Will satisfy readers who appreciate the lore of the world of the Descendants franchise.
This stand-alone prequel in the Descendants series follows citizens of the kingdoms who are “fated to meet a great destiny” as they meet at a school for magic.
New students have gathered at the enchanted but dilapidated castle where Merlin Academy is located, deep within the Forest Sauvage. There’s privileged but washed-up Hook, who recently lost a hand; loving orphaned Ella, who yearns for more than the servitude her stepfamily has forced her into; sea witch Uliana, who’s struggling to control her powers in the face of her sister Ursula’s derision; hopeful Bridget, the future Queen of Hearts; Hades, the leather jacket–clad god of the Underworld; eager, self-taught Morgie, son of Morgana le Fay; and the justifiably intimidating Maleficent. Chosen for their potential, each student has their own agenda and need to prove their worth. Initially divided by magical pranks, the students reluctantly unite when headmaster Merlin goes missing. Hades and Maleficent feel peripheral to the story, and Uliana appears way too powerful to need to attend a magic school, but this work that’s set in the world of the popular franchise extends readers’ perspectives on classic characters and satisfies expectations with its frequent references to Disney films and over-the-top characters’ kooky antics and social foibles. Amid the shifting motivations, the magic is all about the spectacle. Subtle cues to racial diversity seem to follow the movie casting.
Will satisfy readers who appreciate the lore of the world of the Descendants franchise. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: May 12, 2026
ISBN: 9781368081467
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Disney/Random House
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
Breathtaking dragon battles peppered with musings on forgiveness, teamwork, and love.
Lunar Jones joins other planetary guardians to unravel clues from Proteus and save the solar system in this third series entry.
Lunar, a 15-year-old dragoon, is known far and wide and regarded as a hero on Mars, but his personal life contains tension. He’s bonded for life with Dread, the savvy war strategist King-Dragon of Mars, but the Dread Knights are leaving one by one to pursue other opportunities. Though he’s unhappy about this, Lunar doesn’t try to hold them back. Sorting out his feelings for Rose Proctor is another can of worms. Plus he’s preparing for the upcoming Solar Summit, which is held by the planetary dragons once every 500 years. Reminiscent of a dragon family reunion, the summit includes equal measures of information exchange, camaraderie, and squabbles, but the appearance of a shape-shifting Fear Dragon brings everyone to laser-focused attention as they rally against a monstrous unseen enemy. Lunar’s first-person narration presents him variously as an awkward teen, pep-talking mentor, and battle-savvy commander. The dragon battles rock, innovations abound, and the Proteus messages tantalizingly reveal themselves right up until the cliffhanger ending. Names and skin tones cue some ethnic and racial diversity among the smart, strong teenage crew members surrounding the white-presenting Lunar. Knowledge of the previous books is essential to fully appreciate this volume, which explores characters and situations from earlier entries; a prologue introduces the formidable new characters Doom and Gloom.
Breathtaking dragon battles peppered with musings on forgiveness, teamwork, and love. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781665982016
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK TO SCREEN
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