Return to The Isle of the Lost

Synopsis:

There’s no place like home.

 Especially if HOME is the infamous Isle of the Lost.

      But when they receive a mysterious invitation to return to the Isle, Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay can’t help feeling comfortable in their old hood—and their old ways. Not everything is how they left it, though, and when they discover a dark mystery at the Isle’s core, they’ll have to combine all of their talents in order to save the kingdom.       
                                             

     Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay haven’t exactly turned their villainous noses up at the comforts of Auradon after spending their childhoods banished on the Isle. After all, meeting princes and starring on the Tourney team aren’t nearly as terrible as Mal and her friends once thought they would be. 

                                                               Rating: 3.5 Stars

       This story happens after the movie "Descendants".  It is a continuation from the prequel and from the movie as well. It happens after the movie, once they are already settled into the good city of Auradon. I loved the characters as much as I did, the first time around.  They were young but they are brave and you could tell there was goodness in their hearts, no matter how bad their parents were. That idea of nature/nurture is embedded into the storyline, and I appreciate how well it is done especially towards the end of the book. You can see some characters like Mal and Evie have good in their hearts, while others are too tainted by their parents to know any better. The friendships that were also done in the story, were very intricate and strong.  I loved the relationship between Evie and Mal, they sure did an 180 from the first novel to now.

      It was a good storyline and definitely kept me engaged the entire time. I will definitely be picking up the next in the series, it was a bit of a cliffhanger. The writing was pretty good, not the best poetic writing out there I will admit.

      I enjoyed that this story was more about the adventure and going back to the Isle of the Lost, and not so much about the romantic relationships between the villains and the heroes of Auradon. I like the idea of anti-heroes and what that represents. The part of the story that had me intrigued the most I think, would have to be the weaving through of the Catacombs. It was a little foreshadowing because you could see where it was going next. I didn't quite understand, why some found the artifacts and others didn't. Also I liked how Mal fit right in, in both worlds but how much she really has changed since she was last at the Isle of the Lost.  

     I enjoyed myself while reading this story, but nothing was that amazing and stood out for me. I will recommend it and I will definitely be picking up the next book. The cliffhanger at the end was enough to want to make me continue.