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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
This book had all the magical, whimsical elements I usually love—but the incredibly slow start really dragged down my overall experience. I understand why it began the way it did, but it took until around the 40% mark for me to actually get into the story. That’s a long time to wait for a payoff. I ended up switching to the audiobook just to push through it—something I rarely do since I usually prefer reading physical books.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Aurora (even in the Disney version), so I started with this one knowing I might not connect to her—and I was right. She just didn’t hold my attention or emotions. The prince also felt underdeveloped—his whole existence seemed to revolve around loving her, without much else to him. Maleficent was evil for the sake of power, which made her feel a bit one-note. I actually wanted more from the prince’s dad and some of the worldbuilding—especially the animals or enchanted elements that barely came up.
The action scenes and trials were easily the highlight. I wish the rest of the book had that level of tension and imagination. There were definitely feminist, self-discovery undertones, but the storytelling didn’t make them land emotionally for me. It either felt too on-the-nose or like messaging I’ve already seen done better elsewhere.
Overall, this was okay. Not bad, but not great either. Just a middle-of-the-road read that didn’t fully live up to its potential.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Aurora (even in the Disney version), so I started with this one knowing I might not connect to her—and I was right. She just didn’t hold my attention or emotions. The prince also felt underdeveloped—his whole existence seemed to revolve around loving her, without much else to him. Maleficent was evil for the sake of power, which made her feel a bit one-note. I actually wanted more from the prince’s dad and some of the worldbuilding—especially the animals or enchanted elements that barely came up.
The action scenes and trials were easily the highlight. I wish the rest of the book had that level of tension and imagination. There were definitely feminist, self-discovery undertones, but the storytelling didn’t make them land emotionally for me. It either felt too on-the-nose or like messaging I’ve already seen done better elsewhere.
Overall, this was okay. Not bad, but not great either. Just a middle-of-the-road read that didn’t fully live up to its potential.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was so incredibly slow and uninteresting I should have DNF.
DNF - 15% completed (so ~68/448 pages)
I've been wanting to read one of these since I first heard that Disney was redoing their classic fairy tales. Having now read part of the book, though, I'm no longer interested. It wasn't that it was a terrible idea, it's just boring.
Like the book summary says, the premise of the tale is that the prince kisses sleeping beauty and, instead of waking her up, he falls asleep, too. This all occurs in the prologue. After that, we jump straight to Aurora, our sleeping beauty, and. The book doesn't outright state that this is what is going on, though, so spoiler tag. Personally, I don't consider it much of a spoiler, though, as it's really freakin' obvious that this is what happened. I will admit that I was thrown for a loop by the first couple pages, but I put two-and-two together by the end of the first chapter.
It's also clearly stated in the book's summary, which I am kind-of glad I didn't read before I started this, or else I would have been even more bored. I'm sure if you go into this knowing what's going on, you'll be asking "when is the action going to start? Where is the plot?" even faster than I did.
That's the heart of the issue as this isn't a terrible idea for a story. The problem is that, so far, it's little more than an idea. Like I said, I'm 15% of the way through and Aurora still hasn't figured out what is going on. Prince Phillip has yet to show up. I don't know where this is going plot wise and I'm so bored that I've stopped caring. A quick search of the book shows that Phillip gets here about 28% of the way through, but I'm not forcing myself to read more of this given how little interest I have in doing so. I don't have any faith that his appearance will salvage this "story".
If the goodreads reviews claimed it got way better, I'd probably press on at least a little longer, but a large percent of the audience seems to agree that this is just a terribly uninteresting book. I also would not call this young adult. It's middle-grade at best.
If you've got a younger kid who loves Disney and are looking for a good bedtime read, this may actually be a great one for you. The Disney premise is enough that a kid would want to read it, but it's uninteresting enough to put a kid to sleep instead of waking their brain up. Unless you fall into that category, I'd give this one a pass.
I've been wanting to read one of these since I first heard that Disney was redoing their classic fairy tales. Having now read part of the book, though, I'm no longer interested. It wasn't that it was a terrible idea, it's just boring.
Like the book summary says, the premise of the tale is that the prince kisses sleeping beauty and, instead of waking her up, he falls asleep, too. This all occurs in the prologue. After that, we jump straight to Aurora, our sleeping beauty, and
Spoiler
find out what she's up to in the dream worldIt's also clearly stated in the book's summary, which I am kind-of glad I didn't read before I started this, or else I would have been even more bored. I'm sure if you go into this knowing what's going on, you'll be asking "when is the action going to start? Where is the plot?" even faster than I did.
