Descendants: Rise of the Isle of the Lost follows Mal, Carlos, Jay, and Evie as they continue their lives at Auradon Prep. Mal feels the pressure of dating a royal and trying to meet everyone’s expectations. Things get more complicated when Arabella, King Triton’s granddaughter, tells them that his trident has gone missing. She’s worried, and so are the VKs. Back on the Isle, Uma finds out about the missing trident and sees it as her chance to escape, gain power, and finally be free. She’s jealous of Mal and wants revenge, so she puts together a pirate crew to go after the trident too. This sets up a race between the VKs and Uma to find the trident before it falls into the wrong hands.

This book does a good job at describing more of the world and life at Auradon Prep and goes into detail about how certain activities and games are played, which I thought was good. One thing I really liked was how the book described the characters’ outfits and shoes in detail—it helped me picture everything more clearly. The character development, especially the relationships and romance, was also interesting and gave a better sense of how the characters are growing and adapting to life in Auradon. There is also a bit of mystery and suspense to this film for example when the characters were trying to find locations to places. I’m not sure if it was just me, but I felt quite sorry for Uma. The book gave a deeper insight into her thoughts, and while Mal and her friends made her out to be this terrible villain, she didn’t seem truly bad. It felt more like she just wanted freedom—she didn’t want to be trapped on the Isle of the Lost any more. That made me sympathise with her in a lot of ways. I also found this book gave you lots more insight into how characters felt than the films did, which made you see more layers to Umas’ character.

However, the pacing felt slow in some parts, with sections where not much happened, making the story drag a bit. I was hoping for more action and tension earlier on. There is a great fight scene involving skeletons that I thought was done well, but when the final battle comes, it feels rushed and a bit confusing. Some scenes didn’t clearly explain how the characters got from one point to another, which made the climax harder to follow and not as satisfying as it could have been.

Escape from the Isle of the Lost Follows is a more mature book than its previous one and follows the gang as they are graduating from Auradon Prep. They decided to recruit more VK kids to Auruadon. Meanwhile, Uma is still angry. She is left behind and still trapped. She teams up with Hades to escape and finds a way to lure and control Mal to help open the barrier, but will the gang be able to stop Uma before it is too late?

What sets this book apart from the previous books in the series, is its deeper emotional tone and more complex character development. Mal, in particular, is struggling. As the daughter of Maleficent and now a future queen, she’s under intense pressure to be the perfect leader. She struggles with feelings of self-doubt, caught between her villainous roots and the high expectations of royalty. These make her far more relatable and human, showing readers that even heroes can be uncertain about their place in the world. The book also thoughtfully explores the growing pains of friendship and change. As the characters prepare to move on to the next chapters in their lives, there’s a quiet tension in how their relationships evolve. The bonds between them are still strong, but the reality of growing up and possibly growing apart is ever-present. These moments add a layer of realism to the fantasy, making the story resonate beyond its magical setting. I did think the book was rather slow-paced, and it felt like they could have had more exciting moments as it felt more like a drama until near the end. I laughed far more in this book compared to the previous one, with lots of the jokes being more clever and mature than in the previous story. I also liked how this time Mal was the one who was more in danger, leaving it up to the others to help her. Also appreciated the shift in dynamics this time around, with Mal being the one in danger and relying on her friends for support. It was refreshing to see her vulnerable, especially when she’s usually the one taking charge and helping others. Watching her fall under Uma’s control added an interesting twist to the story, as it allowed the others to step up and take more active roles.

While I still found parts of the book, particularly the action-heavy climax—slightly complicated to follow, it was noticeably clearer and less confusing than the previous instalment. That said, I do wish the rest of the group had a bit more involvement in the final showdown with Uma. Their roles still felt somewhat limited, and I would have liked to see more fights from each of them during the climax, instead of it just being left to Mal. 

Sofia Carson is an amazing narrator. Her voice is very soft and calming, but at the same time, she’s able to change it when she’s reading the boy characters. She gives them a different sound, and it really shows how much range she has. It’s like she’s not just reading the story—she’s acting it out with her voice, and that makes it way more engaging. Unfortunately, I found the microphone or what she used to record the book to not be very good and often when I would turn it up it would make the quality of her voice very crackly and poor quality.

Overall, these Descendants audio books are good but not great, but I am interested in reading the others. I feel like each book could be very different in terms of quality as I had mixed feelings. It did help my enjoyment that Sofia Carson was narrating the books, which made it more immersive and feel more like you were with the characters, especially as she was Evie in the films. I really hope she records more audiobooks in the future!