What I Loved: The characters were easily the best part of this book. It was so much fun seeing all of our favorite Disney villains, their children, and even some of our favorite Disney heroes/heroines. These poor kids have to live in the infamous shadow of their parents and they have to deal with their craziness. I could totally see each villain behaving like they did in this book if they had children. Mal, Jay, Carlos, and Evie were excellent characters that I can see young readers connecting to. It was interesting seeing them being raised to be evil and like their parents, yet having them feel like that may not be who they're meant to be. You also get to see a lot of the "sidekicks" in this book, like the dwarfs, goblins, Flounder, Cinderella's mice, etc. They've got problems of their own, too, you know. 
 What Didn't Work for Me: The only thing that really bugged me was that the whole "adventure" aspect wasn't as strong as I was hoping. I thought it would be the main focus of the book, but it focuses more on introducing readers to the characters, seeing them come together, and helping readers visualize this island where these villains have lived on over the years. Not that there was anything necessarily wrong with that, because I loved seeing all the characters and how Melissa pictured them nowadays, but the synopsis had me thinking the book would have more action and adventure. 
 Recommended for fans of: Any Disney movie/story, really. If you're a Disney fan, you'll love this book! 
 Final Verdict: I would definitely recommend this book to any and all Disney fans and fans of retellings. I can tell this is going to be an amazing series and I love that it was also made into a Disney Channel Original Movie, with some of my favorite Disney Channel actors. Yes, I watch Disney Channel shows/movies with my kids (and even without them sometimes) and I'm not ashamed to admit that I like them. The Descendants was such a cute and fun read. I really loved it!