Isle of the Lost, The-A Descendants Novel, Vol. 1: A Descendants Novel (The Descendants, Band 1)

This book starts out really sassy and had an amazing writing style! The Villains in the Isle are almost exactly as we remember from the movies. Mal is Maleficent's daughter, and as you can expect she wants to be just like her mother. Everything about her takes after her mother: her desire to do evil, to be the best at being evil. Even her choice of wardrobe and color palette are similar. But where her mother is evil, Mal is sassier, trying really hard to be like her mother. Then we are introduced to Jay, son of Jafar. He is a thief, and a great one at that! He blends in, is unapologetic and as sassy as Mal. He is the closest thing she has to a friend without either ever saying they're friends. But he is a tad afraid of her. Especially when the business of a certain "dead" princess comes up. Evie is going to start school with the rest of the people and Mal is furious at that until Jay suggests she throw a party of her own (even though she hates parties). Then she has a wicked idea boiling in her mind! And Evie is such a soft little thing! She's cute and sweet and everyone is just in love with her. They say yes to anything she asks, and she doesn't even need to do much! It's instant love with her. Carlos is just as soft and vulnerable victim of bullying from his peers and his mother. And Mal says there will be a party in his house, since his mother is away, later that day, and that Evie is not invited and Carlos can do nothing but acquiesce... I love these characters, I honestly do, they have their share of relatable, but Carlos may be the most relatable. Ben is not so self-assured as he seems in the movies. He is a King-to-be, afraid to disappoint his father in how to rule. But he also is a prince who doesn't understand the reality is the Isle of the Lost. In Auradon, a golden kingdom, filled with light and goodness (and honestly too much, even for me), everyone is happy and satisfied, at least most of the time. It's the polar opposite of the Isle and Ben doesn't even know that. After an inspirational class Mal decides to invite Evie to the party, only so she can humiliate her. And Carlos is a great party planner! Everyone came (with the threat of Mal, anyone would) and they were having a wicked time! It's quite amazing to read how very different the voices of each of the characters are. There's barely any overlap, it's beautiful! Mal fiercely dislikes parties but she still goes to the one she commanded Carlos to throw just so she can take revenge on Evie. There's a weird moment when a boy asks Mal to dance and doesn't seem to take no for an answer until she finally manages to send him on his way. Then Evie arrives and Mal throws her in a closet full of animal traps that almost take a chunk out of her. But she manages to escape and Carlos then helps her. There's a weird and sweet moment between the two of them as they care without expressing care, it's funny. When he shows her to his lab and turns on the box he's been working on, it blasts the ceiling away and makes a temporary hole in the dome. That is enough to give power to Maleficent's staff and to bring back to life her familiar. Poor Ben has a meeting with the sidekicks and what is hard at first (it being his first time flying solo and all the, very valid might I add, complaints they make) turns into chaos and they don't let Ben speak nor do they take things easy. They want their problems solved but instead of trying to find a suitable solution in as calm an environment as possible, they scream and shout their complaints. And then get super mad at Ben for shouting at them because they weren't paying any attention to him. Maleficent sounds a little unhinged when she talks about Diablo and the Dragon's Eye, her weapon, one she had thought destroyed. She demands Mal goes to retrieve it, even though she doesn’t quite believe her mother. She just wants to be good enough in her mother's eyes, make her proud, show her that she is not like her weakling father. The Villains lost so much, fell so far, that they are all a little crazy. By some miracle of fate when Mal goes to speak to Jay about the Eye his father is eavesdropping and is caught so he tells them some interesting things on the whereabouts of it. And as the two of then prepare to enter the school in search of a map, Evie is just close enough to hear their talk and intervene with what she knows: Carlos's machine might have been the one to bring magic back to the Isle, if only for just a second. And that's how the gang wound up together: Mal needs Jay's help; Jay wants to steal the Eye; Carlos won't let his machine go without him; and Evie goes at Carlos's behest. Audrey is even more annoying in the book than in the movie! So cute and perfect and perfectly shallow! Mal has always been apart from everyone. Either because of her mother, who isolated the two of them up in her castle, made them untouchable, unapproachable, important and fearsome; or by choice, by pushing people away and perpetuating her mother's choices. She's never had friends, none of them had actually, but Mal is different in that aspect. And when Jay, Carlos and Evie share a moment by talking about their evil sidekicks, their pets, she's angry because she never had one. They receive them at Evie's birthday party, the one that Mal wasn't envied to, and that reignites her anger and her plan to curse the princess. Resolving the sidekicks’ problems in Auradon is only half as hard as Ben thought it would be when things are discussed peacefully and thought about with patience. He will make a great king. Jay, Mal, Evie and Carlos have to work together to not only not fall on the "mud river" leading up to the bridge, but most importantly to pass the challenges posed by two gargoyles, that if they don't answer correctly will kill them. It's a bonding moment, even with the chaos and fear around them! The four of them are inside the fortress but they are all scared. As they wonder through it, they find themselves inside the Cave of Wonders, from Aladdin! And of course Jay starts to put everything he can in his pockets but then the cave speaks and it has a riddle for them. And while they think sand starts feeling the place up. Mal tries to help Evie and Carlos but she can't and they are all sinking in sand, running out of time, when Jay finally gets the answer right. Then they are back in the castle, no sand, no treasure, no Eye of the Dragon. When they are all turned to old people by the Magic Mirror and Evie is paralyzed by what she sees and can't remember the spell, Mal is the one to cheer her on and give her confidence. Their friendship blooms with each passing moment, with every crisis they overcome and it's wonderful to see what they are denying. And Mal proves that she's changed, that Evie became her friend and she doesn't want her cursed by stopping the girl from grabbing the Dragon's Eye and grabbing it herself. What she sees in her "sleep" is her mother cursing Aurora. And she feels pity and understanding for her, just before she wakes up. The parents of the four descendants all think they are disappointing, but they don't care. They are rotten to the core, so they just torment the Isle just like their parents do. They are not like their parents, they are better! And Ben knows that too, because they are all trapped in their lives, so he wants to change it as much as he can!

3.75* Für Descendants Fans eine nette Geschichte, um ein bisschen mehr über die Backstory von Mal, Evie, Carlos und Jay herauszufinden.