Return to the Isle of the Lost

Descendants #2

by Melissa de la Cruz

Mal es experta intimidando a sus enemigos, pero ha perdido costumbre desde que dejó atrás su raíces villanas. Así que cuando a ella y a sus amigos Evie, Carlos y Jall les advierten que regresen a casa, Mal no puede creerlo. Claro, ahora ella es la novia del Rey Ben y suele ser amable con sus compañeros de clase, pero eso no significa que exista alguien lo suficientemente tonto como para darle órdenes.

El asunto es que obedecen. Sobre todo porque ella y sus amigos sospechan que son sus villanos padres los que mandaron el mensaje. Y cuando Evie se ve en su espejo mágico, solo confirma sus temores. Después de su discusión con Mal en la Coronación de Ben, Maléfica se ha convertido en una lagartija; pero no por nada es la villana más mala del reino. ¿Será posible que haya podido escapar? Pase lo que pase, Mal, Evie, Carlos y Jay saben que tienen que regresar a la Isla sin ser vistos y resolver el asunto.

Sin su líder infame, la isla está aún peor que cuando se fueron, pero la comodidad del hogar, incluso uno tan sombrío como la Isla de los Perdidos, no es fácil de resistir para estos villanos recientemente reformados.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Retellings, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Magic

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 2016

About the author

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter.

Reviews

[Pang Happy Holidays & Happy New Year =D · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Anti-heroes can be crude and ugly and selfish, but they are heroes nonetheless. As flawed as an anti-hero is, they're still trying to do the right thing. You are all anti-hero, and I'm proud of you."



We Evils Anti-Heroes Lives and I love you!

Much better than the first one. Wow so many new interesting characters which I couldn't wait to see if they going to appear in the movie. That's Ginie Jordan! and Camelot! *ahem* Merlin and Antie *ahem* More roles of King Ben ( Our Ben ) Yeah He is not the prince anymore, and that's mean Mal is the queen? Not yet, I think. But who care? she is the King's sweetheart. xD

Friendship is magnificent in this one. and I love them all! Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos. How they help each other and gone through adventure Quest? together. The friendship is just powerful. They have to return to Isle of the Lost for a reason Mysterious reason.. You should find out by your self. ;)

The Last Words I still insist.. MORE ROMANCE PLEASE!!!!!

[Nanci **Warning**IWasASailor⚓️MyMouthisDirty]

I'm not going to rate this book or really review it. I put it on here because my daughter wanted to see what I did on GR and she wanted to read this book together. That said, this is cute. I can't wait for the movie to come out but to rate this would be ridiculous. My daughter loved it so for her she wants a 5 star. Me, I thought it was cute but to mark down to a 3 wouldn't seem fair seeing as I'm not 9. And that is the audience that is currently reading this, so they should rate the book. Do I recommend it for your kids, nieces/nephews, cousins or whoever else in the 3rd 4th grade? Absolutely.

Do I think I should be reading this book on my own. No, I'm sorry but it's clearly for elementary school kids. Were there some errors? Yes, of course but honestly a lot of books have errors. Yes, some names were misspelled but my daughter wasn't freaking so I didn't either. She laughed, she oohed and she did her I told you that would happen speech. The thing I loved most was enjoying this with her. I loved her big cheesy smile and her giggles over a character. I even enjoyed her getting mad over some of the characters she doesn't like. For that experience alone it's well above a 5 star book.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Between the end of The Isle of the Lost and the start of this book, the first Descendants movie took place, in which our four ruffian main characters got sent to school on the Auradon mainland. They learned (in an aimless, Disney Channel way) to reject the evil of their parents, and prevented Maleficent from taking over the kingdom. Now they're all accepted by most of their peers at school, and doing quite well.

But there are still rumors of bad things to come. There have been tremors and earthquakes, and even sightings of a purplish dragon snagging sheep and burning things up near Camelot (which exists in this universe thanks to The Sword in the Stone). Everyone suspects Maleficent, but that can't be--she's stuck in tiny lizard form in a cell in the Auradon Prep library (hardly a secure prison for such a being, but never mind).

As Ben goes cross-kingdom to investigate, Mal and her friends head back to the Isle, lured by ominous messages from someone who goes only by the initial M...

