This struck me right in my Disney loving heart.

Evil Thing is a magnificent book by Serena Valentino that is surely to take you by surprise. We all know the story of The 101 Dalmatians but not so much on Cruella De Vil.

Throughout this story we get a peak at Cruellas life. From childhood to the days after she was exploited by the tabloids to be a madwoman.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of this book is absolute heartbreak. All the pieces fit perfectly to show how Cruella transformed into this evil thing. My favorite part was seeing her during her childhood with Anita and how she thrived in her adulthood before terrible things come into play.

The only thing thing I wasn’t pleased with was how fast Cruella De Vil descended into madness. I feel as if her state of mind should have been more pronounced in the beginning and middle of the story.

This was the first book I read in the Villains series, and let me just say it blew me out of the water. I was expecting a silly fun Disney cartoony read and instead I got punched in the gut with a heart wrenching story that had so much depth and genuine emotion. I was completely unprepared for the pummeling my heart took while reading this but I absolutely loved it.
I have always loved reading villain backstories because I think there is nothing more compelling that a bad guy that wasn’t always bad. Evil Thing does an incredible job building a believable but not predictable back story for Cruella that truly allows you to pity her, but still keeps her as a villain in the original text. I will absolutely be reading more books in this series.

I've read the first book in this series "Fairest of All" based on the evil queen in Snow White a few years ago and I really enjoyed that book. This book was a very slow burn for little payoff. I plan on reading the other books in between these two but I do like the fact that you can jump into any of these backstory retellings without needing to read the previous books. Cruella De Vil is an interesting character but also a very frustrating one. Much of that stems from her childish behavior but it does not get better the older she gets. It's very hard to sympathize with a character who consistently makes the same mistakes even with everyone around her trying to do their best for her. I think it will ultimately depend on each reader how they feel about Cruella De Vil and whether her descent into madness is justified.

Not being a fan of Cruella or the '101 Dalmation's' movie, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I considered skipping it, but having read all the other books in the series, I just couldn't bring myself to do that.

This book is completely different from the previous six in this series as it's a 100% stand-alone story. You can read this book without reading any of the others and still get the exact same experience as someone who's read them all.

There's no Odd Sisters (which was kind of refreshing) and no magic (maybe a little bit of a curse, but that's up to the reader to decide). Princess Tulip and Prince Poppinjay are mentioned only as characters in Cruella's favorite childhood fairy tales. Other than that, this is ALL Cruella.

I love what Ms. Valentino did with Cruella's childhood. The dynamic between Cruella and her mother really sets the stage nicely for her behavior later in life. I really liked the intense and very close friendship Cruella enjoyed with Anita as a child and into their teens. It made their later relationship much more tragic.

The only thing I was a bit bummed about was the ending...it felt very rushed. We go from normal fun-loving Cruella (who has bursts of anger and impatience) to all of a sudden...BAM! Crazy, off-the-rails, straight-up-lost-her-damn-mind Cruella. It was kind of jarring. The Cruella at the end, who was quoting the lines in the movie, felt like a completely different person than the one I had just spent an entire book reading about. Much more dramatic and obnoxious. It was a struggle to picture her behaving that way...but I suppose madness will do that to a person.

Overall though, much to my surprise, this is one of my favorite books in the entire series. It doesn't have that other-worldly fairy tale vibe to it, but it's a really good story and gives Cruella a layer of humanity she seemed to be otherwise lacking.

I definitely look forward to whatever comes next in this series. I've really enjoyed it thus far.

Distinguish Yourself.
One Disney villain who has never been given a deeper backstory is Cruella De Vil. Anita’s “dearly devoted old school mate”, in Disney’s 1961 original animated movie, 101 Dalmatians. A majority of this book is about Cruella’s disenchanted relationship with her mother, and her steadfast friend Anita. I just wish there was a little more story about her father, he seemed like an interesting man. This book does explain quite a few things. Such as, where her fortune came from, why she finds Anita’s marriage tedious, why she likes furs, why kidnap puppies, and has she always been evil? Cruella is relatable, and there are even a few points where she is likable. If anything, her descent into dognapping resulted from a neglectful upbringing. This retelling will leave you nostalgic for the movies, and it could have used a bit of the 1996 live action movie. Overall, this is a great coming of age character study, showing that not all little girls grow up to be good.
“The world was such a wholesome place until Cruella, Cruella De Vil” Songwriter Mel Leven, Cruella DeVil lyrics © Walt Disney Music Company