That's the heart of the issue as this isn't a terrible idea for a story. The problem is that, so far, it's little more than an idea. Like I said, I'm 15% of the way through and Aurora still hasn't figured out what is going on. Prince Phillip has yet to show up. I don't know where this is going plot wise and I'm so bored that I've stopped caring. A quick search of the book shows that Phillip gets here about 28% of the way through, but I'm not forcing myself to read more of this given how little interest I have in doing so. I don't have any faith that his appearance will salvage this "story".
If the goodreads reviews claimed it got way better, I'd probably press on at least a little longer, but a large percent of the audience seems to agree that this is just a terribly uninteresting book. I also would not call this young adult. It's middle-grade at best.
If you've got a younger kid who loves Disney and are looking for a good bedtime read, this may actually be a great one for you. The Disney premise is enough that a kid would want to read it, but it's uninteresting enough to put a kid to sleep instead of waking their brain up. Unless you fall into that category, I'd give this one a pass.
I didn't enjoy this one probably because I don't know much about aurora she was asleep for most of the Disney movie
It was ok. Other twisted tales are definitely better, but this one had its good (and bad) moments. I hates what they did to Aurora in this story. They kinda made her a little prissy. The good parts were Phillip and his father. King Hubert reminded me of King River from Star vs the forces of evil. Maleficent was just boring in this story, I feel that could have done more with her. It’s one I’m glad I finished, but wouldn’t read again.
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I tried reading some of these books a few years ago and some reason never really got into them but this time I was quickly obsessed and sucked into the world. I loved the concept of a dream world and having Aurora be more self sufficient in wanting to save herself when she realised things were wrong. I also love how she never depended on Phillip and was rather annoyed at him when he treated her like a damsel in distress and it was a very inspiring and refreshing look upon a fairytale. I loved the writing style and the character development and I also thought the pacing was just right for what the story was accomplishing and the overarching sorry was very gratifying and satisfying. I cannot wait to read more from the Twisted Tales stories.
I’m beginning to think that this woman is the best at twisting tales. Unique, original, creative. I like how it touched on Aurora’s identity & sanity. Really beautiful. Some bits about her mental health touched me deeply.
Sleeping beauty is my favorite Disney tale. I was really disappointed in this book. I tried to really like it. I think because this book is supposed to be Aurora’s “girl power” time instead of the prince rescuing her, it lacked in substance.
She was always confused and Phillip was always there to help her through it. Aurora’s character was unlikeable and I just wish they went in another direction with it.
King Stephen and Queen Leah should not have died. If they did. It should have been because they were rescuing or sacrificing theirselves for their child. This book could have been so good but it ended up being lackluster and disappointing.
Maleficient is one of my favorite villains in the Disney “universe” and I really didn’t like her character. She wasn’t cool eveil she was haphazard and petty. Her original self was malicious but calm and calculated. This version of her was not. Liliana wasn’t needed at all. She seemed to be a non character but the. Turned out to be apart of Maleficient? Why? Why were her character so basic in the beginning, then important at the last minute? The monsters from hell were a joke. They just stood there and got blasted away????
The best part about this book is that Philip and Aurora did get their happily ever after in the end. It took a long way to get there. It was nice that the fairies were apart of her soul. That was nice. Even though this book missed so many good opportunities to be great, the author does write well. Braswell has some good ideas but didn’t follow through well enough to make this book amazing. I think Braswell got lost with this one. She tried something different and it didn’t work. There was too much confusion and memories getting squished together that it just made the book hard to read and understand.
She was always confused and Phillip was always there to help her through it. Aurora’s character was unlikeable and I just wish they went in another direction with it.
King Stephen and Queen Leah should not have died. If they did. It should have been because they were rescuing or sacrificing theirselves for their child. This book could have been so good but it ended up being lackluster and disappointing.
Maleficient is one of my favorite villains in the Disney “universe” and I really didn’t like her character. She wasn’t cool eveil she was haphazard and petty. Her original self was malicious but calm and calculated. This version of her was not. Liliana wasn’t needed at all. She seemed to be a non character but the. Turned out to be apart of Maleficient? Why? Why were her character so basic in the beginning, then important at the last minute? The monsters from hell were a joke. They just stood there and got blasted away????
The best part about this book is that Philip and Aurora did get their happily ever after in the end. It took a long way to get there. It was nice that the fairies were apart of her soul. That was nice. Even though this book missed so many good opportunities to be great, the author does write well. Braswell has some good ideas but didn’t follow through well enough to make this book amazing. I think Braswell got lost with this one. She tried something different and it didn’t work. There was too much confusion and memories getting squished together that it just made the book hard to read and understand.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes