Cover Image: City of Villains-City of Villains, Book 1

City of Villains-City of Villains, Book 1

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Member Reviews

2.5 to 3 stars
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an early copy to review!
I strongly considered DNFing this one throughout the majority of the book but it started to get good around the 3/4 mark and then I was hooked. The story was interesting but the pacing was off for me and the characters just felt strange. It felt like there were too many pieces missing for them to be able to figure out what was going on how they did. I am interested to see where the story goes though because I'm strangely invested and very curious to see how the story could continue in future installments. So I might continue the series I'm not sure.

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This was a really fun new take of a Disney villain story. As a major Disney fan I can never pass up an opportunity to read a new twist on my favorite tales and this did not disappoint.

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After loving Mayhem by Estelle Laure I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her new book City of Villains.

"This dark and edgy YA series explores the reimagined origins of Maleficent, Ursula, Captain Hook, and other infamous Disney Villains like you’ve never seen before."

About The Book 📚

Publication Date: January 26, 2021

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Suggested Reader Age: Middle-Grade

Genre: Urban Fantasy (retelling), Mystery

"Estelle Laure is a Vonnegut worshipper who believes in love and magic and the power of facing hard truths. She has a BA in Theater Arts from New Mexico State University and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and thinks everyone should have to wait tables or work in a kitchen at least once in their lives. She lives in Taos, New Mexico with her children." https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8301727.Estelle_Laure

"Estelle Laure (pronounced lore/lor) is the author of critically-acclaimed books for young people, including THIS RAGING LIGHT and MAYHEM. She has five forthcoming young adult novels, including Disney’s City of Villains series, REMEMBER ME with Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s, and PRACTICE GIRL with Viking. She also has two picture books in the works, the first of which will be out with HarperKids in 2021."

https://www.estellelaure.com/

My Review

› Magic died thirteen years ago. Mary Elizabeth's parents and sister were killed five years ago. A brand-new 160 story building disappeared two years ago, along with the 3,000 people inside. Water filled the hole, and now it's known as Miracle Lake. The city is split into two groups: Narrows and Legacy. "Legacy" are direct descendants of magic, born with a black heart on the wrist. Narrows do not have magic. "Magicalists" thought this destruction was a sign that they should try to bring back magic. "Naturalists" thought it was a sign that magic didn't want fancy new buildings on the magical ground.

› Now, gift-wrapped body parts are showing up all over "The Scar", signed "Mad Hatter". Mary Elizabeth is an intern at the police station who ends up helping a detective named Bella with a case after Mary's friends Ursula and Gia disappear.

› Mary has a boyfriend named James who she met after her parents died. James, Mary and Bella work together to try and figure out what happened to Ursula and Gia. Who's the Mad Hatter? and how far would someone go for Legacy loyalty?

› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding

› Characters: 5
› Atmosphere: 6
› Writing Style: 6
› Plot: 6
› Intrigue: 7
› Logic: I don't understand what some of the magic terms mean.
5
› Enjoyment: 7

Average 6

1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★

My Rating ★★★

› Final Thoughts
• City of Villains is a really fun, dark fairytale filled with magic, murder, and mystery. I feel like the second book of the series may fill in the gaps I felt with character development and world-building. I'll definitely be checking out the next book!



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.



*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*

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Four and a Half Stars **** Best enjoyed when you’re feeling like you need a little magic. Legacies can sympathize.



Mary Heart is a Legacy, a member of a community of people who used to have the ability to wield magic until a disaster caused all of the magic in her world to disappear, along with the friends and the relatives of many of the Legacies who worked at the tower in the center of their corner of the city. Now, the only thing remaining is a lake made of black water that is highly toxic where the building used to be. Now, Mary, her friends Ursula, James, and other Legacy peers, are stuck sans-magic while the wealthy members of the surrounding communities have moved into their previously magic neighborhood, now called the Scar, to take advantage of the anomalously perfect weather that is the only remaining indication that magic used to be the driving force there, slowly gentrifying the now broken-down Legacy community. In order to protect those she loves, Mary has turned to the regular way of dealing out justice: as an intern to the city police, with hopes of becoming like her hero, the current police captain who helped solve the murder of her parents when she was a young girl. When her classmate and fellow Legacy Mally Saint disappears one evening from the Wonderland club where all of the Legacy kids hang out, she knows she has to be part of the investigation and find her. The further into the investigation she and her partner, Bella, get, the more she realizes that something is wrong in the Scar, and someone close to her may be in danger as well.


