Evil Thing-Villains, Book 7 Hardcover – July 7, 2020

Cruella de Vil has been my long-standing favorite villain from the Disney world. Yes, her actual motives and desires to make a fur coat out of puppies is unforgivably abhorrent, but her character design, flair, smooth animation by animator Marc Davis, and unparalleled voice by Betty Lou Gerson just make her too cool.I have been buying most of Serena Valentino's novels in her Disney Villains series, and for the most part, my complaint has always been the same: I don't really care much for her original characters of the Odd Sisters, for even though they manipulate important events in the stories, they always really slowed things down for me. I want to read about the star villain and get a stronger feel for their thought and feelings, and really get down to what makes them tick. Note that I never bought the Ursula book "Poor Unfortunate Souls" (due to the reviews that Ursula was hardly featured) or the one titled "The Odd Sisters" (because why would I want to know more about the characters that I felt dragged things down?).Enter: "Evil Thing." I have to admit that even if the novel were a letdown, I would still have bought the book for the art on the slip cover and the actual cover. As with the other villain-featured books, the slipcover has a portrait of the villain and the actual cover has an alternate version of said villain. Those never disappoint. In terms of the content, I was very pleased that it serves as a standalone novel that has zero appearances by the Odd Sisters and their lot. Unlike the more fairy tale type villains, Cruella is from a story set in the more mundane "real" world England: a world without magic or witches or meddling fairies. The premise is that our author (Serena Valentino) has visited with a defeated Cruella after the events of the 101 Dalmatians to get her story back from childhood and continuing on to her present predicament. I liked this approach very much, as it kept Cruella as the focus, but also allows us to get into the dizzying and conflicted thoughts in her head. We see her childhood upbringing with two very different parents. We see her experience a tragic loss. We see her struggles with obtaining love and approval. We see the rise and fall of her friendship with Anita. We even see Cruella find love! But then of course comes the fall, and everything collapses into the scheming, obsessed villain that many love to hate.The story had a nice flow to it, which was great. I did not have to get taken out of the story by any interruptions of the Odd Sisters popping in as active characters. ***WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW*** There were a few things, however, which left me a bit puzzled, including what was Perdita's actual age by the time of the main events of 101 Dalmatians; why was Cruella asked to sign a prenuptial agreement when she was coming into her marriage with her own vast inheritance (and why was she not included in her husband's will despite that); why is it never fully addressed that Roger and Anita essentially stole the 84 puppies that Cruella had legally procured; and why was she named Cruella in the first place? I also agree with some other reviews that have mentioned that the Cruella that we see through most of the book does not transform into the well-known villain from the 1961 animated film very smoothly.Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel. If Ms. Valentino continues with this new approach, I may enjoy her future books as well.

Diving back into my TBR pile, I came up with Serena Valentino's Evil Thing! I am loving the Disney Villains series though I am still quite behind! It's been an interesting insight to all the classic villains we've come to fear and/or abhor from our favorite movies. Cruella was always an interesting character, I mean not only do we have her animated, we have her in live action form with Glenn Close, and then more recently we had her live action background story. Of course, that one in particular won't fit in with this story, from the animated woman herself!This is the story of Cruella De Vil and the girl she once was and how she turned into the slightly mad woman that we saw her as. Cruella was actually a normal, happy child. She had a loving and doting father who read her fairy tales, she had a mother who doted her with fur coats and clothing, and then she had her best friend, Anita. Life was good...until it slowly wasn't.Cruella tells us her tale in this one from her current future. She looks back on her life, perhaps trying to see where it all went wrong. As noted, she had a rather happy childhood, mostly in part to her father and friend, Anita. She loved her mother though, she always looked forward to spending time with her mother, but her mother rarely seemed to have time for her as she was always running out to the next party or social gathering or she had the need to go shopping.We get to see Cruella grow into a young woman and watch her mother try to rule her life. And if you pay close enough attention you will see things that become notable later on. Little tiny details that will shape Cruella into the woman we meet in 101 Dalmatians.I quite enjoyed this story! I always wondered at Anita and Cruella's relationship as the animated movie hinted at a past together while the live action one made its own connections. Naturally, it's best to go with the animated stories when reading these Villain books, should there be a live action one to also make comparisons with.I very much felt for Cruella in this story. She was always just a girl trying to make her mother proud of her, trying to win her approval, her love, but she never seemed to be enough for her mother and it was just so sad. Cruella did have a good life up to a certain point, she had moments of pure happiness and then you might catch onto things and see where things start to slowly go terribly wrong.But in the end, we all know what is to happen. Of course, I haven't watched the movie in ages and can't quite remember what her fate was then, but this book gives us the true answer. Or Cruella's answer at least.I was a bit surprised that we didn't see the famous Odd Sisters hanging out in the background. There was a suspicious looking character, but since I haven't read the last book in over a year or maybe two...I can't quite figure out if my suspicion has any fodder or not. But since I have three more Villain books waiting for me, I did see our "hint" at who the next book would be about. Doesn't hurt that I know who it is that when the "hint" appeared I was like, "oh, there it is!" Lol.This is definitely a series for the Disney fan at heart! I want to say Disney purist, but don't really like that connotation with what this story is about. For I guess a Disney purist wouldn't really root for the villain in this one. Not that I was rooting for Cruella to kill the dogs, but I felt for the girl she once was.If you are new to this series, I can say that you don't "have" to read the books in order. If there's one villain you want to read over the others, you can get away with that. In the past, some of the books have a small plotline involving the Odd Sisters where they make appearances and sometimes help steer the story in one direction or another and I suspect that maybe someday we'll get to the bottom of their story, but that day isn't today.Evil Thing was yet another enchanting read from the world of Disney and all the stories we found there! Getting this other side to the villains' story is a real treat! I'm actually looking forward to getting back to this series because I'm all sorts of curious about the next couple of villains whose stories are about to be told!Overall Rating 5/5 stars

I love this series. Book was in good condition.

This was such a fun look into the young mind of Cruella DeVil. I really liked the story. It was a fun addition to have Princess Tulip turn up in the story. I can't wait to see how else this story of our favorite fur loving villain ties into the others.

Great book

Cruella De Vil has always been one of the more colorful of the Disney villains. I’ve always seen her as heartless, but entertaining. That view has changed since reading Evil Thing.Evil Thing is written in first person, which I love. Serena Valentino gives Cruella the opportunity to tell her side of the story. She tells quite the story.Cruella begins her story in “Hell Hall.” That’s where she lives. There’s a reason for the name, but I will let her tell you that. She quickly jumps back to her childhood so the reader can better understand “what makes me tick,” as Cruella puts it.After reading Evil Thing, I do have a better understanding of Cruella De Vil. The book gives the reader the sense of actually sitting at a table with a cup of tea listening to Cruella tell the story of her life – the good, the bad, and the ugly.To me, Evil Thing is more sad than evil. So many times I wished I could reach out and hug Cruella. There were times in her story when she was so misguided and seemed so lost. One thing is for sure, love means different things to different people. Once you read her story, you will understand love as defined by Cruella, and you will understand why the Dalmatians are so important.I don’t think this is the end of Cruella’s story. Hopefully, Serena Valentina will get another opportunity to sit with Lady De Vil and let us know what happened after their first conversation.

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