I would like to thank Netgalley, Disney Press and the author – Liz Braswell for a free digital uncorrected galley proof in exchange for my honest opinion.
A Whole New World by Liz Braswell is the first book in A Twisted Tale series and is expected to be published on 1st of September this year. According to Disney, it will appear in the shops on 9th of September, but you can pre-order it. It has been highly anticipated and promoted as a fairy tale retelling and although the book is not out yet, it already have had reviews from people who dislike it. This book is very anticipated, so I feel privileged to have the opportunity to tell you what exactly I thought of it.
Story is about Aladdin meeting a girl he likes and finding out that she is a princess, but only few moments after that his life spins and suddenly he is in jail after which just as suddenly he is in the middle of desert trapped in a cave and desperate to get out. The story unfolds and Aladdin finds out that the city he has known has changed in the time of his absence and he is shocked when he finds out that it is his responsibility that it happened and tries to fix it with a help of friends.
First of all, I would like to start with the fact that I have never seen Aladdin the movie nor have I read any stories about him. It seems like this should be a disclaimer to whatever I say afterwards as so many reviews start with statement that the first quarter of the book is exactly like the film and seems like a fanfiction – so, here it goes – I have never seen it hence I can never say that. I am in this privileged situation where I can assess this book as a separate piece of literature by the author and be almost free of expectations and prejudice about this book.
It has been promoted as a book that will change one little thing about a known story and will create a completely different story. And as far as I understand, each book in the series will be a different story adapted to this new twist.
I did not like the story, it seemed aimless and had no personality. And, the characters… there was almost no description of the characters at all. I have no idea what traits they have (except for some stupid decisions and some foolish blindness), how exactly they look, not to even mention what they think. The characters were not developed at all, they were just names to me, with rare sparks of thoughts that were showing up sometimes.
And from what was written there – both Aladdin and Jasmine seemed patronizing, belittling everything around them (for example Aladdin just orders the carpet to do what he wants. He doesn’t ask, he orders.)
Jasmine obviously seeks power and but then after few soothing words from Aladdin, she just drops and breaks her means to achieve her desire.
And Jafar. He has some love and childhood issues which are mentioned somewhat, but never explained, we don’t find out what kind of trauma he experienced to seek for what he is wishing to the Genie, which would be the reason for his madness and thirst, but author never goes into that, so he basically is just evil because he is evil.
The story starts the same as the film (at least that’s what everyone says) and is really good and interesting, but the moment, the twist starts (I actually remember thinking of Aladdin as an idiot,when the twist started, because it was the first really stupid decision he made), it just goes downhill and the reason for it is because no one in this book has a clear goal (except for Jafar, I guess). It feels like we are just shuffling in the dark, while Jafar is making some kind of zombie Patrols walking around, which are giving everyone nightmares and fear, it seemed like it was supposed to be a Nazgul or Dementor thing, but it wasn’t described at all – all they did was just walked, no emotions or feelings, except fear were ever mentioned. But wait! Unfortunately it gets worse. Because with these soulless Patrols is not enough to Jafar and for some reason, he decides to make a ghoul army as well. This is the moment the book lost me completely. I was still trying to find reasons and good ideas, but this was just utterly stupid. I hated every single thing about those ghouls.
There were few nice things though. First of all – the writing itself wasn’t bad. What’s written – was, but the writing was fine. The only thing I have to say about writing that is bad, is that I didn’t like, the jumps from the scenes, almost in a movie-like way.
And second of all – oh my – the third wish just broke my world, it was a fantastic idea and I was so sad that the build up to it was so poor. It’s great and it explains magic and it’s history in a new way. I thought that it was fantastic, but the fact that I needed to go through a boring book to get to it, of course wasn’t very cool.
There were many little places that the reader might say things like – ‘That is not possible’ or ‘Nobody would survive that’, or ‘That person would be a lot more damaged after this event’, but as this is Disney, we all forgive that and never, which I join in.
The book is advertised as a young adult book – 12 years up, but I think that it is too dark and violent for children of this age.
After long, long consideration, I gave this book one star on my goodreads page. I was thinking about two stars, but when I remember how bored I was while reading it, I just cannot get myself to give more. I would recommend this book to those people who are really excited when reading the summary of the book because the plot is based on it. If you are not interested in it, don’t read it, I don’t see how person who doesn’t love the premise described in summary (on the back of the book, not the one in my blog), would love the book.
