A Whole New World by Liz Braswell is a dark reimagining of the classic Aladdin tale. In this twisted version, Jafar gains control of the Genie first, turning Agrabah into a place of fear. Aladdin and Jasmine join forces with rebels to fight back. With its fresh take and unexpected twists, it’s perfect for fans of fairy tale retellings who enjoy a grittier edge.

A more mature and dark version of the Disney's Aladdin story and I absolutely loved it! I devoured this book and it consistently proves entertaining for younger readers too

A Whole New World (Twisted Tale) by Liz Braswell

313 Pages
Publisher: Disney Book Group, Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: September 1, 2015

Fiction, Teen, Young Adult, Underdogs

The story is a different take to Aladdin. In this version Jafar gets the lamp and takes over the kingdom. With her father murdered, Jasmine and Aladdin work together with the street urchins to take back the castle.

The story has a good pace, the characters are not developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. We are supposed to know the characters from the movie. This twisted tale was not as good as other ones I have read but it is a solid read. If you like fairy tales, you will enjoy reading this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion for providing me with a copy of this egalley to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
You'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't know the story of Aladdin. Especially the Disney version with its knock your socks off funny Genie. I will not be shy in saying I loved this movie so had high expectations of a retelling where the villain gets to have his story told. I'm a sucker for finding out why the villain acts as they do. Unfortunately, I just did not love this story. At least the part of it I got through.
The first 25% or so of the book is an exact retelling of Aladdin. Almost word for word what you get in the movie. And, while I'm all for rehashing some of what I know as a reminder, it's just not what I was expecting. I was expecting a different tale from the start. But I didn't get that.
I found the characters childish, which, given it's a Disney inspired retelling, I kind of get. But the characters are definitely supposed to be YA in this story and I was expecting more of that aspect. I was expecting more maturity. But the book reads as a middle grade. And how the characters are portrayed didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy, or have any connection to them at all. They had no passion; they had no umph. Their dialogue literally felt flat, like a piece of cardboard. And let's not talk about the insta-love, which I get for a movie, but for a book there can be so much more.
The plot line lacked in keeping me interested. There was no hook from the start. Just the story I know very well.
This was definitely not the epic fantasy retelling of a beloved story I know well at all. Unfortunately, it was a DNF at 40% for me.

Thank you for the arc, unfortunately I did not finish it, I just wasn't the right audience for this book.

This was the first Disney retelling that I picked up, and it was also the last. I usually enjoy retellings and actively seek them out (you have no idea how many fairy tale and Pride and Prejudice retellings I've devoured over the years). However, this just wasn't for me. It didn't make me feel the way the original animated film did; I wanted that breathless yearning, but it just wasn't there. I enjoyed it so little that I've actively avoided all of the other Disney retellings.

I guess it's a good concept, reimagining classic Disney stories but it could've been written better, I think, and without making the characters so flat and uninteresting. So yeah, this book wasn't the right one for me, per se. I do hope others will enjoy it more than I did but I wouldn't recommend it.

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

This has been on my TBR pile for so long, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I really enjoyed the storyline and seeing the characters change throughout the story was a great character development. The plot was great and kept my attention. I'm glad I got the chance to read this and will be on the lookout for more in the future!

This was a fun twist on the Aladdin story. Jaffer gets the lamp first, say what!? I liked the villian being the main part of the story though.

While the premise is interesting and the writing is passable, at times it felt like Braswell didn't have a good grip on the Disney characters, and the plotline was solved too easily.

I've tried this book a few times since requesting it and its just never clicked with me in the way that i'd hoped it would. Calling this a DNF

I unfortunately was not able to read this book. I was excited when ever I had chosen to download or pick this book up on Netgalley. However, time moves by so quickly and I never got to read it.

Go into this book with an open mind about Aladdin. The title tells you it is a twisted tale. Although it is from the Disney Press, its not Disney's Aladdin. That being said, its a great story and I want to read the other books in the series.

This book was just "ok" for me. It did not have enough character development for me to be that interested in what happened. Additionally, the beginning of the book was almost an exact replica of the movie. I would have enjoyed something fresh and new brought to the story...more details about the character's backstory, additional history provided about Agrabah, something. Eventually the story did diverge from the movie, but once again, it felt kind of bland. I wanted more details, more development, more to the story. All that being said, the book was a pretty quick read. I think it might appeal to some fans of the original movie, so there may be some people that I could recommend this to. I'm interested to try other books in this series to see how they compare.

Ugh, where do I even begin? I had such a hard time reading the first half of the book! Especially because the first quarter is pretty much like someone telling you what happens in the movie, Aladdin, in tiresome details. A Whole New World is a middle grade book trying to be young adult.

This book seriously needs to go back to the editing-slash-chopping block because there are some pretty horrendous parts that are just trying too hard to stay close to the fairy tale and its setting. Unfortunately, it was too sensational and overly done for my taste.

Also, who the hell spins like a dervish in the middle of a fight? Urgh.

I honestly didn't care about anything except the poor magical carpet.

