Disney Descendants: A Lost Revenge

A LOST REVENGE is an adventure-filled graphic novel about family expectations, the gray area between hero and villain, and finding your own path. Uma, the daughter of Ursula, is a Villain Kid (VK) and seeking to find her place in the world. This is complicated by the way that she is perceived and what she believes she must or should do. When some kids from Auradon Prep go missing, she is asked to go find them. With her crew, she sets out on this (possibly heroic) adventure.

What I loved: This book tackles some themes that will resonate well with the intended middle grade audience. Children of this age are trying to figure out who they will become amidst a time of changes, much like Uma who is a VK but wants to forge her own path. This inner turmoil is central to the plot and makes her quite a relatable character - even if she also has a pirate ship and crew.

The story has plenty of adventure and intrigue to keep the pages turning, and the artwork does a fantastic job of bringing the story and its emotions to life. Thoughtful use of color in the background helps to set the mood and tone of each scene. The images depict the characters well with lots of emotion in expressions. There are varied use of panel shapes and numbers throughout to keep visual interest and help in conveying more complex scenes.

While there is some non-dialogue text, the words are always carefully chosen and never overpower the images. The amount of words in this one is relatively low, and it makes for a story that is conveyed largely through the images. This is a great characteristic in a graphic novel and perfect for younger middle grade graphic novel lovers.

While the story can be read on its own, having knowledge of the Disney Descendants world would definitely be helpful for immersing in the story and understanding some of the secondary characters.

Final verdict: A LOST REVENGE is an engaging middle grade graphic novel with relatable themes around family expectations and finding your own path.

A LOST REVENGE is a graphic novel set in the world of Disney’s Descendants. Following Uma as she is asked to use her pirating skills to save some Auradon students, this graphic novel is full of adventure and heart. Uma tackles sea witches, rival ships, and family difficulties as she tires to fight for what is right.

One of the biggest things to note about this book is it does require a bit of knowledge of the Descendants universe to fully appreciate it. There are some brief details provided to inexperienced readers, but they’ll likely be confused by some of the dialogue. This doesn’t mean the book can’t be read by people unfamiliar with the franchise, just that they might miss out on some jokes and lore.

Asiah Fulmore does a fantastic job with the art style in this book. It’s soft and sharp at the same time. Vivid colors bring a myriad of people and creatures to life, highlighting their differences and allowing readers to separate the humans from the sea witches. The side characters can blur together at times, but the main characters are always easily identifiable.

The topic of family comes up a lot in this book. It’s an important part of the Descendants franchise, so that wasn’t a surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise to see how it was handled. The topic is Disney-fied a bit, but the topic doesn’t lose its heaviness though. While everything may tie up neatly, the journey to get there is quite difficult and requires tough conversations. It’s given weight, but not too much that it’s inappropriate for the age range.

The story balances humor, action, and meaningful conversations without allowing the story to feel bloated or slow. The story moves at a relatively quick pace, but at times it slows down to allow for messages to come across or to allow characters to feel what is happening around them. The action scenes are excellent, adding tension to the story and allowing for some remarkably well-drawn scenes to take life.

A LOST REVENGE is a wonderfully fun graphic novel. Gorgeous illustrations, an important message, and amazing action scenes make it feel like a snippet from the Descendants franchise brought to life!