Liz Braswell

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin. When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war. What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again. Praise for A Whole New World: "A magic carpet ride of a book! A fun and unpredictable retelling of the classic Aladdin story, a must-read for all of us Disney fans!" -Melissa de la Cruz

A Twisted Tale

A Whole New World

Kaitlin Simpson

Underwhelming 

I absolutely adore stories that take a different approach to the classic fairy tales. While this one was definitely different and unique, I was just underwhelmed. I wasn’t hooked or invested in the story or the new characters. It was lacking something.

Beatrice

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

I ADORE everything Disney. And, in particular, Aladdin has always been one of my absolute favourite Disney movies. So, when I heard about this book, I was (quite obviously) so incredibly excited! A book asking "what if everything had just gone horribly wrong and Jafar ended up actually obtaining the Genie's lamp?", what could be better? Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed, and this book didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Now, for me, this wasn't quite as terrible as other reviewers seem to have found it. But still, there were a lot of things that just didn't work for me and I ended up finding this kind of a meh read. For starters, the first 25% or so of the book is basically the exact same thing as the movie, with even characters saying the exact same lines. Of course, I see why this may be needed to introduce the story, but nevertheless became pretty annoying fairly quickly. Things really started moving only once Jafar summoned the Genie and started using his wishes to become ruler of Agrabah and the world's most powerful sorcerer. From then on, we start following Aladdin and Jasmine as they plan to take the throne back.

My biggest disappointment was definitely in the characters. I hoped that having the story in book form we would get to know the characters a lot better than we do in the movie. Unfortunately, while we are given some backstory for Aladdin and Jafar, this is really minimal. For the rest, the characters for the most part recreate their movie counterparts, but end up losing a lot of their appeal in the process. The Genie, in particular, had almost nothing of the funny, witty and sparkling Robin Williams character. True, he doesn't have much to be happy about, having Jafar as a master, but I still felt like there was a lot missing there.

It wasn't ALL bad, though! I liked the fact that we saw a lot more of the poorer Agrabah, and came to know the Street Rats, the poorest of the poor who survive on thievery alone. This was definitely an element that was worth reading about, and it was very interesting to see them risk everything to free their city. And the female characters definitely had a much bigger role to play than in the movie, with the tough, no-nonsense Street-Rat-leader Morgiana and a very different Princess Jasmine. Book-Jasmine is still the sassy princess we all love, but this time round she is much more an active element of the plot. Once she is deposed by Jafar, Jasmine takes matters into her own hands and, rather than marrying him, starts to lead the revolution so that she may become sultana again. She witnesses poverty and war, and it changes her, and I loved her for this.

Overall, this was a pretty average read, although it may have suffered because my expectations were so high. It definitely had a way darker tone than the movie did (characters DIE! And there is torture!! And war!!!), but it suffers a bit in character development (or lack thereof). There were some different elements that are worth exploring, but overall I was disappointed. The idea behind this was amazing though, and I would say that if it intrigues you, you should still check it out, maybe through your local library.

For more reviews, check out Book for Thought.

I thought it was a pretty decent book. I liked seeing things from Jasmine’s perspective rather than in Aladdin’s like in the movies. Pretty good, but not amazing. 

Maggie Hotmer

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin. When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war. What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

Steph L 

a fun retelling 

This book is a twist on Aladdin and it was a lot of fun to read. I loved the characters and their interactions. The story was interesting although it had some points for me. I enjoyed the writing and thought it worked well to tell the story. The romance and friendships was what kept me reading to see where they were going. I would recommend this for fans of Disney.

Jasmine Neville

I’m not sure if I was in a reading slump or if this book was not what I was wanting but I didn’t love this as much as I thought I would which is disappointing but I still enjoyed some parts of the book.

J Ashlie

So dark and twisty. More than I expected!!!

Fröska

This was an interesting alternate timeline of events, but the story did not keep me interested the entire time. The additional new characters were developed well and I enjoyed reading their character development.

The last 2/5 of the book held my attention. Before that, it was hit or miss...I read about 6 or 7 other books in between reading sections of this book.

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This paperback edition of the first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin. Plus, it includes an excerpt of book two, Once Upon a Dream, a twist on Disney's Sleeping Beauty! When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war. What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again. Praise for A Whole New World: "A magic carpet ride of a book! A fun and unpredictable retelling of the classic Aladdin story, a must-read for all of us Disney fans!" -Melissa de la Cruz

Charlotte Gyselinck

So... it was definitely entertaining but one of my least favorite twisted tales so far. The beginning annoyed the hell out of me because the first 80pages were exactly the same as the movie. Like, every scene exactly the same. Until finally the twist happened. 
The rest of the book felt very predictable and you could see that the author tried to weave in as much iconic moments as possible. 