Content Advisory
Violence: A girl who can't swim gets thrown off a peir and is saved just in time. A dragon burns buildings and carries off a few sheep. Some instances of magical combat with no one really getting hurt. A madwoman dares her son to kill her, but he doesn't and she turns out to be an apparition anyway.

Sex: Nothing, really. It's mentioned that Ben takes Mal on some of his cross-country tours, but they appear to be chaperoned.

Language: Nothing.

Substance Abuse: Nothing.

Nightmare Fuel: A boy is briefly menaced by a cobra.

Politics and Religion: Nothing clearly applicable, although there are some definite Biblical allusions in one chapter, that's ostensibly based on Aladdin but has more in common with The Prince of Egypt.

So, About the Movie...
Melissa de la Cruz' Descendants novels are not a complete series in and of themselves. The Isle of the Lost is a prequel to the Disney Channel movie Descendants, this book and Rise of the Isle take place between the first and second movies, and Escape from the Isle of the Lost takes place between the second movie and the third, final film. So I'll have to critique the movie a bit to explain some of my frustrations with this book.

You might expect that Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay would be bullied, shunned, or at least avoided and misunderstood by most of their peers at first. That they would have to prove to their schoolmates that they're good people. And you would be expecting way too much character development out of this franchise. Nope, the only people who gave them any trouble at school were two narcissistic royals named Audrey and Chad. Everyone else was warm and welcoming from the start, which speaks well of their characters, but doesn't exactly make for an interesting story.

Mal actually learned a good lesson, in what managed to be a cute story arc despite its sloppy writing. The lesson was, it's easier and more fulfilling to be good than to be evil. Love and friendship and kindness are worth more than power, vengeance and pride.

She learned this mostly through being courted by Ben, the young king, who believed in her innate goodness long before she did. Mal did a number of unethical things to Ben--including driving off his previous girlfriend, feeding him magic food with a love potion in it, and using him in hopes of stealing a magical artifact. Any other guy would have scorned her, but Ben showed unearned mercy, and Mal eventually became the person he believed she was.

Alas, there was no such luck for Mal's three pals. Evie learned that the nerdy boy was nicer than the blond prince, which might be interesting to someone who has literally never seen a movie before - it doesn't help that both Chad and Doug are completely lacking in charm. (They should have given Evie a non-romantic plotline in the first movie and paired her with Harry in the second). Jay's big character epiphany is that "sports are fun", and Carlos does nothing for the whole movie except get over his fear of dogs.

Now on to the actual book...

Conclusions
Return to the Isle of the Lost reads like the publishers gave de la Cruz a month to write the whole thing, and barely polished the first draft before sending it to press. The first book was kind of messy too, but it at least had a few effective character moments and a vague plot.

The villain should have been Maddy, who was actually cruel and somewhat threatening. Madame Mim is a joke even in The Sword and the Stone and doubly so here. Everyone thought Maleficent was the dragon but it's this fool? That's disappointing even by this franchise's standards.

We also find some of the laziest names for background characters in this volume, including Pin, Herkie, Hadie (who is either Mal's full brother or half-brother, but this is never even hinted at), Artie (who should steer well clear of his half-brother Mordred if he values his life), Ally, and Tiger Peony. This is not the author's fault, as I doubt that any of the character names are hers. But it's pretty embarassing for whoever did come up with it.

The complete lack of peril in this magical world is annoying. The four main characters each experience a vision in caves where they are reminded of their parents' vices and tempted to embrace those vices, much like Luke Skywalker in the cave in Yoda's swamp. This is the first real struggle we've seen any of them have, and it's too bad that this theme hasn't even been used in the series till now. I especially liked Jay's vision, which owes some of its visuals to the Book of Exodus and might therefore have been a nod to the greatest non-Disney animated film of the 90s, The Prince of Egypt. But unfortunately, the hallucination scenes and the part where Mal gets flung off the pier are the only points where they even appear to be in danger. Do publishers think middle-school kids are too sensitive to handle an action sequence?

The book also seemed uncomfortable showing Ben and Mal's relationship, even though the first book set it up so nicely. They really didn't think much about each other at all while they were separated. We get plenty of romantic angst in other books of this sort, but ignoring it entirely is overcorrecting and also annoying.

Finally, there's a kind of neat character who's clearly meant to be Walt Disney himself in disguise, and he has a cool little talk with the characters that introduces the concept of antiheroes and nearly breaks the fourth wall. So that's cool.

