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beelovesreading's review
5.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an arc!
I love retellings of fairy tales, and I especially love the Ugly Stepsisters. I rooted for these two throughout the entire book. I longed for Anastasia to find true love and for Drizella to become more than her mother had planned for her. I also loved that the story didn't center around Ella, as I feel like she would have probably overpowered their stories.
That ending though? I refuse to accept it as canon and will be pretending it didn't happen. I have the sads.
I love retellings of fairy tales, and I especially love the Ugly Stepsisters. I rooted for these two throughout the entire book. I longed for Anastasia to find true love and for Drizella to become more than her mother had planned for her. I also loved that the story didn't center around Ella, as I feel like she would have probably overpowered their stories.
That ending though? I refuse to accept it as canon and will be pretending it didn't happen. I have the sads.
booksanddragons's review
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
jilljemmett's review
medium-paced
4.0
Drizella’s and Anastasia’s lives were changed after their father abandoned them. They were left with their cruel mother, Lady Tremaine. Lady Tremaine remarried, but the man brought a stepsister who was idolized by him, so he didn’t have time for the sisters. After their stepfather died, their stepsister, Ella, was forced to do all the chores and cooking. When the Prince’s debut is announced, Lady Tremaine knows this would be the opportunity to find them each good husbands. However, as the sisters venture out of their home, they discover who they are on their own. Drizella wants to learn about science and Anastasia starts a secret romance with a palace groom. This story shows how they went from sweet sisters to wicked stepsisters.
This was such a great villain origin story. The wicked stepsisters in the Disney movie Cinderella seem like they’re unnecessarily cruel to Cinderella. Though their anger is a little misguided towards her, this story shows how they were abused and tormented by their mother, leading them towards wickedness. This story followed a similar plot as Cinderella, with a ball at the palace at the climax. However, this story takes place before the events of Cinderella.
The Wicked Ones is a fun Disney villain origin story!
Content warnings: death of parent, parent abandonment, child abuse, captivity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Abandonment
kendranicole28's review
4.0
Life for Drizella and Anastasia Tremaine hasn’t been easy. Their father left them when they were young, and in the subsequent decade, their lives have been upended more than once: first with the addition of a stepfather and stepsister, and then upon their stepfather’s demise that has left their cruel, cold mother as head of the house. Drizella and Anastasia hope never to become like their unkind mother, but goodness and beauty are scarce commodities in their home, where the sisters are constantly subjected to their mother’s divisive comments and impossible expectations. The two girls are on the verge of finding hope in the form of a young suitor for Anastasia and a newly discovered passion for Drizella, but their world falls apart one fateful night when the sisters are humiliated at a royal ball and their mother seems more intent than ever to see her daughters suffer.
Always a sucker for a fairy tale retelling, I was drawn to the premise of the “wicked” stepsisters’ backstory, and I really enjoyed this. I especially liked that it was a take on the Disney version of Cinderella, making the characters and imagery more familiar and easier to envision. Bonus points for a YA novel that was engaging for teens, but completely appropriate for middle grade readers!
I found the explanation for Drizella and Anastasia’s wickedness plausible and was able to view their attitudes and actions with more compassion given their hard journeys. I was able to acknowledge the complexity of their situation, especially their draw towards goodness despite negative conditioning from their mother. We see the internal and interfamilial tensions and come to love both Drizella and Anastasia, even as we shake our heads at their foolishness and dips back into poor behavior.
One aspect of this story that I really appreciated was that each sister is given a separate path towards hope: for one, this is a romantic interest and for the other it is a career. I found this to be a nice balance between the traditional happily-ever-after and amore modern girl-power message.
I didn’t love the ending, but given that this is a prequel to Cinderella I couldn’t have really asked for anything different. I believe this is the first in a series, and I’m interested to see what other villains’ backstories we get to read about!
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Audiobook
Always a sucker for a fairy tale retelling, I was drawn to the premise of the “wicked” stepsisters’ backstory, and I really enjoyed this. I especially liked that it was a take on the Disney version of Cinderella, making the characters and imagery more familiar and easier to envision. Bonus points for a YA novel that was engaging for teens, but completely appropriate for middle grade readers!
I found the explanation for Drizella and Anastasia’s wickedness plausible and was able to view their attitudes and actions with more compassion given their hard journeys. I was able to acknowledge the complexity of their situation, especially their draw towards goodness despite negative conditioning from their mother. We see the internal and interfamilial tensions and come to love both Drizella and Anastasia, even as we shake our heads at their foolishness and dips back into poor behavior.
One aspect of this story that I really appreciated was that each sister is given a separate path towards hope: for one, this is a romantic interest and for the other it is a career. I found this to be a nice balance between the traditional happily-ever-after and amore modern girl-power message.
I didn’t love the ending, but given that this is a prequel to Cinderella I couldn’t have really asked for anything different. I believe this is the first in a series, and I’m interested to see what other villains’ backstories we get to read about!
My Rating: 4 Stars // Book Format: Audiobook
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