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

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: May 24th 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age:9+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Fairytales, Adventure, Friendship, Mystery

BLURB:

There’s no place like home. Especially if home is the infamous Isle of the Lost. 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.

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 Ise’s core, they’ll have to combine all of their talents in order to save the kingdom.

Unlike the majority of readers, I did not find Return to the Isle of the Lost to be better than its predecessor.

But that’s most certainly because it’s so different.

Isle of the Lost had snarky characters and plenty of villainous yet silly and fun scenes, while this sequel to both the book and movie has a very, again, different type of atmosphere and thousands of corny – Disney-ish – moments.

Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos are now good. Seriously good. There is not an ounce of villainy in them anymore. They changed so, so much.

And that’s okay, because it’s what had to happen, but it did make this book less entertaining for me.

I also thought the characterization was poorly executed. Normally, I enjoy this type of fairytale-ish writing style suited for middle graders, but to me it felt like the author wanted to focus more on the action/adventure of the story than the characters themselves.

So it’s fast-paced and diverting as many, many things are happening and even the mystery is well done but, sadly, I felt disconnected from the characters and did not enjoy the writing and atmosphere as much as I did in the first book.

All in all, it’s a charming read for young kids, though I do think it will be exceptionally fun on the big screen, do the producers decide to use any of the content of this book for Descendants 2.

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