This was a DNF for me. I really didn't enjoy the writing from the first page, it felt stilted and juvenile. I love the story of Aladdin, but honestly couldn't get into this retelling even a little bit.

Hi, hello, it's me, your local Disney-obsessed reader. Why did it take me so long to read this book when it is exactly my taste? I don't know. Maybe because I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to my expectations, and I didn't really like the original covers. Maybe because I was hoping this would be a diamond in the rough when it comes to Disney retellings.

This is an officially sanctioned retelling published by Disney. The beginning of the book follows the movie almost exactly and because I've just recently rewatched the film it was uncanny to see how closely the dialogue clings to the script. We get these vivid descriptions that help us recall the gorgeous landscapes that were created in the movie. We get Aladdin's perspective as he runs around doing his Street Rat thing. There's also a lot of backstory for him (and it's been at least a decade since I've seen the Aladdin sequels, so I'm really uncertain of what was created for the sake of this book and if any of it adheres to that sweet sweet direct-to-DVD canon). Basically, you don't need to read the beginning too closely apart from Aladdin's foundations, if you have a basic understanding of the movie.

Everything changes when Aladdin gives Jafar the lamp he steals from the Cave of Wonders, the lamp containing Genie--and fails to get it back before he falls down into the collapsing cave.

Oh, boy do things get really intense really fast from there.

Basically, Jafar gets his three wishes and doesn't need to rush through them, because he has no competition. There's no resistance against him. Aladdin is buried in the sand, Jasmine is trapped in the palace, and there wasn't even any time for them to go on a magic carpet ride together which I think is the most tragic part of this entire story.

What confused me most about A Whole New World is that sometimes the writing felt like it was geared toward a middle grade audience, while the actual content can at times be very . . . graphic. People die. Lots of people die. Usually it happens "off-screen" but, uh . . . not always. There were a few moments where I was staring down at the book with a good impression of a shocked Pikachu face.

I do however think that this portrayal of what might have been was pretty accurate, because Jafar seems like an insanely crazy dictator in the .5 seconds he has power during the movie, and now you get to see that drawn out and thrown all over Agrabah. But this also gives the book a more cliche, YA feel. There's the bad guy who's a terrible ruler for absolutely no reason, and the people of Agrabah need to team up against him. They need to rebel! It's like . . . dystopian Aladdin.

One of the great things about dystopian Aladdin is that we get badass warrior Princess Jasmine. Some of the chapters are from her perspective and I liked being able to get into her head a little more while she works with the resistance and tries to determine who are her allies when she really knows no one in the outside world.

Overall this book was intriguing and cute. I liked the little references toward the original throughout the latter parts of the book when we've already deviated from the movie script. It's kind of like reading official fanfiction that gets surprisingly very dark at random moments. However, the writing style wasn't for me (some of the pieces of dialogue that are said by Jasmine and Aladdin, who are adults, are so childish) and I feel like the plot just wasn't as unique as the original's. The entire resistance plotline was done well, but it's been done so many times in other books that it felt odd to find it in a Disney novel.

Still, if you love Aladdin like I do, this may be worth reading just because of the nostalgia and familiar pieces. Plus, it's fun to get some backstory for Aladdin and to sort of see A Whole New World inside of a story you've already known and loved.

The book was ok. The beginning chunk of the book is essentially a novelization of the movie. I was very bored because I've seen the movie. If you haven't, cool. But if you haven't, I'm not sure why you'd be interested in this anyway. The rest of the book, from the twist on, is better. The reader gets new stuff out of it. But I wanted to read this as a retelling, not a rehashing plus some new stuff on the end.

The beginning of the story was pretty much a retelling of the Disney movie Aladdin, which I did expect. Once the story broke away from the movie it truly became its unique self. The story has quite a few ups and downs but that ending, had me on the edge of my seat fearing the loss of any of the main character heroes in battle. Aladdin is one of my favorite movies and I had high expectations as the book didn’t quite meet them, but it wasn’t far off. This story turned out to be unique, and very well written. I’m excited to pick up the next twisted tale!

Retellings of Disney classics? Key moments changed? Jasmine as a REVOLUTIONARY?!? I am so freaking IN!!

^ That was my pre-review. Obviously, I was pretty excited. But I'm sad to say... I was reeeeally disappointed in this one. And it honestly kills me to say that, because I'm a huge Disney fan and I was totally ready to rave about this one for days.

But it just does...nothing for the story or the characters. Yes, that one key moment is changed. But it ends up feeling flat and boring and... kind of juvenile. This is a "new YA series," says the synopsis. So I expected a little more complexity, a little more emotion, a little more trusting your audience to be able to follow along and make some inferences without the author having to spell out every thought and realization that we are expected to have. And yes, Jasmine was a revolutionary, but even that wasn't handled well enough to redeem the book for me. Everything was just too underwhelming for me to enjoy it.

And again, I'm sorry to have to say all that (DISNEY I'M SO SORRY PLEASE FORGIVE ME I LOVE YOUUUU).