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hypofocus's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This was a fun ride! An alternate version of a well known story has potential to go wrong in so many ways, but I really enjoyed this particular direction! There was great attention to cultural detail that I really appreciated as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, and Animal death
ninaleeray's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-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? No
5.0
This take on Disney’s Aladdin starts off familiar and takes a dark turn. Jafar with his evil magic goes to unimaginable lengths to become all powerful stops at nothing using Iago, genie and death to his advantage.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death of parent, and Violence
kibbles15's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Torture, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Bullying and War
Minor: Misogyny
asahome's review against another edition
1.5
A man loses his mind and destroys my childhood.
I think this ruined my childhood... I mean, I know that sounds dramatic, but while reading the required book, I wanted to put it down so many times. I forced myself to finish, but it was so dark. So sad... It made me so sad to think about how far people were willing to go to get power. Madness is not something that can be predicted. I finished this book and don't know if I'll continue with this series of books.
I think this ruined my childhood... I mean, I know that sounds dramatic, but while reading the required book, I wanted to put it down so many times. I forced myself to finish, but it was so dark. So sad... It made me so sad to think about how far people were willing to go to get power. Madness is not something that can be predicted. I finished this book and don't know if I'll continue with this series of books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, and Police brutality
Minor: Confinement and Animal death
vixenreader's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The re-telling of “Aladdin” treads a fine line between a replica of the original source and fan-fiction, it is a lot better, and surprisingly more inspired, than it could have been.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Murder, Death of parent, Violence, Slavery, Torture, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Police brutality, Body horror, Medical content, Body shaming, Confinement, Animal cruelty, and Gore
Minor: Fatphobia, Genocide, Classism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death
Ultranationalist governments, arranged marriage, starvation, thirst, poverty, theft, and drowning in sand are also featured in the text.housedesignerking's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
** spoiler alert ** Please note that I review each book I read as a whole product. I may list stuff that I liked about it, but I grade it as a whole, not on what I liked about it.
<Spoiler>Jafar is my favorite Disney villain. Because of that, I decided to read this entire book in one day, and I did. This book comes with a somewhat brilliant premise; taking one of Disney's stories and re-telling it with a twist. In this version? Abu does not get the lamp back from Jafar, the Genie does not call Aladdin his master, and there is definitely NOT the happy ending that is found in the Disney movie.
The new characters were very likeable, indeed. I found this particular 'version' of Jasmine to be somewhat down-to-Earth. The multiple climaxes throughout the story were very well-written. The way the author wrote the story kept me turning pages, chuckling at times, and liking Morgiana more with almost everything she said. The entire 'war' section of this book took up almost the last 100 pages was very well-written, as well.
However, I find myself completely disappointed with where this 'version' of the story ends up (This review will hopefully be hidden because of spoilers since I checked the box). For me, my rating was affected by several things; including that Jafar made a man's head spin around completely and then giving graphic details; that Braswell made this seem wholesome; that Aladdin did some stunts that were uncharacteristic of him; and finally, what Braswell decided to write in as Jafar's second to last line. "I wish . . . that when I die . . . all magic dies with me."
WHAT??!!
This was such a brilliant idea, but the end result was somewhat of a disappointment (no offense intended). Honestly, a better ending would have been one final similarity to the original: that someone, even if it wouldn't be Aladdin, had decided to mention that the Genie was still more power than Jafar; that Jafar would agree, feel so silly for not having thought of it sooner, and making his third wish to be the all-powerful genie. I'm saying that it would've been a better ending to copy the Disney version. Having Jafar take away all the magic in the world may have made the story more original, but I'm sure there would have been several better ideas than that.
As I said, Jafar is my favorite Disney villain, but I have to give this 1 star.
<Spoiler>Jafar is my favorite Disney villain. Because of that, I decided to read this entire book in one day, and I did. This book comes with a somewhat brilliant premise; taking one of Disney's stories and re-telling it with a twist. In this version? Abu does not get the lamp back from Jafar, the Genie does not call Aladdin his master, and there is definitely NOT the happy ending that is found in the Disney movie.
The new characters were very likeable, indeed. I found this particular 'version' of Jasmine to be somewhat down-to-Earth. The multiple climaxes throughout the story were very well-written. The way the author wrote the story kept me turning pages, chuckling at times, and liking Morgiana more with almost everything she said. The entire 'war' section of this book took up almost the last 100 pages was very well-written, as well.
However, I find myself completely disappointed with where this 'version' of the story ends up (This review will hopefully be hidden because of spoilers since I checked the box). For me, my rating was affected by several things; including that Jafar made a man's head spin around completely and then giving graphic details; that Braswell made this seem wholesome; that Aladdin did some stunts that were uncharacteristic of him; and finally, what Braswell decided to write in as Jafar's second to last line. "I wish . . . that when I die . . . all magic dies with me."
