cyanide_latte's reviews
1609 reviews

This was definitely a fun and interesting little book in between everything else. Goosebumps and its many contemporaries from the 90s weren't ever something I read as a kid for a couple different reasons, but when I saw this series listed on Amazon, something about the idea of 90s-esque middle grade horror done with Disney villains seemed like enough fun to get me to try it out.

I don't have much to offer on the plot or the characters at this point in time, but I enjoyed it and was surprised at that rather grim and ruthless ending. Definitely planning on continuing the series to see what the rest are like!

Feels a little like this one was a bit all over the place but OOOOHHHHH THAT BACKSTORY SEGMENT GOT INTENSE. Loved this a lot, and I really appreciate seeing the way so much unfolds and is revealed in this book.

I'm not even sure where to start with this one.

I get that Valentino is weaving together some kind of overarching plotline through all these books, but at present I couldn't care less about the Odd Sisters, Circe, or Princess Tulip and her Nanny. They add nothing truly impactful to the story and I just don't care about any of them. I'm also not sure what the purpose is or giving them all these arbitrary connections to other characters, aside from trying to boost whatever that overarching plotline is.

Also, why the references to Baba Yaga? Leave her out of this, she doesn't deserve to be dragged into this nonsense.

I'd seen other reviews talk about frustration with the fact that Ursula feels like an afterthought in her own book, and I can agree with that. After a certain point in this book it stops being about her, and that's disappointing, especially with the set-up Serena Valentino tried giving her here. I know a lot of fans dislike this approach to Ursula's backstory because they feel like it negates everything from TLM2 and the existence of Morgana, and her and Ursula's mother favoring Ursula. Personally I do feel like it falls more in line with trying to write a Greek tragedy and weaving in that mythology to Triton and Ursula, and I can appreciate the effort made to bring in their relationship from the Broadway production and expand upon it like that. And the start to this book was strong.

But after a while it's like Ursula became an afterthought in her own book, and almost every word from her was just lifted from the movie. (Her entire song is just in here as parts of her dialogue.) I could have enjoyed this more (and heck, I was even half-sold on this interpretation of Triton, even with how awful it really made him,) but that really would have required more of her being in it and really focused on.

DNF'd at 39%. Liz Braswell's entries in this series are very not for me. This is the third time I've read one of her entries in this series and it's given me nothing but a bad time. I'm going to be avoiding anything written in this series that's by her specifically. Her writing and I do NOT mix well.

I think this book genuinely gave me everything I could have hoped for and more from a Disney Press book seeking to do further character exploration.  The writing was very nicely done, the character work was excellent while still both paying homage to and reimagining the source material, and everything here was just worth the read. I know I'm somewhat biased, as Phillip and Aurora/Briar Rose are big favorites of mine, but the way this novel really fleshed both of them out and added to the world of Sleeping Beauty without completely overwhelming the reader with new lore by the end was nothing short of phenomenal. This is already a big favorite and I'm so happy I got to read it!

DNF'ed at 30%. I'd had a sliver of hope this one might be okay but boy has this disappointed me. I can't even keep going with it, it's just not worth the headache.

Honestly I have really mixed feelings about this one.  My hopes had been a little bit higher than I was expecting, but I had admittedly been iffy on The Beast having an installment in this series, so I suppose I'm not too horribly disappointed.

But this book is definitely a disappointment. I think this review by Sarah on GR (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2278127200) is perhaps a good overview of many of the aspects of this book I took issue with, as well as a few of the small things I did appreciate. But ultimately it feels like this book really didn't need to happen. Everything here felt forced.

To be fair, there's a lot of set-up going on. The introduction of Circe is curious (I'm vaguely reminded of the way "Hocus Pocus and The All-New Sequel" set us up with a random younger fourth Sanderson sister who was the good counterpart to Winifred, Mary and Sarah, though in fairness I know this book came out first.) Again I do have some vague annoyance because if she's supposed to be THE Circe, that character already exists in Disney canon (she's in the Hercules TV series, she's voiced by Idina Menzel and her song is amazing.) Either way, her purpose in the whole thing just feels like it's going to be a lot of build-up for not a lot of payoff. Same with the Odd Sisters. We do get a couple of hints and nods to the rest of the series here, particularly in the inclusion of Ursula, as it's set-up for the third book, which is hers. (There's also a single brief mention of Hades, which is absolutely deliberate, now that I know he has one of the latest books in this series.) Very curious to see what exactly is done with Gaston's book, given the way he was handled in this one.

I don't think I'll be keeping this book. Much as I want to continue with the series, I get the impression all of this is going to be quite hit-or-miss for me, so it's going to be a catch-22 with which books I keep and which I don't.

Also I know every other review has said it already but the way this book constantly calls him "Prince" or "Beast" got old fast. I understand why the narrative did that, but all the characters just addressed him as "Prince", even those who could have called him by name. Like damn, his name is Prince Adam. It's semi-common knowledge for most Disnerds. You can find it out with a quick Google.

This series just continues to delight. I really love and appreciate the way we see these characters grow over the course of the books and the adventures they go on~.

While this one has a couple of spots in the pacing that feel haphazard and weak to me, I really enjoyed this particular tale. It was interesting to see more use of Chinese mythology here, and I feel like this is a worthy side story or alternate story to the events of the Disney film Mulan.  I absolutely appreciate the way Li Shang is written in this book as well, as I feel like he got more character depth and exploration here and it was quite nice to see!

This book is a mess. An entertaining and confusing mess.
Really hope my theory about the MC's identity is correct.