It’s not the first time that a creative mind has posed the
question, “What if these beloved characters had kids?” Just ask J.K. Rowling and every fanfic writer on the
internet. It’s also not the first time Disney was ready to profit on nostalgia
and a thriving fanbase at the risk of tormenting those same fans with
corny-as-hell songs and butchered characterization.
Well, the Disney Channel film Descendants has at least one of those things down pat. Thankfully
the prequel novel The Isle of the Lost doesn’t
come with a soundtrack.
Parents and adult Disney fans should be aware that this
book and its TV counterpart are targeting a young demographic.
The writing meets those expectations with overstating the obvious and inserting casual hip lingo, yo, into the third-person narrative
voice. But what about the story and its characters? If they’re interesting
enough, can they overshadow the writing style?
Ehhh—kind of.
