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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
The problem with Poor Unfortunate Soul is that its premise is built on being Ursula's untold tale and it's not even about Ursula. Sure, there are a couple of trivia facts we learn about her, but it's largely focused on other characters; very dull and undeveloped characters.
Tulip and the others (whose names I've forgotten) are so boring and their stories don't seem to integrate with the beginning of the story which actually is centered on Ursula (as it should be throughout). It's difficult to understand why Valentino chose to include stories from characters like these - who people know little/nothing about - in a book about URSULA - a well-known and much-loved Disney character.
This book (like all of the books in the Twisted Tales series) is clearly aimed at a younger audience, so as you'd expect, it's written in a very plain and simple manner. I'd say it's more suitable for children (maybe up to age 13), and so reading it as an adult isn't the most enjoyable experience. The writing style is dry and detail is lacking throughout. I managed to finish because it was so short, but it was a slog to get through a story with such a dull plot centered on characters I couldn't care less about.
With Poor Unfortunate Soul, Valentino had a fantastic oppourtunity to take a much-loved villain from a much-loved fairytale and reveal and create new, intruiging and exciting aspects and sides to that villain and fairytale universe. Sadly, instead of this, it takes a bunch of uninteresting characters and gives them all of the focus Ursula should get. At the same time, Ursula's part in the story is nothing new or different than what we know about her from watching The Little Mermaid. Such a wasted oppourtunity.
Tulip and the others (whose names I've forgotten) are so boring and their stories don't seem to integrate with the beginning of the story which actually is centered on Ursula (as it should be throughout). It's difficult to understand why Valentino chose to include stories from characters like these - who people know little/nothing about - in a book about URSULA - a well-known and much-loved Disney character.
This book (like all of the books in the Twisted Tales series) is clearly aimed at a younger audience, so as you'd expect, it's written in a very plain and simple manner. I'd say it's more suitable for children (maybe up to age 13), and so reading it as an adult isn't the most enjoyable experience. The writing style is dry and detail is lacking throughout. I managed to finish because it was so short, but it was a slog to get through a story with such a dull plot centered on characters I couldn't care less about.
With Poor Unfortunate Soul, Valentino had a fantastic oppourtunity to take a much-loved villain from a much-loved fairytale and reveal and create new, intruiging and exciting aspects and sides to that villain and fairytale universe. Sadly, instead of this, it takes a bunch of uninteresting characters and gives them all of the focus Ursula should get. At the same time, Ursula's part in the story is nothing new or different than what we know about her from watching The Little Mermaid. Such a wasted oppourtunity.
I had no idea these were not standalone books, so I started from this one.
Loved the first act a lot where we get to discover her origin story and all, but then it gets kinda meh, and just follows the Little Mermaid path.
The original characters were kinda cool, it's really great to see the Villains universe expand. But some of the storylines made no sense to me as it's the 3rd installment, so now I'm reading the rest of the books in chronological order
Loved the first act a lot where we get to discover her origin story and all, but then it gets kinda meh, and just follows the Little Mermaid path.
The original characters were kinda cool, it's really great to see the Villains universe expand. But some of the storylines made no sense to me as it's the 3rd installment, so now I'm reading the rest of the books in chronological order
So, this one was my mistake! I knew that this book was the 3rd of a series, but I thought that the books in the series were only loosely related, since the films are all different. I was wrong!
In my opinion, you *definitely* need to read the other two books first for this to make sense. I was constantly wondering why certain characters were in the narrative at all, but I think they must be through-lines from the other books! I do think I'll go back and read the first two and then give this one another try.
In my opinion, you *definitely* need to read the other two books first for this to make sense. I was constantly wondering why certain characters were in the narrative at all, but I think they must be through-lines from the other books! I do think I'll go back and read the first two and then give this one another try.
mysterious
slow-paced
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
again, when you have to ask someone else what happened in the movie - so you can get a sense of where this book is going, you have issues - and all I kept singing was poor unfortunate souls the whole time I read it.. so that didn't help. Overall not bad, definitely not my fav in the series though.. very heavily referenced maleficent especially toward the end so now I'm off to start that one
I'd really give this 3.5 stars because it was good and engaging but there were a couple of confusing areas were I felt like I was missing a vital piece of information. Regardless, I enjoy fairytale stories that let you see why the villain is the villain.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney cartoon movies. I use to watch it just about every weekend growing up it seems. Decided to give this book a try since it's based on the villain. This story tells how Ursula became the way that she is, why she does what she does, and how she almost destroyed Ariel's life. I didn't care for this book because it seems like it was just all over the place.