[Kayla Silverss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Return to the Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz follows after the movie happens. Mal and the other descendants are getting settled in at aurodon but evil is calling them back.

CHARACTERS-
I love all these characters and I just need them in my life.
I love all their personalities and I love their sense of fashion as well.

ROMANCE-
So,, I don't ship Mal and Ben. I've tried but it's just not my thing. Opposites attract but not this far, Mal is made from pure evil and Ben is 100% good so this relationship is doomed.

PLOT-
Plot is still interesting and intriguing.

Ending-
Left off great! Can't wait til next one.

Characters-8/10
Romance-4/10
Plot-10/10
Ending-8/10

[Alex ☣ Deranged KittyCat ☣]

[June 2016 edit] Yes! I got it!



***********************************************

[Jazmin Castro]

It seems to be an interesting way to continue the story. but if I don't see something from Mal and Ben I'll be really disappointed

[Jessica (Odd and Bookish) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great.

I liked how it took place in both Auradon and the Isle of the Lost. It even briefly explored other places like Camelot, Neverland, and Charmington Cove (where Cinderella lives).

There were some new characters as well as characters from the movie. Also Ben had a larger role in this book than he did in the previous one.

I enjoyed the plot and the quest and everything fit together nicely.

The ending sets up a new movie and/or book perfectly. I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

Overall, a solid book in the Descendants franchise.

[Rian Angeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos from the Isle of lost have been at Auradon for a year now, they found their places there after the coronation with the whole maleficent attacking them and Mal turning her into a lizard situation. They started getting anonymous messages saying that they should go back to the isle where "they belong". Carlos hacked into the dark web and discovered a site that is called "Anti Heroes Club" and there is a picture of the four of them with a huge X on it. I really liked that the author used characters that people are familiar with from old fairy tales like Belle, the fairy-godmother, maleficent, etc. I would recommend this book to people who like fairy tale books and are in grades 4-7. I would give this book a four because it was a pretty good book but some parts weren't as interesting.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this sort of vaguely on my radar, because I really liked the first one, and I think the movies are darling. But then I discovered who the villain is and that there's a large purple dragon involved, and I had to read it ASAP. These characters really are so darling, and I do enjoy reading about Auradon. I find the actual Isle of the Lost kind of gross and depressing, and could really read whole books that are set entirely at Auradon Prep and involve studying and sports ball games. I was indeed delighted by the villain (or at least, the villain really behind the plot), and wish the ending had been a bit longer.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anti-hero is the villain that you root for in the story. An anti-hero is a hero who isn’t perfect. An anti-hero doesn’t ride up in a white horse, or have shining golden hair and wonderful manners. In fact, an anti-hero doesn’t look like the typical hero of a story at all. Anti-heroes can be crude and ugly and selfish, but they are heroes nonetheless. As flawed as an anti-hero is, they’re trying to do the right thing. You are all anti-heroes, and I’m proud of you.

My favorite anti-heroes are back.

Return to the Isle of the Lost is a great follow up. I really like it compared to The Isle of the Lost. The writing, and characterization drastically improved!

Favorite parts: the camaraderie of Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos

You get to see more of Mal and Evie supporting each other. Yo.





I love that King Ben has firm roots in the plot.



Even though, there's a romance undertone, it didn't reigned over the plot. The main focus was been solving the mystery, and the bond of the four kids. Perfect for young readers, especially who love the first book and Disney's adaptation.


Actual rating: It's hovering between 3.7 to 4 stars.
Explanation: I skipped the parts were there were snakes on it.

[Veronique · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first book, however I didnt enjoy this book that much.. first you should know that even this is the second book the storie picks up after the movie. If you didnt see the movie you sure miss the first part of the book to understand what happend in the movie. It didnt grip me, I didnt care about the plot or the characters anymore. This should have been a standalone with the movie.. although I kind of kept reading because I like disney so yeah 2.5*

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a longtime fan of Disney Channel productions, this book was right up my alley. Fans of the Descendants telefilms will definitely enjoy this novel.

[isha · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved these idc

[Julia Sapphire · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

This book was actually a very pleasant surprise! As I did enjoy the first book, I still felt the second book would be just "meh". Boy, was I wrong! Despite my 3.25 stars, this book was an exciting and compelling middle grade novel.



