Disney's Twisted Tales: A Whole New World

Liz Braswell's A Twisted Tale series takes the Disney movies we know and love and gives them a "what if?" that results in a much darker storyline. These books are for older Disney fans. I mean, yeah, Disney has some twisted stuff to begin with, but kids really don't need the amped up dark Aladdin where multiple movie characters don't make it. Wait 'til they're a bit older. Or it'd be okay for more mature kids. I dunno. Use your best judgment. But I'm 37 and I read a lot of horror and some of the scenes in this were still jarring.

A Whole New World's back cover asks "What If Aladdin Had Never Found the Lamp?" However, that's a bit misleading. He does still find the lamp. The problem is that he doesn't keep it. The real theme here is "What If Jafar Possessed the Lamp?"

Well, you can figure out the answer to that. Bad shit happens.

Aladdin is the most unchanged character in this book. Genie is much different, in a sad, more realistic way. Jasmine has much darker tones, which I actually like. Abu is not comic relief. Instead, he and Carpet just aren't in it much. Neither is Genie for that matter. He still has some funny lines, but he's barely onscreen and he's got several serious moments. Rajah has more tigery moments. Nobody feels really out of character though. They fit with the different setting of the novel.

I've had this since it came out way back in September, but I only just picked it up again today. It was a bit hard to get into, because the first several chapters mostly retell the movie we know. But after seeing the gorgeous cover for the third book in the series, where Belle's mom is the enchantress that curses Beast, I decided I needed to get back into this series. I finished that last Dear Canada book I reviewed and dug right into this. And I've only put it down briefly since I picked it back up again.

Braswell's writing is quite good and I enjoyed the new characters she added. The main two are fellow thieves from Aladdin's younger days: Duban and Morgiana. Both are characters from One Thousand and One Nights. Duban had his own tale and this new Duban isn't much like him, aside from being intelligent. Morgiana was the quick-witted slave from Ali Baba, and she is just as quick-witted here. I love this Morgiana. Other characters also borrow their names from the original tales.

I don't want to say too much about this, because I quite enjoyed it and I recommend people read it, so I don't want to spoil anything. I like letting people watch the story unfold on their own. But be warned, this is darker Disney than we're used to. It's not A Song of Ice and Fire-level, but characters we know and love from the movie do not make it all the way through the book.

I'll be started the second in the series later tonight. "What If Sleeping Beauty Never Woke Up?"