Have you read the book? What did you think? Is this on your to-read list? And most of all – do you think that, if I would have seen the original Aladdin film, would I feel different about the story?
Let me know in the comments bellow and I’ll talk to you soon, my little owlets!
August 13, 2015 at 13:53
I just made my review of the book a few hours ago, what a coincidence! I didn’t like it either, I ended up giving it 1.5 stars, but because I am attached to the characters that I’ve known for more than 20 years.
I didn’t like how she portrayed my beloved characters either, i think it’s written in a way that you have to have seen the movie to understand them, but then she kind of destroys that, you know what I mean?
I did not like the writing, I found it repetitive, and while the tone might be suited for older than 12, the writing itself is not… 😦
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August 13, 2015 at 13:57
Yes, I know what you mean and completely agree – if something is not explained, I have to know it from the movie to see, how it is changed and destroyed!
I am really looking into watching the movie now, and aw, I’m so sorry that you loved the characters so much and it was all such disappointment! 😦
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August 13, 2015 at 13:59
If you get around to see the movie, you’ll understand… (and obviously I hope you enjoy it).
Myself, I will watch the movie soon as to clean the image I now have of Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie.
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August 13, 2015 at 14:02
One point though was true, the author promised a dark story. It definitely was dark!
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August 13, 2015 at 14:03
oh well, was it? It was predictable and not that different from what happens in the movie at some point, it’s only longer…
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August 13, 2015 at 14:07
I don’t know what happens in the film, but I’m looking at it as a children book and I think that the violence and the way how ghoul’s were made is quite dark and scary for children. I wouldn’t like my child reading this.
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August 13, 2015 at 14:08
oh, I get that… 🙂
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August 13, 2015 at 19:12
I am currently reading the ARC and I am barely in the 30% and struggling really bad. I guess it was easy for me to visualize the characters having seen the movie and read the illustrated books when I was a kid, so you pointed out a very good flaw of the book having no character background and description. I dislike so far how they portrayed Princess Jasmine. She is very naive, and stubborn in this book — not the headstrong, clever princess I know. Thanks for this review!
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August 13, 2015 at 22:37
I was exactly the same, once it was past the cave, it was just so hard.
And I just watched the movie! So, now I understand why Jafar searched for Aladdin in the book, what the image meant. Before I couldn’t understand exactly what was it.
It is amazing, how similar this book is to the film, but gives completely different vibe out! I am completely sure that all the things would make more sense to me, if I would read it now.
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August 13, 2015 at 22:51
I am glad you have finally watched the movie! 🙂
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August 13, 2015 at 20:19
I haven’t even heard of this book before your review, so I was intrigued. However, reading on, I winced at your words and thought maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to not get excited about it at all. I grew up watching the Disney films and Aladdin was one of my favorites, so a poor retelling of a sweet story will be a disaster.
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August 13, 2015 at 22:39
I just watched the film, to see and understand this book better. And it is true, I needed to know the story to understand the book, but the film is so much better. It is so similar to this book, but gives completely different vibe and makes you smile.
If you really, really like the summary, read it, but check out some of the reviews first. Make sure that they are spoiler free, though, you don’t want to spoil the little new things that the book has. 😀
In any case, if you decide on reading it, I hope you love it.
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August 14, 2015 at 21:15
thanks for the tip! I haven’t tried any fairytale re-tellings but I’d give this a try one day 🙂
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August 13, 2015 at 21:13
More important than commenting on the book is the fact that you seem to have a lovely reading view 🙂
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August 13, 2015 at 22:42
Oh, thank you. That’s unexpected. 🙂
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August 15, 2015 at 08:37
The one reason I tend to be wary of retellings is that sometimes the characterization + world building are lazy. Since the authors expect us to already know the story beforehand. I’m not sure if I’ll be picking this up now..
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August 15, 2015 at 23:13
I actually had never had that problem with retellings before, I am not sure, if I didn’t notice the lack of description or it just was fine enough.
I think that if you have doubt – don’t. I had doubt, I picked it up and I would not read it again, unless you are ready to pay me. So, I’m sorry to say that, but don’t.
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