This is the second book by Estelle Laure that I read back in 2020, and it was absolutely amazing. She’s a very talented author and she’s quickly made her way to my must read authors list where Sarah J Maas, Holly Black, Margaret Rogerson, and Riley Sager reside along with a few others I love. However, it wasn’t until after I read City of Villains that she solidified her place.

City of Villains turns the Disney franchise on its head and brings it into a modern and urban setting. I usually don’t like that kind of treatment. I’ve always been a fan of fairy tales in all their glory, and have loved the redemption stories, especially in the vein of Gregory McGuire’s The Other Stepsister and Jennifer Donnelly’s Stepsister, but my favorite part has always been that they stuck to the time period. Even though Laure does not do this, she takes the most prolific of the Disney villains, turns them human, and adds in a healthy heap of police procedural, vigilante justice, and scientific experimentation along with catastrophic disaster and creates something entirely new that is still just as enticing, even to a staunch traditionalist like me. It is something all its own and I have a deep appreciation for it and I’m excited to see where this goes!

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion for the chance to read an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review!

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DNF @ 25%

I really dislike the writing style of this book. The author seems to rely on telling us what happens instead of showing it to us, and this results in little development of the world and the characters. This one has so much potential with its concept of villain origin stories, but unfortunately, I have lost interest in this one.

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Firstly, I thought the author did a brilliant job of merging various genres into one. This book has a bit of romance, crime, YA, mystery, and Disney references all rolled into one.

I liked Mary Elizabeth in the lead and thought she shared great chemistry with the other characters. Mary and Bella have a good work relationship, and I admired how they support each other. Similarly, I also enjoyed James, Ursula, and Smee’s roles. Ursula is complex and mysterious, and I liked the way the author wrote her. She starts to show her true colors as the story progresses. James and Mary also have a lovely bond, and their romance was sweet. I wish we had seen more of Smee because I liked him too!

Similarly, I also thought the author added the Disney references nicely without making it sound like a retelling. The story is unique, but the characters mostly have famous Disney villains (and a few of their dialogues). I chucked at a few parts, like how they name the areas like “Monarch High” and “Neverland.” Moreover, the story also ends in a climax that makes you eagerly anticipate the next book. I cannot wait to see what James, Ursula, and Mally do.

Quite a few scenes had me to the edge of my seat, like when Mary Elizabeth confides with the mirror, the conversations she has with the chief about her family past, or when she sees Ursula in the water. As a Disney fan and YA lover, I enjoyed how the author incorporated all these elements.

Overall, “City of Villains” is an excellent start to the series, and I loved reading it!

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I love mystery books and the take on the villains was different and refreshing. The only struggle while reading is that it lost its magic and intrigue halfway through the book, but I love the protagonist Mary

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This was so much fun! A different take on the Disney world with all the characters. Looking at things from the villains side you can understand why they are viewed as they are and why they’ve done what have. It’s an interesting perspective and seeing them as teens in a world similar to ours makes them relatable. I’m really looking forward to more in this series as I can tell it’s going to be epic. If you like Disney and it’s villains you’ll like this.

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I received an ARC thanks to the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I started this story and was in love with it. I’ve been on a detective/case solving kick so I was excited to see this take on it. Plus, it’s about the bad guys. Who doesn’t love that? But despite these positives, I am disappointed. About halfway through I started to lose interest. There wasn’t enough action to keep me wanting to turn the page. I ended up putting it down multiple times and skimmed the last two chapter tbh. I’m sure for some this will be great, but just not feeling it. I wanted more clue solving and cutesy romance with James. Just overall not quite enough in all aspects, although I love Mary.