The plot was really fun! The children of popular villains have to return back to the Isle of the Lost, they have received notes saying they have to return. We watch them sneak out and arrive and their journey and discoveries. This is such a nice adventure novel, it has short chapters and multiple perspectives. I felt some lines were cringe-worthy and cheesy though.

The characters are all really interesting! Mal, Maleficent's daughter, is one of my favorite- probably my favorite. She is strong, kind of snarky, and looks out for her friends. Evie, the Evil Queen's daughter is cool, she also has her friends backs. Carlos, son of Cruella De Ville is another favorite, he is snarky and just an interesting perspective to follow. Jay, son of Jafar, is the same as the others, funny and overall helpful to his friends. We also got Ben's point of view, who is the prince and Mal's boyfriend. I REALLY liked him! So kind, respectful and caring but not clingy. He's so charming and supportive, I thought him and Mal were great together. I really liked the four friends and their bond. They grow closer in this book, and it's nice to see friends who support one another and trust each other.



I feel that the ending was satisfying but I definitely feel there is more room for a third book!

[Kerry]

This is an adventure. The reformed "villain kids" embark on a mission to save the world as they know it.

[Sharon Mariampillai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing read. I loved how the story took place in both Auradon and the Isle of the Lost. Also, it also gave us a look into Camelot Heights, Netherlands, and Charmington Cove. Also, we learn more about what happened after the dome broke in the first Descendants movie. I love the characters all the same. These four villains are the villains that we root for. They each have their individual talents. Also, I absolutely love Ben. He is a great King of Auradon. I thought he ruled fair and justly. The ending prepares us for the next book or movie in store. I am still wondering if the second Descendants movie will be the sequel to this book or a sequel to the third book. I can't wait to find out. Overall, an incredible read.

[g.vee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anti heroes are the heroes you root for in the story.
Wow. Amazing.
This book, like the previous one is really good.

Plot and Story
The plot was perfect. I don't know what else to say about that. The story and suspense of this book was really good. There were a lot of plot-twists too, increasing the interestingness of the book.

The characters were awesome, along with the opening and writing.

The book also teaches us that being perfect is not necessary. You do not have to be perfect. Be just the way you are. Nobody is perfect. You are a hero in your own story.

I enjoyed a lot reading this.

P.S - Really? Zapp? InstaRoyal? There were much more. Kind of creative and funny too.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like the first one I actually liked it.

These are just fun quick reads that are entertaining but are not suppose to be taken seriously.
I found myself enjoying these stories and would recommend to anyone who wanted a fun read.

[Anna (Enchanted by YA) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quick, light read was perfect to get me out of my reading slump while satisfying my Disney craving (after my vacation I miss Disney World okay?)

[Astrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me ha gustado, pero siento que sigue la misma línea del primer libro en lugar de superarlo :/

[Natalie Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disney books are just amazing!! And I loved this one

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. It was a fun read, but nothing spectacular. Carlos is still my favorite in the books. Jay I feel barely gets any credit in the series and finally got a bit of a feel for here. There are things relating to their parents and what happens toward the end that didn't make much logical sense to me. I really want to see them confront their parents (Mal and Malificent excluded obviously). Oh and huge question about Mal and potential siblings due to later movie connection! Either info must be given in a later book or movie to explain this or it is a huge disconnect that has me annoyed...
I still don't get Ben being a king while a teenager. How about working WITH his parents on these issues? Although he pulls through in the end. I want more about Yen Sid!

[Lizzie & Koala Skywalker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying the Descendants series by Melissa De La Cruz. Return to the Isle of the Lost takes place after the first movie, but before the second movie. This is a great series and I would recommend it to anyone one who's a Disney fan. ~ Koala ^-^

[Amber ☾♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another confession: Once again, I thought this would correlate to the second movie and, once again, I was sorely mistaken.

Though while I ended up enjoying the first book, there was something off about this one that I can't quite put my finger on...

I really enjoy the growing friendships between our characters and the development of most of them in tern. What was slightly irritating though...which really upset me...was Mal.

I love Mal in the movies...but not so much in the books. It has nothing to do with her being rotton and mean (because that's pretty much the point) but I don't enjoy her inner monologue most of the time. I'd much rather focus on any other character than her in the books at this point.