Rebekah Holland

While keeping into account that this book is aimed at young adults and I would gladly continue reading the rest of the series, this book seemed to be written in a more childish way compared to Once Upon a Dream. It was very easy to tell what was going to be said and how the story would end. In saying that, I did enjoy reading a different timeline for the Aladdin fairytale. It's always nice to have alternate endings on classic stories. If you're in need of an easy read, then this book is definitely something you should check out.

Brandy Allen

Sofia Pereira

This books is rage! You expect a retelling and then you get a whole new way of doing te exact same thing except TAKING A WHOLE LOT LONGER! I just read the second one and it is precious, but this one is pure garbage!

Sydniee

I am not a huge fan of the movie so I was not too keen on reading this book. But I do love some of the other books in this series. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did. It was a lot darker and death than I had expected. Any one who is a huge fan of Aladdin I would suggest reading this book, it gives you a totally different look inside Jasmine and Aladdin's story.

Hope Brockway

This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting. 

I don't mean that in a bad way, I was just expecting something different than the whole "let's revolt against the post-apocalyptic regime" thing this book had going on. 

The first part of the book felt like the Aladdin I knew. It threw in a few details that were different than the movie (like little Aladdin and how he met Abu), but it was mostly like the animated classic. Then, when Aladdin enters the Cave of Wonders, it changes. 

This book tells the story of what would happen if Jafar got the lamp instead of Aladdin, and it took that idea down a different alley that I was expecting. 

Jasmine was this kick-butt warrior princess who leads revolutions while Aladdin was this street rat who felt guilty for aiding Jafar in his ascent to the throne. Yeah, definitely a different twist. 

And Jafar. *sighs*

Jafar doesn't really feel like the Disney villain here. I get it; you have to raise the stakes and make him even more evil. But that one scene where he breaks this man's neck was a bit too much for me. #spoilers #sorrynotsorry 

I did enjoy the book, though. I liked Aladdin and was glad he didn't have to go into the whole Prince Ali mess, and the romance was sweet and cute. 

All in all, this isn't the Disney movie. While I did appreciate some of the changes, I also didn't. (If that makes sense somehow. :P) But if you're looking for that Disney movie feel, I wouldn't really recommend this book.

Amber Reed

It was a good retelling but it took a darker turn that I was not expecting

Maya 

I read this a while ago and it was definitely not my favorite in the serie but it was still good. I just didn’t like the writing style that much because it was to fast paced for me.

Krystal Campbell 

Another great twisted tale. I love how dark these are. This book surprised me in so many ways and I love that is was so different from the original story but the original characters personalities were still present. One of my favs so far.

Yanin 

This book was a great one. I love the twist to the classic Aladdin story, and I love how Liz Braswell went deeper into the lives of the Street Rats. It was sort of dark but nevertheless a story that was most enjoyable.

Charlot van Dijk

Om even in de Fairytale adaptions stijl te blijven, ben ik eindelijk begonnen in deze serie. Ook deze serie leest lekker weg en ik geniet van de manier waarop ze het uiteindelijk toch tot een goed eind heeft kunnen schrijven. Want Aladdin en de Geest, die horen toch samen? Dat is toch een van de belangrijkste elementen van het verhaal?

"Aladdin is a street rat. There's really no getting around that. Like most, he's just trying to survive another day in impoverished Agrabah. Jasmine is a princess, one who is about to enter into an arranged marriage. All she wants is to escape her fate, to see what lies beyond the palace walls. But everything changes when the sultan's trusted advisor, Jafar, suddenly rises to power. With the help of an ancient lamp, Jafar becomes determined to break the laws of magic and gain control over love and death. Soon Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion to stop the power-mad ruler. But their fight for freedom grows costly when it threatens to tear the kingdom apart."--Page 2 of cover.

Roos Kuijper 

3.5 star

I watched Aladdin for the first time last week and this book was surprisingly fun.

Raven’s Books

Another thrilling retelling in Disney's Twisted Tales series.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how the author grew from this book to As Old As Time. I enjoyed the writing style and the new characters, as well as the twists and turns that were added to the story.
For me, this tale had a key relationship that was missing from this story, however, I loved reading about the background of the heroes I grew up watching.
A fun and heartfelt read.

A Whole New World A Twisted Tale

Reviews