Rose-Red Tyrant delivers a wonderfully magical adventure that transports readers into the spellbinding world of Night Raven College. Yuya Kuroki’s journey from an ordinary life to an extraordinary realm is full of charm and intrigue. The vibrant, whimsical setting is a feast for the imagination, populated by memorable characters with distinct personalities.

Yuya’s challenges, especially his lack of magical abilities, make him an incredibly relatable and endearing protagonist. His determination to find his place despite the odds brings warmth to the story, and his interactions with the colorful cast of students are both entertaining and heartfelt. Each character adds their own flavor to the narrative, from the bickering classmates to the mystical creatures that roam this twisted world.

The world-building is impressive, with plenty of detail that draws you into this enchanting and mysterious setting. Even with moments of slower pacing, the story maintains its momentum through its charm and creativity. Fans of reimagined Disney tales and fantasy adventures will love this fresh take on familiar characters, offering a delightful escape into a world where magic and mystery collide.

THE STORY
Even if you’ve never played Disney Twisted-Wonderland, you won’t miss out on much story. This book adapts both the introductory scenario and the first full arc, for which the book is named. If you have played the game, you’ll notice one major difference right off the bat: you, the player character, are now Yu, a named and active character. As in the game, Yu is isekai’d into this strange magical boarding school, populated by students who aspire to be like seven famous Disney villains. Of course, the students don’t see them as villains, but rather as shrewd and benevolent leaders.

As Yu and Grim, a rowdy cat-like monster who aspires to be a great mage, adapt to their new home, they get to know the boys of Heartslabyul. This dorm models itself after the rigorous rules of the Queen of Hearts. But while this might lead to academic excellence, it also leads to dissatisfaction. Housewarden Riddle Rosehearts is heavy-handed and unyielding, to the point of punishing new students Ace and Deuce for bringing the wrong kind of tart to an unbirthday party. But standing up to this young tyrant leads to terrifying consequences.

THE ART
Unfortunately, we can’t really show Toboso’s interior art for the first Disney Twisted-Wonderland book, as it’s watermarked. However, the black-and-white artwork is all as lovely as you’d expect it to be from this artist. If you enjoy the character designs for the original game, you’ll love these.

What’s a bit odd is that the placement of the images feels arbitrary. You’ll go for a long time with nothing, then have a few in quick succession. Most surprising of all is that there wasn’t an illustration for Riddle’s Overblot design or its accompanying monster. Considering how difficult to depict in prose alone, and how awesome Overblot designs tend to be, this felt like an odd choice. That said, the art we do get—regardless of how or why scenes were chosen—is extremely nice.

AND THE REST
First off, major props to Jocylene Allen, who did an excellent job translating and localizing Jun Hioki’s work. Capturing both the tone of the Disney Twisted-Wonderland game itself and each character’s speech patterns is no small task. It’s always a pleasure to read a well-translated light novel.

As for Jun Hioki’s adaptation, it does a good job of translating the game into a readable format. Some elements are changed or cut—such as many of the scenes initially played out as rhythm games and a few other character introductions. Also, as with the manga, we have a new version of the protagonist. Yuya Kuroki (Yu for short) is friendless and largely faceless, and even finds himself wishing not to be seen. One of his main traits that comes to the fore is his dislike of conflict—making life in a school full of villain aspirants especially difficult. That said, it means we get a bit of character development for an otherwise faceless audience association character. Whether this Yuya will follow us into the next volume, or whether he’ll switch out with other Yu’s as in the manga, remains to be seen.

Final Thoughts: The story of Disney Twisted-Wonderland evolves a bit with every retelling. Even if there are certain aspects that resonate better in game or manga form, this is an entertaining read that does a great job getting to the heart of the boys of Heartslabyul.

This book is quirky, has lovely voice and just makes all the characters come to life. I have read some of the graphic novels in this series, and where the graphic novels don’t always connect things, this book does. It is just a lovely read and even if you have read the graphic novels, I would still suggest picking up this novel. Thank you so much to Viz Media and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Really 3.5 stars.

Disney Twisted-Wonderland: Rose-Red Tyrant by Jun Hioki and Yana Toboso is the novel adaptation of the Twisted-Wonderland mobile game. This arc, the Heartslabyul plotline, draws heavily from the Disney animated version of Alice in Wonderland, though other Disney references are scattered throughout the book, the game, and the world. The isekai light novel follows Japanese high schooler Yuya Kuroki as he is suddenly spirited away to Night Raven College, a prestigious magic academy. Magicless and with no way to return home, Yuya, or 'Yu' as he is called, must 'settle' into the whirlwind ride that is his new campus life. Along the way, he encounters Grim, a cute but feisty monster who aspires to become a mage; Ace, Deuce, Trey, and Cater, students from the Heartslabyul campus dorm; and Riddle Rosehearts, the tyrannical Heartslabyul dorm warden. Chaos and adventure ensue from day one, so there is never a dull moment here!

Rose-Red Tyrant follows pretty much the same plotline as the Twisted-Wonderland: Book of Heartslabyul manga, but with one significant difference--the narrator. While in the manga, the protagonist is an athletic, charismatic leader of his (original) high school kendo team, in this version, Yuya is a shy loner, a latchkey kid who has difficulty forming social connections. While these choices were likely meant to simulate the game's player character as much as possible, I personally think the novelization's choice of narrator is the better one, because it allows for more character growth throughout the book, alongside the more iconic NPCs and antagonists. The novel is also a better choice for readers who are less familiar with the game, because it includes more details about the world and the lore compared to the manga adaptation, including more tidbits about the other dorms on campus. While the manga's greatest strength is the visual aspect of the storytelling, several illustrations from the manga also appear in the novel. Both adaptations pair well together, but if selecting only one, the novel is the more in-depth option. The ending of the novel also introduces a clearer connection to subsequent arcs, whether they are released as manga, light novels, or both.

One minor downside to the novelization, however, is the flashback chapter. Because of the visual aspect of the manga, this section transitions easily in the graphic novel adaptation. On the other hand, the sudden third- to first-person narration in the novel may be a little jarring if the reader isn't' expecting the switch. Other than that, the novel flowed more smoothly than the manga.

Overall, this was a quick, easy read, best suited for YA and middle grade audiences, though anyone who enjoys Disney and Twisted-Wonderland--or even just Alice in Wonderland vibes--will probably enjoy this. Apart from Twisted-Wonderland, Yana Toboso is also known for her popular shounen manga, Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji, and her vampire one-shot, RustBlaster. Another game to book adaptation of note is Alice in the Country of Hearts by QuinRose.

VIZ Media provided an early galley for review.

This is a straight-up novelization of the first four volumes of Yana Toboso's manga (the Book of Heartslabyul). The story combines well the elements of traditional manga/anime school settings with character elements and aesthetics from Disney classic animation. If you've read and enjoyed those manga (which I definitely did!) then you might also like revisiting the story in this prose form. For me, the artwork on the original really made this story extra special; there are a few tastes of that peppered here.

A delightful twist on how fairy tale villains could be construed in later years as stalwarts of their societies, so much so that the arcane school known as Raven Night College, names their houses after them and looks up to their legacies. Yuya is transported into this world from ours, seemingly by a magical accident and enters a world of magic, rivalry and very strict rules. The story centres around students in the house associated with the Queen of Hearts, hence all the rules they need to follow. Things get completely out of hand with housewarden Riddle going off his head and chaos follows Yuya everywhere, enjoy chaos as he and some friends battle creatures, break rules and uncover a few secrets along the way. Great fun to read.

I'm really starting to love this series and the world. I've read the first volume and now this one and I really like it. The characters are familiar yet new as you navigate the world so different yet familiar to the world we grew to know in Disney. I think this book was really good and I want to read more of these series. The pacing was good, and the characters are fun to follow.

Yuya Hiroki is transported from Japan to the world of Night Raven College, a weird world full of magic monsters, magicians, and fire-breathing cats. Containing no magic in a world where no one has heard of his world, Yuya is assigned to an unused dormitory by the headmaster. There, he serves as a servant of sorts, where he befriends a magical cat named Grim. He soon discovers that he can talk to ghosts and controls them. Grim wants to go to the school as a student but familiars aren’t allowed to be students. When Ace and Deuce cause mayhem throughout castle, Yuya discovers another power; he can control magic and the people with it. To help redeem the students and not be removed from Night Raven College, Yuya goes with them on a quest to retrieve a new magestone. Will he succeed?

The plot is a series of adventures that is engaging, entertaining, and draw the reader into the novel. The characters are humorous, unique, and help bring the world to life. The world building is authentic to the game it is based off. Readers who like VIzMedia novels, are transitioning from manga to chapter books, or who like the video games will want to pick this one up. Recommended for library collections where such chapter books are popular. 3 stars, Gr 6 through 10

Please note: This was a review copy given to us by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No financial compensation was received.

As a Disney Lover I’m very excited for this Alice and Wonderland novel. Cool touch it’s inspired by the video game as well! Gamers and lovers of the tale will love this