Liz Braswell

What if the sleeping beauty never woke up? Once Upon a Dream marks the second book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. It should be simple--a dragon defeated, a slumbering princess in a castle, a prince poised to wake her. But when the prince falls asleep as his lips touch the fair maiden's, it is clear that this fairy tale is far from over. With a desperate fairy's last curse controlling her mind, Princess Aurora must escape from a different castle of thorns and navigate a dangerously magical landscape--created from her very own dreams. Aurora isn't alone--a charming prince is eager to join her quest, and old friends offer their help. But as Maleficent's agents follow her every move, Aurora struggles to discover who her true allies are and, moreover, who she truly is. Time is running out. Will the sleeping beauty be able to wake herself up?

A Twisted Tale

Once Upon a Dream

Penny Devereux 

it was so so so slow i just couldn’t finish it

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 approached this book with incredibly low expectations. After reading book 1 in the series, A Whole New World, I actually thought I wouldn't even give this a try. But then curiosity won me over, and I decided to see if this Sleeping Beauty retelling could be any better than the Aladdin one. And, surprisingly, it was!

For starters, this time round the book didn't just copy-paste the original film dialogue, which was one of the main issues in the first one. The story actually kicks off right towards the end of the original film, right around the time when Aurora should wake up from eternal slumber, along with everyone else in the castle... except she doesn't. 

This is the beginning of the actual reimagining of the fairy tale, which I have to say, was actually quite original. I particularly enjoyed the personal growth that Aurora undertook throughout the book. Now, apart from her beauty and kindness, Aurora never did display a lot of other qualities in the original film: true, she is entirely a product of her time, but she essentially just passively accepts whatever other people decide for her and waits for the dashing prince to save her. And that is just plain annoying. 

In the book, Aurora didn't start out too great. For more or less the first half of the book, her main feature was the ability to whine and cry a lot. I don't like to repeat myself, but she was really annoying. And then, just when I was losing all hope, she changed! After venturing outside the castle where she was trapped and meeting Phillip, Aurora started showing some character and working actively towards saving herself and her kingdom. While she still cannot be defined a "bad-ass" woman, she is miles ahead of her old movie self. 

The most interesting character, however, is always Maleficient. One of the best villains ever, Maleficient somehow always manages to steal the scene. She is evil, ruthless and incredibly smart, coming up with unforeseeable ways to destroy her enemies.

Unfortunately, she didn't get quite as much space as she would deserve. She did feature consistently throughout the book, but her character always remains at the margins, never being fully explored. Towards the end of the book, some of the biggest unanswered questions of ever are touched upon (like, why on earth would you curse a baby because her parents didn't invite you to a party???), but there is no satisfactory answer to any of them. Essentially, this was an opportunity wasted to delve deep into the mind of one of the most interesting evil characters in the history of Disney fairytales...

Overall, this book was essentially a whole lot better than its predecessor, but still left me wanting. The story is far more original than I was expecting, but the execution comes up short, displaying underdeveloped characters coupled with a less-than-satisfactory writing style. Light read, better enjoyed if approached with low expectations.

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For a character who is mostly absent from her own story and is considered a passive heroine, Sleeping Beauty has never been a favorite Disney Princess of mine. Braswell’s retelling from Aurora’s narrative delves more into her personality and characterizes her as much stronger girl than what we knew. “Needing someone once in a while doesn’t make me weak. It makes me human.”

Though  it was an easy read, I found the plot slow-moving and the author’s need to use all caps in a lot of the dialogue was irritating. I would recommend it for an airplane ride, nothing too serious, or emotional.

Maya Ryvlin

For a character who is mostly absent from her own story and is considered a passive heroine, Sleeping Beauty has never been a favorite Disney Princess of mine. Braswell’s retelling from Aurora’s narrative delves more into her personality and characterizes her as much stronger girl than what we knew. “Needing someone once in a while doesn’t make me weak. It makes me human.”

