Main Character: Duchess Swan
Length: 212 pages
Author: Suzanne Selfors
Summary (contains some spoilers, I tried not to reveal too much): "Next Top Villain" is the title of one of the newer books in the Ever After High franchise, it is not part of the original series but a stand alone book. This story centers around Duchess Swan and her interactions at Ever After High.
Young Duchess is being raised by her Grandmother who informs her of her destiny after Duchess's feet start to turn into webbed feet.
Fast forward to the new school year at Ever After High. Duchess has learned to control her changes and can now change into a swan at will. Duchess doesn't like her destiny and wants a happily ever after, preferably with her crush Daring Charming. Daring however can not even remember her name and seems to be interested in her roommate Lizzie Hearts.
Duchess is assigned to take General Villainy with Mr. Badwolf and wants to be transferred to a different class since she isn't a villain. Mr. Badwolf tells the class they must do something villainous by the end of the week in order to get a good grade. Duchess is upset and doesn't want to do the project because she can't figure out why she is even in that class. Blondie Lockes does a Mirror Cast about the class project and titles it "Who Will Be The Next Top Villain?"
Duchess overhears Mr. Badwolf ask Headmaster Grimm why he assigned Duchess to that class. Headmaster Grimm responds by saying that he thinks maybe Duchess has a bit of black swan blood in her. He also says that if she did well in that class she could go on to learn black magic and change her destiny, which could then make her the next Evil Queen. Duchess wants to change her destiny so bad that she decides her General Villainy project will be to ruin everyone else's project.
Duchess succeeds in ruining most of her classmates projects and by doing so she alienates Lizzie who is one of her only friends. When the rest of the school starts treating her differently she is upset. Raven tells Duchess she will not be liked if she decides to continue with being a villain.
The Next Top Villain comes down to Duchess and another classmate. When that classmate's project threats Lizzie's safety Duchess manages to rescue her. As a result of saving Lizzie, Duchess receives a grade of DG (Do Gooder),the worse grade you can get, on her project for General Villainy.
Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed learning more about Duchess's character and background. I might even get the "Destiny Do Over" for this book and see what it would have been like if some of the choices had been made differently. I'm looking forward to the next book, which from the cover looks like it will be about Ginger Breadhouse.
