Poor Unfortunate Soul

A book about the Sea Witch in Disney's Little Mermaid is right up my ally. I always felt like Disney movies are only as good as their villians. Disney's Little Mermaid remains one of my favorite movies to this day! I actually do love original fairy tales and I approach the Hans Christian Anderson original story as a beautiful story. Its just a different story.

I was really excited to read this third book in Serena Valentinos Disney Villians series. However the first two books Fairest of Them All and The Beast Within I thought were better books.

Part of it may be that I loved the Disney movie quite a bit and at times in my life may have played with possible retellings myself. It leads me to the question of who gets to write this retelling and how these decisions are made. The mediocrity of the book makes me have professional envy that this author works for Disney and has the rights to cite the lyrics I love so much. Many writers dive into stories they loved as a child which is a legitimate way of playing with the craft but legalities can make it tricky to pursue publication.

There is also the serious question that a reader needs to ask about this too. When there is a story that so many young children love so much what kind of person will represent this story? If this wasn't a villan's story questions about race, gender and sexuality would be asked about this retelling. However when it is supposed to be a villan's story it does not seem as appropriate to ask the questions to be politically correct.

Yet despite the question of who gets the right to tell this story as a Disney employee there is something fun about encountering my favorite Disney movie on the page. While it was not a notable book I enjoyed reliving the movie in my mind as I read it.