Though  it was an easy read, I found the plot slow-moving and the author’s need to use all caps in a lot of the dialogue was irritating. I would recommend it for an airplane ride, nothing too serious, or emotional.

After binding her soul to the curse, Maleficent now lives on through Princess Aurora's dreams, controlling the princess and everyone asleep with her. For Aurora to break the curse, she must find a way to control her dreams and defeat the evil fairy within them.

a twisted tale

Once upon a Dream

This was selected for the reading group I’m in, otherwise I would not have thought to pick this up. I’m open to reading books outside of my preferred genre, and I’m glad for the experience this gave me. 

-There were moments of good description with vivid story: the Berry Moon Festival and the singing competition with Ozrey, the part with the twin Phillips, and the fight scene at the end

-How Braswell wrote the demons was spooky and added a great creep factor to the story

-Aurora’s real internal struggle made her a more relatable character 

-Aurora didn’t automatically know how to use her powers, so she didn’t fall into Mary Sue territory

-Interesting alternate story of Sleeping Beauty

-The characters’ personalities, I wasn’t a fan of any of them. There was a lot of yelling and shrieking, and the arcs felt forced

-The romantic relationship between Aurora and Phillip, I just did not get much chemistry there 

-The writing style fell into heavy YA territory, and, as someone who doesn’t read this genre often, it took me out of the story quite a bit

Floofyflower

This was selected for the reading group I’m in, otherwise I would not have thought to pick this up. I’m open to reading books outside of my preferred genre, and I’m glad for the experience this gave me. 

*What this book did well: 

-There were moments of good description with vivid story: the Berry Moon Festival and the singing competition with Ozrey, the part with the twin Phillips, and the fight scene at the end

-How Braswell wrote the demons was spooky and added a great creep factor to the story

-Aurora’s real internal struggle made her a more relatable character 

-Aurora didn’t automatically know how to use her powers, so she didn’t fall into Mary Sue territory

-Interesting alternate story of Sleeping Beauty

*What I didn’t vibe with:

-The characters’ personalities, I wasn’t a fan of any of them. There was a lot of yelling and shrieking, and the arcs felt forced

-The romantic relationship between Aurora and Phillip, I just did not get much chemistry there 

-The writing style fell into heavy YA territory, and, as someone who doesn’t read this genre often, it took me out of the story quite a bit

Sarah

This book was AMAZING! I’m in love! I definitely recommend this book especially if you like different takes on fairytales.

Brianna

2.5

Here’s the thing. Believe it or not, when I read a Disney twisted tale it’s because I actually like the movie’s storyline and characters and want that but a little mixed up. I don’t actually need a book that tries to subvert the fairytale and/or somehow make it “tasteful” to modern audience sensibilities. I want the fairy tale. Shocking, I know. I don’t need something that is too self aware to be enjoyed as anything but a “well, see, this is everything wrong with the original by today’s standards” led by characters who become caricatures of feminism with no resemblance to their movie selves. 
It’s tiresome and takes out the magic in the installments where this is heavy handed. Thankfully, not all of them are. But 90% of Braswell’s are. 

Kudos for the concept of this one. I really did enjoy that aspect.

Maria Banning

Andra Gabriela

I think I’ll give a 3/5, not because it wasn’t a good book, I actuallt enjoyed this reading. It’s just that sometimes I get really confused by the actions, and sometimes the book got me like ”wait, when did it happen?”. 

Also, the princess was incredibly annoying at some point. Her character development was great, but sometimes she was getting too entitled and selfish. 

The Prince. Oh boy, I actually really liked him. I don't know how he could put up with the Princess.

Overall, it was a good book. It took a bit longer because it was the first book I read on my phone and the first book I read in English. But I really recommend it, just don't have too many expectations from it.

laura

I really wound up enjoying this fairytale retelling story that focused on sleeping beauty. i loved how this book focused on the nightmares and dreams of sleeping beauty. I also thought this book did such a good job creating these characters both aurora and philip as well rounded characters and that was so well done. I also really liked how this new story had both old elements that tied back to the old story but also new things as well that just expanded the world. I found the pacing in the start to be a bit off but i still really loved it.

