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A review by cyanide_latte
Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch by Serena Valentino
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
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.
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.