The books lead Circe to learn one of the Odd Sisters’ biggest secrets Snow and her mother potentially discover a new type of enchantment and the spell books frame Maleficent’s learning. Each set of three plays a significant part in Maleficent’s story, but also more generally in developing character roles. I was struck by the recurring theme of three’s in this book: the sisters three Flora, Fauna and Merriweather Snow compartmentalizing her mother into three different women and the three types of books: spell books, fairytale books and history books. She is a bookworm with an unquenchable curiosity and many magic materials at her disposal, and yet her power is limited. In the land of dreams, Aurora contemplates this very issue, considering that “t was strange having so much knowledge at once and having so little power to direct her own fate.” The same can be said for Maleficent. This notion is, however, interestingly juxtaposed with the suggestion that one’s story cannot be unwritten no tale untold. She thrives on reading and learning – knowledge is power.
Maleficent is confident but not cocksure like the Beast Prince lonely, but not self-destructive like the Wicked Queen powerful, but not greedy like the sea witch. When nature itself turns against you, and the good fairies do not appear to be all that good, there is no happy ending. The comfort of Nanny’s baking and the Odd Sisters’ oddly warm birthday company is no match for the entrenched maelstrom of Maleficent’s existence from day one. Valentino pulls at the heart strings taking us back to the old school yard, complete with bullies, exams and treehouse retreats. The tale carries with it a sense of helplessness, probing whether one can ever really change their fate. Mistress of All Evil – the fourth book in the Valentino Villains series – is an emotionally charged origin story of Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent.
(See my book reviews of Fairest of All here, The Beast Within here, and Poor Unfortunate Souls here.) If that’s not a countdown celebration, I don’t know what is. With the long-awaited release of The Odd Sisters: A Tale of Three Witches – the first of Valentino’s characters to have a book of their own – set to hit shelves this summer, I decided to re-read and review Books 1-4. Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch andĦ. Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairyĥ.
Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea WitchĤ. The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty’s Princeģ. Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked QueenĢ. The books in the series are as follows and are best enjoyed if read in this order:ġ. Not only do Valentino’s stories give readers the opportunity to explore villains they know and love, readers are also introduced to new characters that operate behind the scenes of classic Disney plots, giving tales-as-old-as-time a bewitching new twist. Author Serena Valentino has taken the world by storm with her best-selling Disney Villains novels published by Disney Press.
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