Sofia Pereira

*4.75

YES! This was exactly what i wanted from a twisted tale! I loved it! Please let the others be like this one please,

Maya 

Celia Adams

Okay I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one so bear with me.

First and foremost, the Disney Sleeping Beauty is, honestly, just a really silly story. So much of it doesn't work in modern day. Why send a baby to avoid a fate that won't come for 16 years? Why raise a girl in near total isolation so that she has to make friends with animals? Who the F falls in love with and wants to marry someone they met ONCE? Why did no one watch the dazed, depressed princess?

So having said all that, this Sleeping Beauty had a lot to work around, but honestly, I think they did good. I really didn't enjoy most of the beginning part because they were doing the whole dancing around Disney thing, but the premise of creating a dreamland that emulates the metaphorical feelings Aurora had in real life actually works pretty well. Aurora remembering a twisted version of her first 16 years of life made the story plausible and it definitely helped kind of remove her from the character who only appeared in like, 17 minutes of her own film.

So just to list some things I liked
-Aurora Rose. it always REALLY bothered me how Aurora just went from being Briar Rose to Princess Aurora, and her coming into her own by creating a name to uniquely for her both distinguished her from the classic character and endeared her to modern sentiments.

-The implications that a life of loneliness had less Aurora Rose to be depressed, and almost suicidal, was really well done and added so much DEPTH to this story. It makes much more sense why Aurora pricked her own finger on the spindle, and it made her a very interesting character once you realized her melancholy and the feeling of sluggishness her character carried was because of depression and not a curse. One thing I wish had happened is they explored that when she became a Queen, and finally had purpose, how Aurora still had to deal with depression.t.

-Aurora Rose's cynical awakening. One of the best things to happen in the last third of the story is Aurora Rose realized she didn't have to act sweetly kind and innocent anymore because that wasn't who she was, just what others expected of hers, and she becomes SO SNARKY. The book talks about how she went to sleep a child and woke up an adult, but I think its more she went to sleep naive and woke up realizing the world is flawed, people are flawed, a Prince isn't perfect just becomes he comes out of the woods to break up you tedium, fairy godmothers aren't perfect because they have magic, and parents might not know whats best just because they're parents and royalty. And in those last couple of chapters she in completely unafraid to call people out, to voice her opinion, to realize how utterly ridiculous her situation is, and I AM HERE FOR IT. 

Things I didn't love.
-Phillip. Ugh why?? He was just so...annoying? I get its sweet, even as he realized she wasn't who he originally thought he was, he loved Aurora/Rose. But like, it would have been so much better if he, like everyone else, had no recollection of the real events in the movie, and we got see him and Aurora Rose fall in love naturally and organically. Instead he was as unbelievable as he was in the movie and we didn't get anything else new.

-The original events of the movie happened. Much cringe. I wish the twist had been earlier so it could be like telling a new story, more like A Whole New World. 

-Honestly most of the rising action of the book felt disjointed and difficult to get through.

Overall, I'm giving it 3 stars because despite not really enjoying the actual experience of reading it and plot, I did really enjoy the character work and messages.

Krystal Campbell 

This was such a fun and dark twist on the original story! I love how there was less focus on “the man being the saviour” and instead the princes was in charge of her own destiny. I really appreciate the topics discussed and the way the author approached them and I think that the world she created was phenomenal. One of my fav twisted tales so far. It managed to make the plot so different without taking away from the original characters and then ending was just perfect. It hugged the book when I finished ✅

Charlot van Dijk

Weer zo'n prachtige fairytale adaption. Toen ik zag staan dat ze nooit wakker zou worden, dacht ik hoe dan? Het sprookje gaat er toch ook om dat ze wakker is aan het einde? Maar weer eens prachtig neergezet en de schrijfstijl kan ik geen genoeg van krijgen. Ik ga snel verder in het volgende deel!

Once Upon a Dream A Twisted Tale

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