YA Novel
Author: Serena Valentino
Pages: 196
Summary(goodreads.com): The third novel in Serena Valentino's (Fairest of All, Beast Within) "VILLAINS" trilogy, featuring the story of the Little Mermaid from the perspective of the sea witch Ursula.
My Review:
When I first bought this book, I was so excited to learn about one of my favorite Disney villains! What made her evil? What's her backstory?
Sadly...none of my questions were answered.
The book opens up with Ursula having a violent rampage on a small seaside village. The torment these people went through is disturbing and way past a family-friendly rating! Valentino describes Ursula's use of Sirens as slaves, forcing them to sing until the villagers bleed from their ears. Some of them choke on their own blood! Yikes.
While we learn a bit about Ursula, such as her troubling childhood and how she was born a goddess, yet abandoned by her sea family, including Triton, this book just focuses on back story information about Ursula's plot from The Little Mermaid movie. You know, steal her voice, make her fall for Prince Eric....
There's also a ton of distracting side characters added in. Everyone from Belle and Beast to Maleficent and other random witches. This really detracted from the main point of the book; learning about Ursula. Valentino also sidetracks with another storyline that has nothing to do with the main plot. Everything that we learn about Ursula's background can be summed up in two pages. The rest was just filler.
Also, this is the finale of the Disney Villain's book series, yet the ending is so open!
I give this book (**) 2 stars.
-Sirenita The Selkie