Review--Poor Unfortunate Soul by Serena Valentino

The tale of the sea king's daughter Ariel is a beloved one of losing--and then finding--one's own voice. The story has been told many times and in many ways. But always the mergirl wants more than her world can offer, and her father deamands that she live within the confines of his domain. Her rebelliousness costs the little mermaid her voice and nearly her soul. But the power of good prevails, and Ariel emerges proud and changed.

And yet this is only half the story. So what of Ariel's nemesis, Ursula, the sea witch? What led to her becoming so twisted, scorned, and fulled with hatred? Many tales have tried to explain her motives. Here is one account of what might have shaped the sea witch into a detestable and poor unfortunate soul.

Wonder of wonders, I read TWO books in ONE day!! Since I had previously read The Beast Within, the second book in Serena Valentino's Disney Villains series, I moved straight onto Poor Unfortunate Soul, which, as you can see, is Ursula's story. Hers was quite an interesting one too, I'll give you that! 

What I am finding myself loving about this series is seeing the movie play out in a way, yet we're seeing what's happening on the villain's point of view! In Fairest of All, we were following the Queen before she turned evil and wicked. This time we are with Ursula learning what cause her to turn to her path of evil and I must say it was pretty distressing. Hers was a sad tale like that of the Queen's. This series is definitely making one feel sympathy for these classic Disney villains.

The odd sisters have come to Ursula because they want her help in finding their sister, Circe, who we previously met in The Beast Within. She has since gone missing and the sisters desperately want their youngest sister to come back to them. So they agree to help Ursula in destroying Triton so that she may be the only ruler of the sea.

I found that this time there was a lot of reflecting back on the last story, which was the first one I read a few years ago, so naturally my memory wasn't so hot. We see Tulip, the young girl who was going to marry the Prince before his untimely transformation into a literal beast. Tulip wasn't doing so well with from the rejection of the Prince. And we learn she had unwittingly made a deal with Ursula that will greatly effect life as she knows it.

I'm beginning to realize that these odd sisters are having their own story happening and it's building with each of these books. I'm definitely eager to get to this year's release given its Odd Sisters title! Alas, I've two more villains to read about before that and I am pretty excited to read about Maleficent and Mother Gothel! Maleficent has been mentioned several times now in these two (and like the second and thus making three) books and I am really interested in reading what her story will be like and what the odd sisters will do next given the events of this last one.

This Disney Villains series is definitely one a Disney fan should not be without! It's a fun and magical series that is taking the stories we love and know by heart and showing us a different angle and letting us in on a whole new story that was always happening behind the scenes!

Alas, now I must take a break from my Disney Villains binge and get a review book read. I was just happy that I was able to read two of these books in one day! Conquering the TBR pile one book at a time!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars