A Whole New World-A Twisted Tale: A Twisted Tale (Twisted Tales, #1)

by 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.

• ISBN10: 148470732X
• ISBN13: 9781484707326
• Publish Date: 26 July 2016 (first published 1 September 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Disney Hyperion
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781484707326

Reviews

[Charli G.]

I've read some pretty unflattering reviews of this book. All I can say is, I don't think they were reading the same book I was. I'm not even kidding. Many of the things people complained about didn't seem to even be a part of the book.

Yes, the beginning of the book gives a recap of events at the beginning of Aladdin. It is not word-for-word as some have claimed and things were added to the story as well. When the story does branch away, which is well before most reviewers claimed it did, it immediately and completely changes. For the better, in my opinion.

Honestly, if Aladdin had gone like A Whole New World, I think it would be one of my favorite movies, even more than it already is. The action scenes are awesome. The feeling of pity for Street Rats, hatred for Jafar, and heartbreak at certain events make this a must read book. Five stars for this magnificent what-if version of Aladdin.

[tweetybugshouse]

This is a great twist on the Aladian story we all know and love. It dark, twisted, it got zombies, yes I said it Zombies! If you want a fresh take on this kid story then you come to the right place your gonna cringe, but really you get the chance to see just how far Jafar is willing to go to get what he wants.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Initial Thoughts: I wanted to give this three stars because the prose is nice and I could see this being an solid sort of fantasy novel in other circumstances. However, it doesn't function particularly well as a retelling. The characters are flat, including Jafar who is supposed to be supremely evil. Even though the book made a rather valiant effort to be dark, I never felt the passion and Jafar was too pathetically incompetent to come across as a real threat. Full review to come.

Full Review:

If A Whole New World were an original work, I would probably just call it a solid fantasy novel that satisfyingly fulfills a lot of tropes, even if it does not necessarily add anything new to the genre and move on. However, as a reimagining of Aladdin, A Whole New World has extra criteria to meet in order to please Disney fans, namely, staying faithful to the original content while still offering readers a unique twist. Unfortunately, the novel too often strays to extremes, either copying the movie too faithfully to be interesting or straying so far that it is difficult to tell it is supposed to be a version of Aladdin, and it never really finds the sweet spot necessary for a great retelling.

The opening scenes of the novel describe in beautiful prose the city of Agrabah. Contrasted with the beauty of the castle and the desert, however, is the quarter of the Street Rat where protagonist Aladdin lives. The initial chapters are the most reminiscent of the movie, which means they’re a great refresher for readers who haven’t seen the film in a while but may come across as boring to those who have.

Things go haywire after Jafar gets his hands on the genie lamp. From here, the novel progresses into fairly fantasy (or even dystopian) fare. Jasmine and Aladdin form a rebel alliance of the most downtrodden citizens of Agrabah in order to wrest back their freedom from tyrant Jafar. Although seeing Jasmine as a kickass rebel leader should have its charms, this portion of the plot never achieves the urgency it aims for. First, Jafar takes over the sultanate and the city with such swiftness and ease it is difficult to imagine how he is supposed to scare readers from this point on; the idea that he wants to take over the world in addition to the city comes across as a throwaway line rather than aa real threat. Second, Jafar happens to be an idiot. He makes a series of choices that are simply so inane and so ineffective there’s no point in being afraid of him. Jafar does not come across as a worthy adversary, and that makes the fight against him dull.

Jasmine and Aladdin do not fare much better in terms of characterization. They’re definitely smarter than Jafar, but overall they seem flat. The author’s best attempts to give them backstories and complex personalities where they must weigh their own needs against the needs of others failed to make me invested. I also was not a fan of the continually repeated point that Aladdin may be a thief ButHeIsSoMuchMoreMoralThanThoseOtherRottenThievesWhoStealProfitNotJustFood. I like complexity in characters. I dislike the trend in YA literature that suggests a character must be as moral as possible for me to cheer him or her on.

Overall, A Whole New World just felt unremarkable to me. I can see the structure of the book and the places where the author tried to make the characters complex and tried to make the action dark. It is just that none of it felt real to me—I was not convince. I think Braswell has talent as a writer and I would be interesting in looking into whatever she writes next, but this one earns a pass from me.

Source: ARC from ALA

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

To say I was excited about A Whole New World would be an understatement. Aladdin is my #5 favorite movie of all time, so of course I had to read this twist on it! Sadly, it’s not that twisted. It’s essentially the movie, but rearranged. Then in order to fill in the gaps between Jafar completely taking over and Aladdin defeating him, the author turned Agrabah into a dystopian society and had Jasmine be the leader of the rebellion. Oh, and zombies. That’s great in theory, but it didn’t really capture my attention at all.

The first half of A Whole New World is the Disney movie, right down to the dialogue. Aladdin running across rooftops with his bread, Jasmine pretending to be crazy, the sultan playing with animal figurines, Abu putting his grubby paws on the treasure. All of of it is the same. I expected similarities, but not to this extent. Then I assumed it would diverge once Jafar (disguised as the old man) got his hands on the lamp. Nope. The end of the movie where he makes his two wishes got moved up. I kept waiting for the twist! There was no twist, just a shifting around of scenes!

I really don’t have a lot to say about A Whole New World. If you’ve seen the movie, then you know exactly what happens here. The ending did seem like it was going to be interesting, and in a way it was. But by then it was too late, and honestly, I don’t believe that Jafar would have made that wish. It didn’t fit his character at all. It was all just disappointing, even the genie. The author was trying to mimic his humor, and it all fell flat. There’s only one Genie, and that ain’t him.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Ashley]

DNF at 49%

The first 25% was EXACTLY like the movie—frame by frame, line by line. It's like someone sat there watching the movie describing EVERY scene to me and regurgitating EVERY line of dialogue.

I get that this was an Aladdin retelling, but couldn't there have been some more variance? Yeesh.

At 25% things finally branch off into a totally new direction (that "what if" factor). But it didn't get any better...

* The characters were LITERALLY cardboard. Zero passion, zero development, zero everything. They just existed and that's it. They were not fleshed out at all.

* Javar was the villain, obviously, but he felt more like a background character. He seemed so hollow and not scary :/

* Everything about the book felt more middle grade than YA. There was no depth, no intensity, no epicness. It was more like a somewhat ridiculous case of, "Our band of teenagers will DEFEAT EVIL SAVE THE WORLD!" I love YA but I've outgrown middle grade and this felt very much like something that I'd outgrown.

* The romance was insta-lovey. Or at least insta-crushy. It's like that in Aladdin, I know, but for some reason it feels totally okay in the movie. But in a book, I expect more. With more pages and more room for development, I want to see a better, slower, more thought out romance.

I was curious to see how the story would turn out, but to be honest, I just wasn't enjoying it at all. I was dragging my feet and finally got tired of it.