The Sphere of Infinity by Day Leitao is an Aladdin retelling. A retelling can be full of surprises or predicteble. Neither is good or bad, it just depends on the writing. This one wasn't full of surprises but I liked the writing. The story was good and I liked the characters. I would definitely read another story by this author.

This was a real surprise.

It was a great take on Aladdin, bought into the future.

The characters were well developed and the story left me wanting more.

A short novella which took me on an amazing journey through space.

Readers who like retellings of fairy tales and stories set on other planets will love The Sphere of Infinity!
It is a reverse retelling of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, where our protagonist, Alana plays the role of Aladdin and Jasper is the equivalent of the princess. There is no lamp, sorry, but in exchange, the author gives us the Sphere of Infinity.
The book is short, it can be read in a couple of hours, but it is a story that has everything: action, suspense, a bit of mystery, a bit of clean romance, a protagonist who steals the heart of the reader (and the protagonist, obviously) and a villain who has nothing to envy Giafar, from the Disney movie.
I thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
The opinion I have expressed above is based solely on what I think and feel about this book.

I was interested in this novella because it was a gender-bent Aladdin retelling. However, the story seemed very rushed with very little character development. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was longer.

This author has written quite a few books, and I'm surprised i haven't heard of them before! I liked the writing- it was simple and easy to read, but also intriguing. The cover is beautiful and when I found our it was an Aladdin retelling, I was HOOKED. The beginning was so fun. I really liked these characters and the way their paths collided!

I would recommend!

A gender bend Aladdin retelling! In space!!!??? Give it to me- oh no...... this wasn't what I expected...

I usually like reading novellas or novels on the shorter side between long novels so I don't go into a slump. But due to this being a novella, the story suffered a lot. Everything happened so fast and the whole book was written in a summarized way, even some key events were just skipped through and happened off screen and we're mentioned in two lines to keep the story short. The book feels like it's delivering or telling me information without showing it and leaving the readers to do all the imaginings and filling up the spaces. It's like a dream where you are hurt but of course you can't feel anything but your brain is trying so hard to convince you that you are supposed to feel pain.

Moreover, everything was solved conveniently and "tough" situations were only that in label rather than actually being hard on the characters and writing style wise. Because of that, nothing feels suspenseful and how they defeated the bad guy was honestly the worst part of the book, from how easy, fast and out of nowhere the solution was.

Due to it being summarized, the characters had no personality and depth especially Jasper, I found him to be so fake and paper thin despite the author's effort to make him this very nice person. But I liked what I've seen so far of Alana.

Overall, this had a lot of potential if only it was a novel or at least longer without the need to summarize everything. The world setting was amazing and I was very curious to see how everything ended up the way it is, especially with the main planet where the story takes place as well as the other planets mentioned. There was this whole conspiracy the bad guy was in and I wish it was expanded further and was the focus of the whole book instead of battling this one piece of the whole puzzle and ending the book there.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

I don't really have a lot to say about this. It was a quick read. But because of that I feel like the story was rushed and things were lost in the quickness.

I wanted to like this one, but I struggled to connect with the characters. Still, I enjoyed the premise and the story was fun, I just didn't love it.

I was super drawn in by the cover and premise, but the writing was not for me. It was repetitive and awkward and maybe meant for someone interested in books for a younger YA audience. Bummer!

Although the basic idea of a science fiction Aladdin retelling is very appealing, this novella wasn't. The characters were hard to like and the writing and dialogue were awkward.

This retelling of Aladdin is cute. It has just enough of its own spin to make it interesting and leave you guessing.
This book is also straight too the point no mindless drowning in with pointless details. Tho it could have be more interesting with them. I feel like this would be better suited for younger teens.

I couldn’t connect with this at all, the writing is a bit off and with more development both writing and plot-wise it probably could be a great read, but as it stands with a slow pace that makes you lose interested and awkward writing style, it just isn’t for me.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Sixteen-year-old Alana dreams of leaving the totalitarian planet, Samitri, on which she and her mother reside; however, as they are stricken by poverty, it’s an aspiration that seems impossible to reach. Simultaneously, Jasper – a supposed government overseer – has come to her planet in pursuit of his own ambitions. When the two’s destinies collide, the fate of everything they’ve ever known is thrust into their palms…and protecting it won’t be easy.

The first detail of the story I’d like to mention is the amalgam of sci-fi and fantasy – space and dragons, advanced technology and high magic… I’m a sucker for genre blends, and this one was pretty neat, biases aside.

Ultimately, though, much of the rest of the work could have done with heavy polish.

The writing was terse, mostly bland, and fairly unvaried in structure, making it grow repetitive and dull after a short while. This, coupled with the short length of the novella, also resulted in difficulty in following the plot. Additionally, multiple concepts – ranging from sociopolitical turmoil to implied metaphysics – were simultaneously crammed into the prose with little opportunity upon which to be expanded; had the tale been less condensed, I would have liked to see them play larger roles.

Owing to the brevity of the work, the characters were harbors of unused potential as well. Alana’s mother was probably my favorite, though I found it difficult to see through the eyes of any of them due to the aforementioned plain writing. Would I have liked Jasper, Alana, and co. more if I’d been able to stare a little deeper into their souls? Probably.

Lastly, going back to the shortness, the world-building was enigmatic and at times overly convoluted, showing many worlds and many societies but never quite doing them justice. Samitri’s history and fate remain quite covered in shadows for me, and I wish I could have heard more about the other planets.

All in all, The Sphere of Infinity was a generally intriguing Aladdin retelling that unfortunately fell short of the sum of its parts. If you like concise spins on classic stories, though, then perhaps you’ll have better luck with this than I did.

I read this in one sitting. My only complaint is that it was too short, and if you consider I read it fast, you can imagine how quickly it went. I hope there's more to come.