I may give the next one a shot in the hopes that book one set up will bring lots of fast-paced detective work in book 2.

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Mary Elizabeth Heart remembers when magic left Monarch City with the sudden and complete disappearance of the Scar's newest skyscraper two years ago. It couldn't compare to the murder of her parents and sister, but this loss is much bigger for Monarch City.

Now Mary is a high school intern with the police. Tensions are always high between the Scar's Legacy residents with magic and the wealthy Narrows encroaching on the land for cheap real estate and not caring about the area's magical legacy. But now a killer is taunting the police sending gift boxes of body parts.

When Mally Saint, the daughter of one of the city's richest residents, goes missing Mary Elizabeth is as surprised as anyone to be put on the case with rookie officer Bella Loyola. As the unlikely duo delves deeper into the case, Mary Elizabeth will have to decide what to do when she discovers uncomfortable truths about the culprit, her home, and her friends in City of Villains (2021) by Estelle Laure.

City of Villains is the first book in a trilogy that re-imagines the origins of some of Disney's most iconic villains in a fantasy noir setting. Think Veronica Mars meets CW's Nancy Drew but make it Disney.

Laure brings a lot of dimension to familiar territory as she ages down familiar characters like The Queen of Hearts (Mary Elizabeth), Captain Hook (Mary Elizabeth's boyfriend), Ursula (Mary Elizabeth's best friend) and more from all areas of the Disney morality spectrum. Disney fans will enjoy hunting down all of the Easter egg references to iconic characters. Those less familiar with the Disney-verse might wonder at the one-dimensionality of some characters who feel more like caricatures when distilled down to their key traits for brief appearances in the novel.

Monarch City as a setting owes a lot to Batman's Gotham City with its sinister shadows and political unrest. Unfortunately, Gotham City does not translate well to prose. Part of why it works in Batman is because that series is presented as comics or films—mediums with very different world building requirements than novels.

While the premise of a teen investigating a high profile case pushes the limit for plausibility, Mary Elizabeth's persistence and grit more than make up for this shortcoming. City of Villains is a lot of potential that isn't always allowed to fully blossom because of the marks it has to hit as a Disney property. A must-read for Disney fans and worth a look for readers who enjoy fantasy noir.

Possible Pairings: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, The Brokenhearted by Amelia Kahaney, Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter

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I wanted to love this so much - I thought it had such an interesting premise, but unfortunately, the execution failed for me. After reading the prologue and first chapter, I truly thought I was going to DNF it, but the mystery held my attention enough to keep going, and then I decided to just finish it. But it took me much longer than it should have to get through, and it's not a very long book. I feel like one of the problems I had with the book was that the writing was too juvenile and felt more like a middle grade read, but the content was more of a YA level, and so it created an issue with reading and being able to connect. I also think the characters were fairly one dimensional - we didn't really see much to them, which didn't help anything. I think I would have enjoyed this better if the Disney villains aspect wasn't part of the book - if it was just a contemporary fantasy with a mystery involving missing people, I think that would have worked better for me. I also think that the mystery was fairly obvious to uncover, and the final showdown also seemed to lack something. So I think the book just took itself a little too seriously for what it was, which made enjoyment difficult. I won't be continuing the series when future books come out, but I guess I don't regret finishing this one either.

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Mary Elizabeth, a high school student, is interning with the police. She’s wanted to work there ever since a tragedy happened and a police officer helped her. When one of her classmates goes missing, she will stop at nothing to find her.
Opinion
This story totally rocked! I’m a huge Disney fan and this story ended up giving a plausible (at least in fairy tales) backstory to so many characters. Laure has hit it out of the park with this one.
Many thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

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I received an eARC of this from Netgalley.

Overall this was enjoyable. Started off kind of slow to establish things but picked up partway through. It's clearly the beginning of a series and suffers a bit because of that but it was still a fun read.

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I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a unique take on some villain and origin stories, but it took me a while to get through due to some weird character background. I am interested in seeing what happens in the next book.

