Review: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

Title: A Whole New World

Author: Liz Braswell

Publication Date: 9.1.2015

Series: Twisted Tales #1

Source: ARC from publisher

Rating: 4 ½ Stars

Summary (from Goodreads):

Welcome to a new YA series that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. Each book asks the question: What if one key moment from a familiar Disney film was changed? This dark and daring version of Aladdin twists the original story with the question: What if Jafar was the first one to summon the Genie? 

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.

Review:

What if a pivotal moment of one of your favorite stories had been changed? How would the characters change? Evolve? A WHOLE NEW WORLD takes us to a whole new world where Aladdin loses the lamp to Jafar early on, kick starting a revolution on the streets of Agrabah. And I loved it.

I want to start by acknowledging that a lot of people didn’t like this book, but I think people expected a whole new retelling of the Aladdin movie, not a book that reads like fan fiction. I loved that this book took lines straight from the movie.

I loved that when Genie burst onto the page, I heard Robin Williams’ voice echoing in every word.

I loved that Jasmine was a fighter who became a leader.

This does read a younger YA. This is not a wholly original retelling – you will recognize entire scenes and paragraphs of dialogue straight from the movie to the book, but that’s what captures the magic. I was 10 years old all over again.

I feel like you need to be a hardcore fan of the movie to appreciate and love the book, otherwise it’s a flat retelling with characters you’ll grow bored of. If you love Aladdin, then give A WHOLE NEW WORLD a chance to rock your world.