Throughout her entire life, Cruella De Vil has always looked up to her dear mama. When Cruella was young, her mother would spend one hour a day with Cruella to teach her the valuable lessons of fashion and how to distinguish yourself. But Cruella’s mother would never take the time to get to know her own daughter, and she would prefer to give Cruella gifts instead. The rest of the day, Cruella would be looked after by her governess while her mother lived a life of extravagance. Although she lived a life of immense wealth and power, Cruella was very lonely and had only one true friend, Anita.
Evil Thing presents a new perspective of the iconic villain from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Cruella De Vil. Told in her own voice, we slowly get to witness the transformation of a lonely rich girl into the cruel and flamboyant Cruella De Vil.
Evil Thing is part of the Villains series, a collection of novels that tells the lives of the memorable Disney villains, all from their own point of view. This was my first time reading a book from this collection, and I was very surprised by just how much I enjoyed Evil Thing. Cruella’s distinct voice shines through on every page, so much so that you feel as if Cruella is telling you her story directly. I loved reading her story and learning to know why someone could become so obsessed about making a fur coat out of dalmatians.
I would recommend Evil Thing by Serena Valentino to Disney fans and to those (like me) who were so curious as to why anyone would think of making a fur coat out of puppies!
*I received an advanced reader’s copy of Evil Thing from Netgalley and Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. *

Evil Thing is book number 7 in the villain series and it was just as amazing as the rest of the stories. While this one is completely different than the others I thoroughly enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. There is a small part of the fairy-tale world and an important tie-in with a pair of earrings but outside of that this is a dark and sad story of Cruella DeVille and her slow progression into insanity that takes place in the human world. The story starts with her childhood in a very wealthy home where Cruella truly doesn't know what true love is or the forms it comes in. She seeks her mother's approval and attention from the start and she continually gets hit with tragedy and grief. As the reader one can't help but hold their breath and feel their own heart break for we are all too familiar with the demise of Cruella Deville. I highly recommend and another amazing story to go with the Villain Series.

There's always another side to the story. The notorious Cruella De Vil offers her memoir that gives a glimpse of her sad, lonely childhood and the pain and bad luck that continued into her adulthood and eventually drove her mad. Growing up as child in an extremely wealthy home, Cruella only ever wanted love and affection from her mother. Her father offered her unconditional love and support, but sadly died early leaving her to the whims of his selfish and arrogant wife. Friendship and support were offered to Cruella by Anita, her childhood friend, and by the household staff and servants, but Cruella was too busy chasing her mother's attention and affection to realize this until she drove them all away..

This book reminded me of Gregory McDonald's "Wicked," where your heart breaks for who you have long thought as the villainess, only to realize the pain and abuse that was endured and how circumstances made them into who they notoriously became. I had not realized this was a part of a series while I was reading this, so I was delighted to learn that Serena Valentino has penned the "memoirs" of other leading vilenesses! This series would be great additions to YA collections in middle and high school libraries.

This book was given to me by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

It's hard to believe you can feel bad for Cruella but some how Serena pulls it off. The story follows Cruella throughout her life up until the crime. She wonderfully expands on the characters we all know and love. And she even she keeps you wondering if things are as they seem for some of the players.
It's interesting to see the story through Cruella and how far she goes off the rails without realizing it. Gives you a good understanding of people who will do anything to be loved, even if it never happens.

I love retelling stories, they are my favorite type of stories to read. The best retellings are the villain's story that explains who they were before and how they became so wicked.

Cruella De Vil is one of my top favorite Disney villains. I was thrilled to receive this ARC and didn't waste any time reading it. This story is not like any other and truth be told this is my first time reading the Villians series and I own all the other books and never got to them yet. Once I saw a story about Cruella I knew I wanted to read the story as soon as possible.

Just like any other villain, they were once a child, we get to know Cruella as a little girl, teen, and then an adult. We also get to meet some familiar faces like Anita. New characters we get to meet are Cruellas parents and how each one treats her differently.

I can say that I didn't absolutely love the book and I could also say I didn't hate the book either. I just felt like something was missing in the story, I felt like the whole time we were chasing Cruellas mother threw the whole story and nothing was coming of it. All I can say is that something was missing in this story and I felt like it could have been a lot better with a twist of a storyline with the infamous character, Cruella. Maybe I feel this way because I didn't read the other books?

The author was detailed in her writing and did keep me reading and wanting more of the story however I just wished there was more detailed work on Cruella's background story. One detail I like that the author did was explaining in detail about Cruella and how she got her looks as far as her hair and how she is skinny and how she was losing herself.

The story does follow up towards the end where Cruella wants the Dalmation puppies and for the reason for it, I wish there was more detail as to Cruella and more of a background of herself.

Not a bad retelling story, I look forward to reading more from this author and the other Villian stories.

