Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Positive messages mix with brand-name fun in villains' tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
RISE OF THE ISLE OF THE LOST finds villain kids Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos adjusting well to their new life in Auradon, with lots of new friends. Mal (daughter of Maleficent) and newly crowned King Ben (son of Belle and Beast) are a couple. But there's trouble brewing. Back on the Isle of the Lost, where magic confines the villain families, Mal's onetime friend and now sworn enemy, Uma (daughter of Ursula from The Little Mermaid), is determined to get back at Mal and get herself off the island so she and her pirate pals can really have fun. When King Triton's granddaughter foolishly takes his magic trident and loses it in the sea, she turns to Mal and Evie for help. Meanwhile, every goblin, evildoer, and lowlife on the isle is trying to get to it first -- especially Uma and her crew. Will the villain kids save the day -- or break so many rules in their quest that they get sent back to the isle?
Is It Any Good?
This is a fun read with quite a few educational bits, life lessons, and positive messages snuck in. But the relentless mentions of Disney movie characters smack of marketing -- which may bother some readers or their parents. The characters and situations in Rise of the Isle of the Lost are (not surprisingly) cartoonish, but author Melissa de la Cruz introduces interesting ideas, like how 16-year-old Ben's life is different now that he's king, how he has to place his subjects first -- and the clever compromise he uses to resolve a dispute.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the characters in Rise of the Isle of the Lost. What other examples do you know of stories based on the next generation of characters from a well-known series? Do you think it's better to make up completely new characters or work within an existing universe?
Does a story about Disney characters ever seem like a commercial for Disney movies?
Suppose you borrowed something without permission and then lost it. What would you do?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures , Friendship , Pirates
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Disney-Hyperion
- Publication date : June 8, 2017
- Number of pages : 304
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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