Poor Unfortunate Soul by Serena Valentino

Synopsis

Title: Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch
Author: Serena Valentino
Genre: Young Adult/Fairy Tales/Retellings
My Rating: 3/5
Add To: Goodreads


The third novel in Serena Valentino's (Fairest of All, Beast Within) "VILLAINS" trilogy, featuring the story of the Little Mermaid from the perspective of the sea witch Ursula.

My Thoughts

★★★ Star

Poor unfortunate souls In pain, in need
This one longing to be thinner, That one wants to get the girl
And do I help them? Yes, indeed
Those poor unfortunate souls

I was super excited to see this book and FINALLY be able to read it, but sadly I was let down horribly. I really expected this book to be about Ursula, it wasn't. She was only mentioned from time to time. 

I really liked seeing her back story though and finding out why she was so evil and I am glad I never liked Triton in the first place. Who knew he was such a freaking punk a** jerk! You gotta be a real low life to treat a person that way and then be angry and wonder why they turned out the way they did.

I wasn't a fan of how this was written either. It is told in around 4 or 5 POV with no indication as to who was telling their part of the story until later in the chapter or so. It was really annoying and I didn't see the point in half of them, really. I mean yeah, they are a part of the story but they weren't THE story. They were side characters. 

Also, the cat (I already forgot the name, I don't care). Any time she was brought up, instead of just saying her name, they described her. Again and again and again and again. Why? No, seriously. Why? We already know what she looks like, why the hell keep repeating? I should have kept track of how many times she was described. But whatever. 

Who the hell are the sisters? The Three Sisters which makes zero freaking sense to me because they are constantly looking for their missing sister.... soooo.... why keep calling them the "three" when they are actually four? And the only three sisters I know of are those hag witches who are turn your stomach because their skin is so gross, their hair is stringy and they are....blind? I think. or have one eye? I dunno. But the three in this book were constantly said to be beautiful, so I have no idea.

The ending was so anticlimactic. It was so boring it was dang near pointless to keep reading. Even though I am sure everyone knows how The Little Mermaid ends, it would have been nice to have a ending worth actually reading. This was was like like a deadpan voice going "oh no. she was harpooned." or something. 

All in all, it could have been better.