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I ended up DNFing this book at 21%. The premise of this book sounds like something I would love, but I found it missing the mark completely.

I felt like the writing was very corny and the way the characters interacted made me cringe. The main character had a classic case of "I'm not like other girls" syndrome and I couldn't deal with it.

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An interesting retelling origins of some Disney villains. Ones that are not a part are still nodded to ( a neighborhood is called the Scar, for example.) It is a much darker world that what Disney fans are used to, and a bit of a different group- high school age.

Magic died a few years back. A few years after that many people just disappeared out of existence. There are multiple faction groups who hope magic comes back, or are relieved it is gone. Living is difficult in the Dcar where everyone has lost someone in the Vanishing. Somehow a high school intern is allowed to investigate a disappearance of a classmate. Things are wild in this universe! Mary Elizabeth Hart is the intern. I liked her, but as the book focuses mostly on her I wanted to get to know the other characters better. This book is a great set up for more to come.

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I had a great time reading this book. It had a bit of a slow start, but once someone close to Mary goes missing it really got interesting. This makes solving this case in time a whole lot tougher for her. While the investigation moves forward, the plot thickens in more ways than one. As this book comes to a close, it looks like the story is far from over.

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Out the gate, I will start by saying that this is a younger YA story and if you go in expecting anything else you maybe disappointed. Yes, the main character is a senior in high school, but this definitely a younger YA story. It does a good job nailing the fairy tale-inspired crime aspects of the story; however, with such a large cast of characters the characterizations sometimes get a bit muddled up. Overall, I am interested in continuing on in the City of Villains because I had enjoyed the main selling point of it.

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I’ve never seen Descendants, but I imagine this is what you’d get if you mashed it up with Zootopia.

There may no longer be magic in the land of Monarch, but City of Villains definitely has some Disney Magic. There are fun nods to Disney classics (including iconic villain moments and some Hidden Mickey-type references,) but it’s a different beast entirely. In the Monarch City, villains are high schoolers with black heart tattoos and 100% human. The story follows Mary Elizabeth Heart, a Legacy interning at the local police station, and her search for the missing Mally Saint. When her best friend Ursula disappears, she realizes something bad is happening in Monarch and that magic may not be so lost after all.

The book had a promising start: "The world ended because of me." I mean, talk about an opening line. Despite the a lot of potenital, but it missed the mark in terms of execution. It's like Laure couldn't commit to a target audience, so we ended up with this weird Frankenstein of a Middle Reader YA book. She'd try to be all dark and gritty, but then she'd turn around a give us random lines like "James and I pause to kiss" and throwaway comments about Love Island. Despite the slightly more mature content, the writing was Fantasyland juvenile. Mary Elizabeth spent the whole time spelling everything out for the readers, and most of the book followed the basic subject+verb sentence structure everyone learns in 3rd grade, with only the occasional dependent clause to help break up the monotony. I know Disney is all about appealing to the kid inside of all of us, but this kid needed something a little more sophisticated.

The pacing was incredibly slow until we hit the climax when everything got super chaotic. Events were thrown together haphazardly, and Laure left some pretty big plot holes that could've been addressed if the first 100 or so pages weren't wasted on filler. The world building wasn't fully developed, and the characters were pretty one-dimensional. It's like Laure wanted to see how many villains she could cram into one story and forgot about character development. She was so focused more on dropping as many Easter eggs as she could, that writing an original retelling, unfortunately, took a backseat.

I will say that the mystery kept me invested and it was a quick read, so it didn't feel like a total waste of time. If you're a hardcore Disney fan or really like Zootopia, this might be worth giving it a shot. Otherwise, just watch Mickey's House of Villains or something to get your Disney baddie fix.

A dream is a request you make on NetGalley that Disney Books will occasionally answer.

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At first I was super excited to read this one, though I had heard a few not so good things about it, then as I started reading I wasn't disappointed in the least! I loved reading City of Villains Book 1 and honestly I can't wait to read more. Loved the characters and the development throughout was perfect. I couldn't get enough of this one!

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