Next Top Villain

A new book series in the Ever After High franchise begins, focusing on Duchess Swan and Lizzie Hearts, two characters who are mostly on the sidelines in the other Ever After High books and animation series. They happen to be roommates, and unlikely friends, and at the start of the novel they are both assigned to take a General Villainy class for their new year at Ever After High. Lizzie is fine with her schedule, but Duchess is livid; her story involves her as the good guy, not a villain. She tries to convince Mr. Bad Wolf to fix her schedule, but he refuses to listen, and instead informs Duchess that she will fail unless she performs adequately in the classroom. In disgust with the lack of villainy in his new class, Mr. Bad Wolf issues show more a challenge: all students must perform something nasty and horrible by the end of the week. The student with the most villainous deed passes, while all the rest fail.

Duchess is now in a quandary. She has always performed exceptionally well in her studies, with perfect grades and reports. Now she must act evil to keep her good record, or be good and lose it. To make matters worse, Blondie learns about the assignment and hypes it up like a reality contest - the next top villain. She follows all the villainy students around and constantly pesters them with interviews and predictions about their performance.

While she is still mulling over whether to fail (and stay good) or succeed (and be evil), the Duchess overhears a conversation between Headmaster Grimm and Mr. Bad Wolf. She learns that the Headmaster had her placed in General Villainy because he believes her to have a bad swan side that could make her a wonderful villain. Duchess is at first horrified, but when she hears him explain, her feelings change. Headmaster Grimm declares that if she has an aptitude for villainy, she can master black magic, and then prevent her fate of becoming a swan forever. Duchess has secretly always wanted a happy ending of her own, and if it means she has to become a villain to get one, she is willing to let her black side out.

Duchess decides to ace her General Villainy homework. Since she doesn't have any magic beside her skill of transforming into a swan, she takes Sparrow Hood up on his offer to work as a team. He suggests that Duchess use her shape-shifting abilities to spy on the other villainy students, and sabotage their own plans. Duchess proves to be quite good at disrupting the others' schemes, but when she has to betray her only friend, Lizzy, she might not be able to follow through with her own wicked plans.

This is a fast, enjoyable read. I appreciated a book exploring some of the lesser developed characters in the series, and found the conflict besetting Duchess to be believable and a great way to develop her character. She is a much more rounded character in this book than she ever has been in the animated series. Her hopeless crush on Charming is both funny and sad, and is mirrored by his hopeless crush on Lizzy Hearts. I would certainly read more stories about these two supposed villain girls. From previews on Amazon, it appears the author will be penning more books about other lesser known characters in the franchise, and I look forward to reading them. show less

Duchess Swan may not have a storyline with a Happily Ever After at the end, but she doesn't have a drop of evil in her bloodline -- so when she gets her class schedule and discovers that she is taking General Villainy, she is sure there must be some mistake. When Professor BadWolf refuses to let her transfer out and sets the entire class the assignment to do something nasty and rotten by the end of the week, Duchess is not sure what to do. Should she let the assignment slide and get her first ever failing grade . . . or should she complete the assignment, even if it means straying from her storyline? Is becoming evil the only way Duchess can achieve a Happily Ever After?

This was a cute story. I'm unfamiliar with the Ever After High show more franchise, so I don't know how it compares to other books in the series. The premise was a lot like The School for Good and Evil, but with a much smaller page count. I think fans of the series will enjoy this, though I didn't like it enough to recommend it for general consumption! show less

This book is about two girls, Duchess Swan and Lizzy Hearts. They are both princesses that have been selected to attend a General Villainy class at Ever After High. The two princesses and the other students in their class compete in a competition to see who will be the next Top Villian. Who wins? You will have to read the book to find out! I liked this book because I really liked the friendship between Duchess Swan and Lizzy Hearts. Even though they are competing against each other, they still have a great bond.