The adventure in this book wasn't as fun for me as in book one. It felt cheapened by the writing which I tried so hard to constantly remind myself "This is a book targeted at children! You are not the target audience so it is not written for you!" but...BUT...BUUUUT....

Eh. Just not my cup of tea, this one. It's turned me off of the last book which is super irritating because I wanted to just zip right through all of them but oh well.

Final rating: 1.5/5 stars

[Cisz Geverink - Strasters · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Denk eraan: bij twijfel denk je aan mooie, fijne dingen, dan vind je vanzelf je weg." ~ p186

Met volle teugen genoot van ik van "Dwaaleiland". Ik was dan ook heel enthousiast toen mij gevraagd werd of ik dit tweede deel wilde recenseren. Maar zodra ik in het eerste hoofdstuk aan het lezen was, had ik het gevoel dat ik een een stuk miste. Het verhaal gaat niet verder waar het vorige boek eindigde. Tussen deel 1 en 2 zit een (voor zover ik uit de verwijzingen kan opmaken zonder te spoileren) hele belangrijke gebeurtenis die ik als lezer geel graag had willen lezen. Ik heb de film niet gezien, en naar wat ik heb begrepen snap je het dan wel beter, maar ik had echt het gevoel dat ik in het 3e deel was begonnen en ze het 2e deel waren vergeten te vertalen. Dit heeft het gehele boek aan me lopen knagen, en absoluut mijn leesplezier beïnvloed. Ook omdat er steeds naar verwezen werd, zonder echt iets te vertellen.

"Goedheid werkt op geheimzinnige wijze. Zelfs in de diepste duisternis zul je een lichtpuntje ontdekken dat je erdoorheen helpt." ~ p190

Los gezien van mijn teleurstelling is het verhaal qua opbouw net zoals het eerste deel. Er word ruim de tijd genomen om de verhaallijn neer te zetten, en naar de queste toe te werken. Het is leuk om te zien hoe de 4 schurkenkinderen zich hebben weten te settlen tussen de goede mensen in Auradon. Wat absoluut leuk is aan dit deel is dat de wereld wat beter verkend word, en je op die manier een groter beeld krijgt van de Disney wereld. Alles komt weer aanbod, puur jeugdsentiment!

Helaas weegde de teleurstelling met het lezen zwaar, en heb ik me gevoelsmatig echt door het boek moeten worstel... vandaar maar 2,5 ☆

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me declaro fan de los descendientes. Me da igual que sean libros Middle Grade y que te guste sea considerado infantil.
Creo que desde el momento en el que vi la pelicula me enamore de la historia, ya que soy de esas que siempre habian sido fan de Disney y esto no era una excepción.
El libro nos lleva a lo que ocurre justo despues de la pelicula de Los Descendientes de Disney Channel.
No os voy a decir que ha sido el libro de mo vida, porque no ha sido así pero si es verdad que es muy entretenido y muy rapido de leer.
Le voy a dar 4 estrellas, porque es simplemente muy interesante y entretenido

[L. C. Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, I pick this up out of curiosity (and because I have been consuming disney movies like crazy these days) and I actually enjoyed. It's lighthearted and soft, but if you liked the movie (you must see it if you're planing to read this) I'm pretty sure you would like this too. Also Ben and Mal are sweeeeet. I know, is a couple from an disney channel original movie, but I don't care. I'm a foolish romantic who love cheesy couples ^^

[Elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one way more than the first book :D I don't know what it is with me, but I have really been liking the second books in series more lately it feels like lol :P Maybe because I already know the characters and everything? Plus the characters grew more in this one. You could tell they were trying to do better at being good and not following in their parents footsteps...I just thought it was so much better than the first in my opinion :)

[Leen Gilis · Rating 4 out of 5]

In tegenstelling tot Dwaaleiland had ik bij dit boek meer moeite om in het verhaal te komen. De eerste pagina's had ik me erdoorheen moeten sleuren. Maar rond bladzijde 50 was ik vertrokken en kon ik het boek niet meer wegleggen. Het verhaal is mysterieus en spannend, de personages zijn goed uitgedacht en de cover is prachtig! Dit was voor mij weer een geslaagd YA/fantasy boek!

[Joost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terug naar Dwaaleiland, het vervolg op de Disneyfilm Descendants, een sprookjesachtig en magisch avontuur! Lees hier mijn recensie: http://nerdygeekyfanboy.com/recensie/...