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A review by lilith_bookshelf
A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I absolutely loved this book. I had so high expectations and made the mistake to read some reviews after starting the book. I started reading this with a huge idea in my head, and the reviews destroyed that idea and made it harder to read. I fell into a reader's block a d was only able to come back after a short book I read for college. So I do regret reading the reviews after starting (I usually do it before or after reading the book, not in the middle).
Let's set a couple of things clear:
1) This book is a 'What if...' type of book, meaning it will be pretty much like the movie but with a few changes.
A lot of the bad reviews I read where about how they were expecting more, but the first half was basically a copy + paste from the movie. Now, it was a copy + paste of the movie, for just the first 2 chapters. After that, it provides different points of view of what would have happened if Jafar got the lamp.
2) This is not supposed to be 'Jafar's point of view'. Nothing in the synopsis hints that. It just says that Jafar got the lamp and now Aladdin and Jasmine (the main characters and main POV) need to start a rebellion to free Agrabah.
A lot of people was expecting to learn more about Jafar's intentions, and we do learn more about it. Not like in Serena Valentino's Villains series where we learn the whole backstory of the villain (I highly recommend that series and you can read my reviews before reading to get an idea of what you're getting into), but we kinda get a hold of Jafar's past. Not enough to justify his actions, but still fair enough for us to kinda see where he came from and kinda understand his goals.
That being said, I did like how Liz Braswell presented this story. I'm not into the 'history' part because I just read this for pleasure; therefore, if there was historic data said wrong I wouldn't notice, so that didn't affect my vision of the book. I was so disappointed after reading the reviews because I though I wouldn't like it and oh, surprise, I ended up loving it.
I love the idea of Jasmine and Aladdin ruling over Agrabah instead of Aladdin and Jasmine as in the movie, so that was a plus.
Now, one thing I didn't like was that as in the movie, Aladdin is the 'diamond in the rough' and therefore the one who defeats Jafar with the help of the genie and saves Agrabah. In this book, he's also said to be the 'diamond in the rough' to retrieve the lamp, but no other mention of that comes throughout the rest of the book. He doesn't get a 'spotlight moment' where he uses magic or something like that to save the world or fight against Jafar, and his attribute of 'diamond in the rough' never repeats itself, so it was placed at the beginning to not work ever again, which I thought was a bummer because I was expecting more from Aladdin...
But besides that, the story does come together pretty well, everyone gets their closing and overall pretty much what was promised. I highly recommend it as fun and just as a quick 'What if...' version but nothing much. Don't expect great things or resolution of questions from the movie because it's not that, but it's good enough. 4/5 stars.
Let's set a couple of things clear:
1) This book is a 'What if...' type of book, meaning it will be pretty much like the movie but with a few changes.
A lot of the bad reviews I read where about how they were expecting more, but the first half was basically a copy + paste from the movie. Now, it was a copy + paste of the movie, for just the first 2 chapters. After that, it provides different points of view of what would have happened if Jafar got the lamp.
2) This is not supposed to be 'Jafar's point of view'. Nothing in the synopsis hints that. It just says that Jafar got the lamp and now Aladdin and Jasmine (the main characters and main POV) need to start a rebellion to free Agrabah.
A lot of people was expecting to learn more about Jafar's intentions, and we do learn more about it. Not like in Serena Valentino's Villains series where we learn the whole backstory of the villain (I highly recommend that series and you can read my reviews before reading to get an idea of what you're getting into), but we kinda get a hold of Jafar's past. Not enough to justify his actions, but still fair enough for us to kinda see where he came from and kinda understand his goals.
That being said, I did like how Liz Braswell presented this story. I'm not into the 'history' part because I just read this for pleasure; therefore, if there was historic data said wrong I wouldn't notice, so that didn't affect my vision of the book. I was so disappointed after reading the reviews because I though I wouldn't like it and oh, surprise, I ended up loving it.
I love the idea of Jasmine and Aladdin ruling over Agrabah instead of Aladdin and Jasmine as in the movie, so that was a plus.
Now, one thing I didn't like was that as in the movie, Aladdin is the 'diamond in the rough' and therefore the one who defeats Jafar with the help of the genie and saves Agrabah. In this book, he's also said to be the 'diamond in the rough' to retrieve the lamp, but no other mention of that comes throughout the rest of the book. He doesn't get a 'spotlight moment' where he uses magic or something like that to save the world or fight against Jafar, and his attribute of 'diamond in the rough' never repeats itself, so it was placed at the beginning to not work ever again, which I thought was a bummer because I was expecting more from Aladdin...
But besides that, the story does come together pretty well, everyone gets their closing and overall pretty much what was promised. I highly recommend it as fun and just as a quick 'What if...' version but nothing much. Don't expect great things or resolution of questions from the movie because it's not that, but it's good enough. 4/5 stars.