WHAT??!!
This was such a brilliant idea, but the end result was somewhat of a disappointment (no offense intended). Honestly, a better ending would have been one final similarity to the original: that someone, even if it wouldn't be Aladdin, had decided to mention that the Genie was still more power than Jafar; that Jafar would agree, feel so silly for not having thought of it sooner, and making his third wish to be the all-powerful genie. I'm saying that it would've been a better ending to copy the Disney version. Having Jafar take away all the magic in the world may have made the story more original, but I'm sure there would have been several better ideas than that.
As I said, Jafar is my favorite Disney villain, but I have to give this 1 star.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
maymoo's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was absolutely fantastic but the end was afull as they destroyed the premiums of the book and made it extremely hard to finish I would never read this book again but the beginning was good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Incest, Murder, Police brutality, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Genocide, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexism
stormywolf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Partly inspired by a certain internet movie reviewer, and partly because I am a bit of a fangirl, I decided I wanted to dedicate the month of December to all that is Disney! This series of reviews will focus on Disney-inspired media, obviously, and will hopefully expand over the years. This year I wanted to get the ball rolling on their Twisted Tales series, books that promise to re-imagine the Disney stories we know and love as new, darker takes. Will they be successful, or will the originals' magic still hold?
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, there was a lot I liked in this story, but the execution was lacking. There are tons of valuable perspectives addressed throughout the story—of women in a patriarchal society, of poverty and morality, of power and justice—but without a central character to witness and react to these revelations and (hopefully) changes, it doesn't leave much of an impact when all's said and done. It is an interesting What If... story, to be sure, but would have greatly benefited from a tighter focus and/or more alterations to main characters. Still, as an introduction to the possibilities of these Twisted Tales, I'm definitely looking forward to what lies ahead, albeit with a bit more apprehension.
Read my full review at The Wolf's Den
Overall, there was a lot I liked in this story, but the execution was lacking. There are tons of valuable perspectives addressed throughout the story—of women in a patriarchal society, of poverty and morality, of power and justice—but without a central character to witness and react to these revelations and (hopefully) changes, it doesn't leave much of an impact when all's said and done. It is an interesting What If... story, to be sure, but would have greatly benefited from a tighter focus and/or more alterations to main characters. Still, as an introduction to the possibilities of these Twisted Tales, I'm definitely looking forward to what lies ahead, albeit with a bit more apprehension.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and War
journeythroughthechapters's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Thoughts
This was such a disappointment.
My experience reading this was amazing because I buddy read it with my best friend but we both hated it. Haha.
Things I liked:
- The Setting: I thought the way the atmosphere was described was really good. I felt like I could imagine Agrabah which was cool but not enough for me to enjoy this book.
Think I didn't love
- The Writing: The best way I can describe the writing is that the author just wrote everything she thought and turned it into a book. She used words like "unprincessy", "uppity", "teeny tiny". It was a real struggle to get through. Because the writing felt so clunky.
- The Characters: I think Jasmine was trying to be too much of everything. Morgiana was a cool character but we didn't get that much of her. Aladdin was good. I feel like he was the strongest character and most consistent. But all the other characters were average. It was mainly Jasmine that I didn't like and she took up A LOT of the story.
- The Logic: There were a few things in the end that didn't make sense. A couple of out of character things. People's actions. It was confusing and made no sense.
I wish loved this but I didn't. I'm happy it's done. Onto better reads. Let's hope.
Representation
POC (main character and side)
Content Warning
Loss of a parent, Animal Abuse, Decapitation/Body Horror, Death, Violence
This was such a disappointment.
My experience reading this was amazing because I buddy read it with my best friend but we both hated it. Haha.
Things I liked:
- The Setting: I thought the way the atmosphere was described was really good. I felt like I could imagine Agrabah which was cool but not enough for me to enjoy this book.
Think I didn't love
- The Writing: The best way I can describe the writing is that the author just wrote everything she thought and turned it into a book. She used words like "unprincessy", "uppity", "teeny tiny". It was a real struggle to get through. Because the writing felt so clunky.
- The Characters: I think Jasmine was trying to be too much of everything. Morgiana was a cool character but we didn't get that much of her. Aladdin was good. I feel like he was the strongest character and most consistent. But all the other characters were average. It was mainly Jasmine that I didn't like and she took up A LOT of the story.
- The Logic: There were a few things in the end that didn't make sense. A couple of out of character things. People's actions. It was confusing and made no sense.
I wish loved this but I didn't. I'm happy it's done. Onto better reads. Let's hope.
Representation
POC (main character and side)
Content Warning
Loss of a parent, Animal Abuse, Decapitation/Body Horror, Death, Violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty
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