🟢 Written by 🟢
Serena Valentino
🟢 Jacket Illustration 🟢
Jeffrey Thomas
🟢 Publisher 🟢
Disney Press
🟢 Book Synopsis 🟢
This is the story of how Ursula became the evil sea witch. What led her to becoming so twisted, scorned, and so full of hate.
🟢 Non Spoiler Review 🟢
This is the third book in the Valentino Villain series. I am thinking these stories are more about the Odd Sisters than they are the actual Villains. It seems it is like their life on who they wanted to mess with.
This version of Ursula’s story actually stays pretty close to the movie. The only thing different is that we get more of a backstory on Ursula. Which is great to me because I always had questions about Ursula’s backstory. Her story is more connected to Ariel and Triton than I thought it would be.
Like I said earlier, Valentino again did a fantastic job at telling Ursula’s story. She is such a wonderful author and really gets you immersed in the world she is telling. If you haven’t read the first two books in this series you NEED to. Like, NEEEEEED to.
In case you were wondering, no you cannot read this book by itself. I would say you could skip this one, but this really connects with the books before them. So if you picked up the next book in the series you would be a little lost.
Overall, this book was not as great as the others. It was not as much about Ursula as I would have liked it to be. We do get some back story on her, but I wish the whole book were about her before she came to Ariel. Then towards the end of the book connect it to the others and connect it to the movie we all love dearly. To me it really was a waste of an opportunity to truly dive into Ursula’s past.
🟢 Villains Books Series Order 🟢
Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen – Book 1
The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty’s Prince – Book 2
Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch – Book 3
Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy – Book 4
Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch – Book 5
The Odd Sisters: A Tale of the Three Witches – Book 6
Evil Thing: A Tale of That De Vil Woman – Book 7
Cold Hearted – Book 8 (Coming out in June 2021)
🔴 Spoiler Summary 🔴
I do wish we would have spent more time on Ursula’s background. The first two books we get an in depth look into Beast and the Evil Queen. But with Ursula it was written very quickly. We learn that she hates humans because they took away the only person who ever loved her. Her hatred for humans grew greatly! She created sirens to come and kill humans. What’s creepy to see is how much Ursula LOVED seeing humans suffer. Very dark. Her heart was full of hate.
Ursula was the adopted daughter of a human fisherman. She grew up having no knowledge that she had magic powers. When she started to develop her powers the villagers turned on her. They all got together to kill her, but her father was able to save her, but lost his life in the process. This is what filled Ursula’s heart with darkness and hate.
As soon as this happens Ursula tries to burn down the village. This is when Triton reveals himself to her and we find out they are siblings. YES SIBLINGS! I do LOVE that we got a little Triton history too. Triton told us that Ursula’s necklace came from their father.
We also see a truly mean side to Triton. Yes in the movie we see he can get mad, but in the book it is pretty crazy. At one point when he sees Ursula he calls her a “foul, murdering, ugly, monster”. He also admitted that he is the reason Ursula did not grow up with him. He said, “You were a vile thing. I left you adrift because I foresaw the monster you would become!”. Even when he brought Ursula back to his kingdom he told her that she was too ugly to stay in her Octopus form.
In Triton’s kingdom, the only one who actually treats Ursula with love and kindness is the Queen, Athena. Athena is always having discussions with Triton about Ursula asking him to treat her better. This all comes to an end when Athena dies. After this Triton banishes Ursula form his kingdom.
When she gets banished she goes to the Odd Sisters for help. They agree to help her kill Triton as long as she helps them find their lost sister, Circe. I will say that I do feel that we are focused WAY more on the Odd Sisters than we actually are on Ursula. They use Ursula as more of a side character. Yes Valentino does give us why Ursula is the way she is, but that’s it. She tells us her background very quickly and then we are back to the Odd Sisters. All Ursula is really there is to find Circe. Circe left because she has been upset with the Odd Sisters for meddling in affairs they should not be.
Ursula we find out is friends with a Princess named Tulip. If you remember, Tulip was engaged to the Beast for a short period of time. Because of that whole ordeal Tulip has changed her personality. She is now stronger, does not care for appearance, and does not laugh anymore. We also learn that Ursula LOVES to be in her tentacle form body. She prefers that over her human form, Vanessa. Ursula really dislikes humans. Throughout the book we do see that Ursula has a darkness that is growing in her daily.
The book ends with Ursula dying and her leaving a large amount of destruction around the castle, Circe being found, and Ursula turning on the Odd Sisters.
One thing I did really enjoy was the Odd Sister’s mention of the Dark Fairy. We know they are talking about Maleficent. This makes sense to me because the next book is about her. But it is cool to see them mention her. Maleficent is just that powerful even they are scared of her. If I am not mistaken them talking about the Dark Fairy also popped up in the first book of the Evil Queen.
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