Not bad but very much a slow descent into madness.

“Evil Thing” gives the infamous Cruella the chance to tell her side of the story we all know so well and this time we get to meet the young girl desperate to make her father proud and earn her mother’s love even if it means giving up everything.

I haven’t read the other books in this series so I don’t know if they’re all this kind of character study but it was interesting to see this rather long, drawn out take on Cruella going from this young girl who is blinded by her mother’s presence and her wishing to twist herself into someone worthy of Lady De Vil’s affection even if it meant burning bridges with those who truly care for her.

My biggest critique is I felt like the emphasis here was on the drawn out part, there is very little action with any and all moments that could have amped up the tension or offered something to the plot happened offscreen so we only got Cruella’s perception on what might have happened behind closed doors or her self isolation which helped create her iconic image. I wish we could have gotten more of that grit and sass that comes with such an iconic character and while I appreciated the arc of her delusion what was fed by her innocent attempt to be loved this book was really, really slow.

Overall this isn’t bad just not what I would have expected for a character that has been portrayed so many times with such a commanding presence so if you’re looking for the wide eyed fashionista shrieking through Hell Hall you’ll be disappointed.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for the providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

I love a Disney villain! I Evil Thing follows Cruelle De Vil's journey from a young girl to the villain that we know and love. I highly recommend reading Evil Thing as well as the other books in this series.

This book would be great for doing a point of view lesson in the classroom. I loved reading about Cruella as she progressed through life. The reader was able to understand the character of Cruella better - what made her so evil! Quick read!

After the well-known events surrounding the dog-napping and rescuing of the 101 Dalmatians, Cruella De Vil finds herself recounting the story to author Serena Valentino in this eye opening account of heartbreak, betrayal, and fashion. Cruella explains her lavish upbringing and how the different aspects of growing up with an absentee mother, a loving yet absent father, and a best friend who does not rise to the same social status influences one's worldview. Through interacting with these three, Cruella recounts the events leading up to her desire for a spotted fur coat and how these events lead to her downfall.

Valentino's writing comes alive as she captures Cruella De Vil's distinct voice and mannerisms. Evil Thing will keep you up late, turning pages as you try to understand the least understandable Disney villain. The unique perspective presented will interest Disney lovers as they approach Cruella and walk away with a "sudden chill" that will leave them looking at the villain with new eyes.

I only know about Cruella through the years because of 101 Dalmatians Disney cartoon, however, I never watched it so I never really knew how she was like in the cartoon. But I enjoyed this book very much as it explained a lot of things about her backstory that showed you how and why she became the sort of loveless and vain person she turned out to be.

Cruella is on a whole other level when it comes to Disney villains for me, seriously, she wanted to murder 101 puppies to make a coat! That just makes all the other villains seem trivial right?!

Due to that, I really had high hopes for this book, some horrible event occurring that turned her into the woman she became, but no such luck. I mean, there is definitely some horrible things that happen to Cruella as a child, mother-daughter drama, and there are moments when I can see her redeemable qualities, but even as a child, Cruella was close-minded and obnoxious, which made this story really hard to like.

Evil Thing, clearly shows all the pieces of Cruella's life that lead her to become the insane woman she was in 101 Dalmatians. The story starts off interesting, and I love the people around her and how supportive they were, which made me think as I was about halfway through that Cruella doesn't see reality, she lives in, and creates her own.

The writing of this novel, overall, was easy to follow and I really enjoyed some of the dialogue exchanges, especially between Cruella and Anita. The end seemed very rushed in comparison to the rest of the story.

This would be a good book for someone who loves this series and really wants to read them all, or if you're ok with not having a complex character.

Cruella De Vil has always existed on another level of Disney-Villian. I love twisted-tales, but you very infrequently hear people try to justify and provide the reasoning behind her villianry because... well maybe just watch "Twisted" from the musical of the same name.

The pacing of Evil Thing just felt off. I get this is a hard to redeem character and the easiest way to provide a reason for someone's action is through a bad childhood, but while we got to spend a lot of time watching Cruella as a child, we didn't actually get to know the person who sparked her decent towards puppy-murderess or experience the bigger events leading to said puppy-murdering in a way that felt equal to the book's slow gradual opening.

I didn't love it, but that definitely had a lot more to do with the difficulty for the source material than it did with Valentino's writing. That part was fantastic.

Wow! I have waited for this book since finding out that another book in this series was arriving. I have been obsessed with this series from the very beginning. Serena Valentino does a phenomenal job of providing the backstories of Disney Villains, and in the previous books, she explains their connections to one another. So, I was a bit surprised when I read this one and found no connection to any of the other books in this series.

