Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
Release Date: May 31, 2022
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Dark Fantasy
In this sequel to City of Villains by critically acclaimed author, Estelle Laure, teen detective Mary Elizabeth continues to unravel a dark conspiracy that has turned her best friend and boyfriend into villainous monsters—all while battling her own inner demons.
Picking up where City of Villains left off, this sequel
finds Mary Elizabeth reeling from the battle at Miracle Lake in which
she watched, horrified, as her boyfriend James and best friend Ursula
turned into full-fledged, villainous monsters. Now James, Ursula, and
Maleficent have gone underground—and are plotting their revenge. Mary
Elizabeth is determined to find them and bring the truth to light,
digging deeper into the dark underbelly of Monarch City and the history
of magic, and uncovering a conspiracy theory that reaches farther than
she could have imagined. But a city divided by politics and ideologies, a
new love interest, and her own inner demons might just stand in her
way.
What are the Villains planning in secret? And is she the next villain to rise?
City of Hooks and Scars is the second installment in author Estelle Laure's City of Villains series. 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. In this sequel to City of Villains, teen detective Mary Elizabeth Heart continues to unravel a dark conspiracy that has turned her best friend and boyfriend into villainous monsters—all while battling her own inner demons.
Picking up where City of Villains left off, this sequel finds Mary is reeling from the battle at Miracle Lake in which she watched, horrified, as her boyfriend James and best friend Ursula turned into full-fledged, villainous monsters, and she was forced to make a stunning move to save his life. Now James (aka Captain Hook), Ursula (aka Sea Witch), and Mally Saint (aka Maleficent), have gone underground and are plotting their revenge.
She's been terminated from her job, along with her former partner Belle, who is now investigating several powerful key characters like Kyle Attenborough. Meanwhile kids from all over the Scar are disappearing and her villainous friends are being blamed for it all. Mary is being held up as both a hero and a villain for what she did during the battle for Miracle Lake. She's basically an outcast at her High School since none of her friends are there to watch her back.
Now, alone, except for her Aunt Gia, she begins to question her choices even though it might mean giving into the dark side. After visiting a villain named Caleb Rothco (aka Mad Hatter), breaks out of prison after her visit, Mary begins to hearing voices telling her to make a decision on who she wants to be, and starts seeing a character called Queen of Hearts. Readers are also introduced to a new character named Jasmine, which, I think, we all know who she is based on.
Mary's paranoia is real in that there's a new group called Watchers who seem to be everywhere she goes. Mary isn’t a stranger to loss, having lost her parents and sister, and with the introduction of magic back into the Scar, she knows that she has to peel back the layers of the conspiracy. The majority of the book focuses on Mary’s investigation plus how she deals with her trauma and what she did to James in order to free him from the cruel lab where Mary was injected with magic that seems to have altered her in ways she will soon have to decide to accept, or refuse.
City of Hooks and Scars pretty much goes in way you expect. After all, this is a series about villains, not heroes, ergo, you will be seeing a whole new cast of villains coming soon.
