Cookie cutter perfect ending! As one would probably expect. I feel like this book would have made a great Middle Grade novel. But not necessarily YA. I, thoroughly enjoyed the alternate of this Aladdin story, with Jafar getting possession of the genie lamp instead, definitely worth the read, twisting the relationships, the interactions of certain characters that were flipped due to this change of the story. Also, what's really killing me is that it's written in oddly overblown language, contrasting with the flatness. Chapters open with sentences like this: I only had a copy of A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale so my book review will be based on that book alone.

Braswell, Liz (April 5, 2016). Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781484707302. We get a bit of grey morality with Rasoul, but that's it. The revolution goes off without a hitch and everyone who isn't Jafar lives happily ever after. The characters never struggled. It just felt like they were going through the motions. I never felt fear for them. Braswell's reimagining of the story of Aladdin as though Jafar had actually gotten hold of the lamp was, as far as I'm concerned, well worth the read. It was interesting and showed a take on that particular branch of alternate universe in a way I personally never could have predicted. In this, it had its goods and bads and very strong ones at that. I enjoyed reading it, but would by no means call this an amazing story. I admire Braswell's boldness as well as her tenacity and while I do intend to read the two other Disney twisted reselling she has written, there are many things I would change about her Aladdin retelling.Summer: Disney's Summer Oasis Splash • Stitch and Friends Summer Surprise • Stitch's Summer Dance Bash Jafar is pretty much still the evil power hungry villain so his first wish is to obviously become Sultan and rule all of Agrabah. In all of his madness he also wants to be loved willingly by his people and his soon to be wife Princess Jasmine. Agrabah • Cave of Wonders • The Sultan's Palace • The Vanishing Isle • Odiferous • The Isle of Galifem • Morbia • Old Wizard's Lab

At 25% things finally branch off into a totally new direction (that "what if" factor). But it didn't get any better... 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.TV Series: Sadira • Merc • Queen Hippsodeth • Scara • King Pector • The Mukhtar • King Mamood • Eden • Sultan Pasta Al-Dente • Dhandi • Hamed • Pharabu • Prince Uncouthma • General Gouda • Brawnhilda • Bud • Runta • Thundra • Queen Kimbla • Sydney • Brisbane • Koala Kid • Machana • Fasir • Riders of Ramond • Samir the "Destroyer" • Squirt • Captain Al Bahtross • Prince Wazoo • Ajed Al-Gebraic • Amal • Abnor Mal • Mechanicles • Scooter • Marauders • Zorasto • Mozenrath • Xerxes • Khartoum • Sirocco • Shaman • Mirage • Haroud Hazi Bin • Fashoom • Saleen • Armand • Ayam Aghoul • Evil Aladdin • Caliph Kapok • Sootinai • Daru Tavelevil • Malcho • Dominus Tusk • Al Muddy Sultan • Al Muddy • Aziz • Minos and Fatima • Nefir Hasenuf • Nefir's Imps • Arbutus • Magma • Amuk Moonrah • Chaos • Evil Genie • Scourge of the Desert • Amin Damoola • Frigeed • Anubis • Sahkata, Razili, and Farida • Sand Monster • Sand Shark • Mothias • Ding and Oopo • Queen Deluca • King Zahbar • Queen Deluca's Brothers • The Great Rift • Mamluks • Kileem • The Ethereal • Zin and Zang • Kutato • Unkbuut • Destane However, I did miss the bromance between Aladdin and Genie, which was one of my favourites from the original telling of the story that was missing in this retelling. Aladdin: Iago, calm down - 2 stars is not the end of the world, it just means that it wasn't...well, the best thing ever in the seven deserts. It had some good things...some bad, probably more bad than good, but it could've been worse? Maybe? Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-07-02 17:04:03 Boxid IA40163002 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Strohm, Stephanie Kate (June 13, 2023). Part of Your World: A Twisted Tale Graphic Novel. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 978-1368064095.