This book follows the story of Lady Cruella De Vil. She's most known for accumulating puppies and trying to make a fur coat out of them, but no one knew why before now. She had to endure a terrible mother, a fantastic father, and a lot of self-induced trouble and anger. While this is not my favorite book in the series, it was an easy read. I thoroughly enjoyed learning the history of Cruella, but I wish there was a connection to the previous books in the series. (I suspect the earrings may be a connection, but there is no proof.)

Thank you so much #Netgalley and Disney Book Group for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fun retelling of Cruella de Vil. I enjoyed the story of her growing up and how she came to want the puppies. Another wonderful volume of this series.

In the end, everything isn’t always as black-and-white as the markings on a Dalmatian puppy. Even for an evil thing like Cruella De Vil.

But some things are as black-and-white as Cruella’s hair… like just how good this book really is, even when compared to its high caliber predecessors.

Evil Thing: A Tale of That De Vil Woman is my favorite Disney Villains novel by Serena Valentino (so far!). Surpassing my long-reigning favorite Fairest of All, Evil Thing is told by Cruella herself and is more deeply character-driven than prior villains stories. With a swish of her fur coat and an appropriate amount of ‘darling!’, Cruella dramatically enters our hearts and minds in a complex and clever origin story of her own making. Evil Thing brings a new flavor to the series while employing the most effective storytelling tools from Valentino’s repertoire.

“I suppose I could start my story here in Hell Hall, where all my marvelous plans were born from the darkness.”

We are familiar with the old De Vil estate in the country – that which Cruella so fondly refers to as ‘Hell Hall’ – from Disney’s 101 Dalmations. Along with Cruella, that decrepit, spooky mansion where Horace and Jasper not-so-successfully babysit all those puppies is our storyteller. We also know of Cruella’s cruel intentions for those precious pups thanks to the film. So, what more is there to know about ‘this vampire bat, this inhuman beast’? So much more.

Like Fairest of All, Evil Thing transports the reader to the protagonist’s time and place. We find ourselves walking the halls of Lord De Vil’s grandiose mansion in ‘Belgravia’ (it even sounds grand, doesn’t it?). Not to mention Cruella’s “lessons in French, watercolor painting, needlepoint, reading, and writing” help set the scene of her childhood.

That ‘Clark Gable smile’ Cruella’s father so handsomely wears coupled with her mother’s jewel-dripping beauty provide the cherry on top for our introduction to Cruella’s lavish life. Valentino’s fondness for morning rooms plays out in this story too – it is described as cozy and beautiful, with its window-filled walls and French doors that lead to the terrace, though it is most significantly the room Cruella’s mother prefers.

Like The Beast Within, Valentino meaningfully juxtaposes superficial happiness – wealth and status – with meaningful relationships. Cruella’s denial and distorted measure of ‘love’ is cause for appropriate angst throughout the story. Cruella relishes in her desire to be a ‘lady’ but paves her own confident, quirky, yet entitled path. The character exploration conducted in Evil Thing is unlike any villains novel before it.

Unlike Poor Unfortunate Soul which was, in some ways, too close to The Little Mermaid, and Mistress of All Evil which was far removed from Sleeping Beauty, Evil Thing is the Goldilocks of the series – its balance with 101 Dalmations is just right.

Evil Thing so profoundly thrusts the reader into Cruella’s childhood and early experiences that the film is a postscript: Evil Thing drives 101 Dalmations, not the other way around. It is consistent with the Disney story but takes on a life of its own. In this way, Valentino cements her Villains-writing stride – expressing an unfiltered confidence in her own storytelling – and in doing so reminds fans why she is the ultimate voice for Disney’s villains.

Like Mother Knows Best and The Odd Sisters, the introduction of original characters in Evil Thing takes us into a new dimension of Disney. These characters are not two-dimensional supporting players in Cruella’s story – they have their own baggage, guilt, motivations and opinions. Inspired by television series like Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey, Evil Thing inspires a whole new level of complex relationships and audience immersion. One that is – in true Valentino villains style – turbulent, tragic and enthralling.

While Lord Silverton’s character in the book is “perfect and boring, like vanilla ice cream”, Valentino’s Evil Thing is “a many tiered cake, with alternating dark chocolate and vanilla layers.” It is a mature, complex and confronting origin story with a mother-daughter relationship never before seen in the Disney universe.

Fans will be too busy riding a seesaw of sympathy in Evil Thing to notice that some of their favorite characters from prior books are not mentioned. Valentino manages this artfully, providing us with yet another reason why Cruella’s story ultimately succeeds in distinguishing itself.