Much like Disney has done with Maleficient, making a sympathetic origin story for a classic villain can be a challenge. Being a novelization of a film, this book reads almost like a screenplay, including scenes that were obviously written to be more visual than narrative. As with all of these types of books, you're likely better off with the movie in this case. Despite Rudnick turning this story into something readable, the story does drag on and wraps up a little bit too neatly.