It is exciting to see Hades join the Villains series! This is the tenth book in the series and it is not a standalone story - to understand what is happening you definitely need to know the wider story arcs. It mixes traditional mythological tales with Disney in an interesting way (who could have guessed Circe was related to Snow White!?), though sometimes Hades himself felt a bit missing for such an intriguing character! The writing style is fairly simple and easy to read, though at times the story and characters did seem just a little under developed. But this doesn’t detract from it being a fun and enjoyable read for series readers, especially if they’re Greek myth fans!

Really enjoyed this one.

Loved the art work.

I also love the front cover to this.

I love the character of Hades!

I managed to get my own physical copy of this too!

Absolutely love this series of books and the villains are my favourite characters in all the Disney films. Hades is one of my favourites and I was so excited to read this one. I really enjoyed this one, I would recommend reading the others in the series too to fully understand the writing style and storytelling. Thank you Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

This book really fell flat for me. I love Disney and Greek mythology. Also a big fan of stories told from the villains perspective. This should have been right up my street. However poor Hades gets next to no depth or character development whatsoever. Sadly wouldn't recommend

Hercules has always been one of my favourite Disney movies, and I have always liked Hades - both in the movie and in the Greek mythology. Villains have fascinated me from early one, particularly the aspect of a villain depending on who's telling the story. Therefore, Fire & Fate excited me a lot and I had high expectations for it.

Unfortunately, the writing seemed very rushed and juvenile, a way too simplistic for a middle grade novel. For a book set in the ancient Greece (it happens before and during the movie timeline), there's a lot of contemporary references which disturbed the reading experience. Hades's characterisation was superficial and the author spend much more time focusing on the different witches. A bit disappointing since it would have been wonderful to have Hades front and centre of the attention. Overall, Hades's portrayal and the backstory didn't seem to fit the character and it was quite unbelievable. It felt like the author tried hardest to fit Hades into the series instead of writing a story about Hades.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for a review. As a mass Greek Mythology Nerd, I was ecstatic that the 10th book in Valentino's series was to be Hades. Personally I enjoyed the book but must mention the importance of reading earlier works to gain full effect of the story. Valentino ties up some loose ends in a truly satisfying way.

Despite my love for Hades and all things Hercules. I have to admit this is definitely my least favourite of the villains series. The writing often seemed rushed and repeated itself quite a bit and Hades received significantly less characterisation than his predecessors in Valentino's novels.

Nevertheless, I appreciated how this installment in the series wrapped up a few loose ends. I just didn't want to sacrifice Hades' story in the process.

This book was interesting in concept but I feel like you had to be aware of a lot of wider material in order to understand everything. Going in to it I thought you'd just have to know the plot of the film and who Hades is as a character but there were many references to Odd Sisters, the Fairy Godmother, Maleficent and Snow White but not in the ways you typically know them. It can be tricky to keep it all in line in your head but once you get used to it is quite interesting how it all fits together.

What I enjoyed the most about this story was how you start to feel empathetic for Hades and how he was shunned by his brother Zeus and all the other Olympians. That was a good aspect of his story to explore.

I would recommend this book if you've read others that are like it but as a stand alone Disney novel it slightly misses the mark for me.

Sadly, this book fell flat for me. I’m a huge Hercules fan and loved Hades in the movie and felt like his portrayal in this book just didn’t hit the spot. His backstory attempt felt very unbelievable and I struggled to stay interested.

It seems as though this book is part of a wider series as there is references to the other books which didn’t sit well with me.

This isn’t my cup of tea but I do applaud the author and wish them the very best come release day!

Not my cup of tea. I found Hades a bit flat as a character, the story jumped around too much, and I was just a bit disappointed overall. A shame as Hades is one of my favourite characters. Not the best

Another great story in the Disney Villains series. The book links to previous villain stories within the series and tells Hade's story not just from the author's viewpoint but also from the character's view. Raising new questions on who the next villain tale will be about and answering questions along the way of how the Disney world is linked per story. Excited to add this book to my Disney Villains collection.

Underwhelming. Felt like a weird attempt at giving Hades a backstory that wasn’t really believable. The concept was good, the execution lacked. I did love the tell of the odd sisters and Circe. And I loved that Hades got a happy ending with his friends.

Thank you to NetGalley and Igloo Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

The myth has been told for Brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades waged a years-long war against their father Cronus and his tyrannical Titans. Upon their mighty victory, Zeus split the world into three. For himself, he claimed the Sky and what fell below it. To his brother Poseidon, he assigned dominion over the Sea. And his oldest brother, Hades, would rule the Underworld. While Hades tries to make the best of a lonely situation, eternity proves a long time to be forced live in a role—a domain—he never wanted. And the part of the story no one tells is that when your family treats you like a villain, it is far too easy to become one. Years of being ignored and shamed by his family reach a fiery head, when three perfectly alive witches find their way into the land of the dead. Bored and lonely, Hades befriends these mysterious Odd Sisters and makes a bargain that will change the course of fate. But when you’re a god, making a deal has the potential to rewrite more stories than just your own…

To me, Hades is a very sassy character. I don’t like to see him as anything other than that. Unfortunately, he didn’t live up to the expectations I had. He just felt rather bland throughout the entirety of the story which is incredibly disappointing. In all previous Villains books, the essence of the character has always been very well captured but in Hades’ case, it just doesn’t feel like him to me. Nor does this book really get his character right. I had hoped that it was just in the beginning and I needed to settle into the book and it would get better, but no. He was rather one note from beginning to end which I found such a shame because there are so many directions you can go with Hades and still be successful in getting his character bang on.

I really enjoy reading the Disney Villains series, especially to see how all these characters’ stories entwine to create one bigger story. But this one may just have to be my least favourite. The plot didn’t have much going on at all. The flow was good because I was able to read through the story very quickly but it was majorly lacking in the substance that the others in this series possess. The characters were okay, I won’t delve more into my thoughts about Hades. It was nice seeing the Odd Sisters in their many forms but that was about it. If I’d stuck at it, I easily could have finished this book in just over an hour but I forced myself to slow down and read it in 4 sittings - mainly in the hopes that the story would get better, which sadly wasn’t the case. The ending was rather lacklustre too other than the very final page which sets up the next possible problem for the recurring characters to handle. I’d say this is more of a 2.5 stars for me but I’ll be generous and round it up.

Overall, Fire & Fate is a story I was rather excited for but fell incredibly flat for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you again to NetGalley and Igloo Books for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be live on my blog on release day.

I loved this.

Having just read another retelling of The Wicked Step-Sisters I was super excited to delve into the backstory of another Disney Villain and this did not disappoint. I'm a huge Hercules fan and Hades is one of my favourite Disney characters so this really did hit the spot for me. I really loved how the story crossed over with other Disney characters as I am a Disney nerd and I would thoroughly recommend this book.

I love Disney in any of its forms so I was so excited to be able to read this book. I really enjoyed it just as much as I thought I would.

Fire & Fate is about Hades from Disney’s Hercules, and how he came to be the villainous king of the underworld we know so well. I loved reading his backstory and how his story overlapped with other Disney stories, for example, The Little Mermaid, and other well-known characters such as Gothel and Maleficent. At times I was somewhat confused but I think this was simply that there were a lot of characters mentioned and I found it a little bit hard to keep on top of them all. Despite this, I loved the author’s writing style and thought that Hades was portrayed excellently, as I could almost HEAR him saying his words the way the movie character would have. I would definitely recommend this to any Disney fans, particularly fans of Hades like me!

Beyond excited to acquire these books for our readers! You can never go wrong with Disney and it’s fun to see the villain point of view. Will be sharing much more soon!