King of Thieves: Party in Agrabah • Out of Thin Air • Welcome to the Forty Thieves • Father and Son • Are You In or Out? But honestly, if you took out that 20-25% of the novel, there'd be nothing missing from it and readers would probably be thankful for it, because it was a slog even for me to get through (and I imagine a teen would probably be like "Pfft, I know this already; this is boring"). And it often got many of the details from the movie wrong if it were actually being included for the sake of consistency (i.e. Jasmine getting half an apple in the story, versus in the movie getting a whole one from Aladdin during their first meeting in his hiding place). So what was the purpose of the retracing?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." But, yes, after about 25% the story changes when Jafar traps Aladdin underground (no magic lamp this time) and proceeds to take over and terrorize Agrabah with the genie. So, don't things get better after that? In one word: nope. Anyway...I think what bugged most people was that for the first 25% of the book is basically play by play from the movie. I thought I'd hate it too, but honestly it worked for me. Could the author have gone in a different route? Sure. But she didn't and that's ok with me.

Right up to 20%, practically one-fifth of the book, it was a near play-by-play replica of the Disney movie. Was this supposed to be an ad for the Disney movie? Because you don't need to sell me that shit. I watched it every day for an entire week when I borrowed the video cassette (90s, man) from the library. Aside from a few details like Aladdin's mom making a brief one-chapter appearance, it doesn't even attempt to differentiate itself from the source material. It shovels extra scenes in too, like Jafar throwing a very familiar parade after he becomes sultan. Had this been an original story, without my previous love for the Disney movie, I may have been less critical of some things. I do believe the romance was a bit awkward, however, I was willing to overlook that due to my previous experiences with the story of Aladdin. This book was not better than the movie. It did not impress me as the broadway play did. But it was good, in its own way. which is fair enough. It's certainly not going to appeal to everyone. However, it is incredibly rare that I am on the side of liking something that everyone else seems to hate. I'm usually on the other side of this fence. I'm usually the one hating the books everyone loves and feeling bad about it. Not to mention the fact that this is the kind of book that I should dislike. It's not something I expected to like, certainly not as much as I do, and yet here we are. But the experience of reading "A Whole New World" wasn't really that new at all, unfortunately. The first problem was that 20-25% of the first part of the novel was something of a direct play-by-play of the movie with embellished (and often not funny or immersive) details leading up to when Jafar gets the lamp. You already know the story if you've watched the Disney movie, and I'd venture a guess the purpose of this series is not to introduce the story but appeal to people who already know the story of Aladdin (or the other twisted tales to follow). I don't think it needed the space of 20-25% of the novel doing that play-by-play because it made the story extremely tedious to slog through. I'll commend Braswell - at least - for the prologue because that was an all too brief eye into Aladdin's life as a boy (if you know the story of Howard Ashman and the writing of the song "Proud of Your Boy" for the original movie - you'll know that there were plans to go into Aladdin's boyhood, but they had to take it out for the sake of the story.) I'm going ahead and writing it because as much as I anticipated and was excited by the idea and promise of this title, the actual story I read left me feeling more neutral than anything else. There were some awesome ideas here and potential aims for the characters and conflict, but the delivery...not so much.This twisted tale is quite dark at the end, and as a result, the target age of this would be older than some of the other twisted tales I have read. The writing style was VERY trivial - juvenile, as a friend of mine said. And there was so much modern jargon, which was REALLY detracting from the feel of the story. Too many modern phrases (or attempts at modern phrases) for my taste. This is supposed to be a fantasy novel, with magic and sultans and sorcerers and genies. Nowhere is this supposed to have even a hint of modern-day contemporary world-building or aspects or anything. To my knowledge. Jasmine: I'm not sure if any of this was as big as the original story/work it was based on. Besides, Iago, why would you even defend this book if you weren't even in the story most of the time? You were only there to show Jafar's manic moods anyway. Calonita, Jen (October 22, 2019). Conceal, Don't Feel: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781368052238. Calonita, Jen (April 6, 2021). Go the Distance: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781368063807.