A Whole New World (Twisted Tale Series #1)

by Liz Braswell

Overview

The first book in a new young adult line that asks readers: What if classic Disney fairy tales had happened a little bit differently?

When Jafar steals the Genie’s lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish. To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed Princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.

What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504653350
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Series:	Twisted Tale Series
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth J. Braswell is an English-born American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for The Nine Lives of Chloe King, a series that was adapted as a 2011 television show of the same name.

Disney
Publishing Worldwide (DPW) is the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, magazines, and apps, with over 700 million products sold each year. DPW consists of an extensive worldwide books and magazines licensing structure as well as vertically integrated publishing imprints, including
Disney-Hyperion and Disney Press in the US and Disney Libri in Italy. DPW’s digital products include bestselling e-book titles and award-winning original apps. Disney English is DPW’s English language learning business, which includes learning centers in China and a worldwide retail-licensing program.
Headquartered in Glendale, California, DPW publishes books, magazines, and digital products in 85 countries in 75 languages. For more information visit www.disneypublishing.com.

James Patrick Cronin began his audiobook career at twelve years of age opposite Christopher Lloyd in The Pagemaster. A classically trained stage actor and philosophy student, he has spent his years since college performing as an actor and a comedian on stages all over the world. He has performed everything from the classics to his own material in Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, and Jerusalem, as well as all across the United States. His final year as a graduate student in Louisville, he won just enough money at the Kentucky Derby to pay for his day at the Kentucky Derby.

Table of Contents

PrologueAll This for a Loaf of Bread... But for an AppleThe Cost of KnowledgeThe Agrabah No One SeesThe Cave of WondersJasmine and a GenieGenuflect, Show Some RespectThe Plans of Jafar, the Fate of the DjinnThe Street RatsA Rescue of SortsThe Birth of an ArmyUnravelingA HeistRobber QueenDeadly MagicTea with a GenieFriends in Unlikely PlacesA Declaration of WarSympathies and StrategiesThe PlanA Pause before the Dust StormSeems Like Old TimesDawn ApproachesCasualties of WarThe Final WishThe End-of MagicEpilogue

Editorial Reviews

"A magic carpet ride of a book! A fun and unpredictable retelling of the classic Aladdin story, a must-read for all of us Disney fans!”—Melissa de la Cruz

From the Publisher

10/01/2015
Gr 7 Up—The first quarter of this work functions as a novelization of the Disney movie that inspired it, detailing the escapades of young street urchin Aladdin as he steals to survive. After Aladdin encounters the princess Jasmine at the city market, the villainous Jafar, the childlike sultan's grand vizier, uses Aladdin to retrieve a magic lamp from the Cave of Wonders. It is here that the story deviates from Disney, as this time around it is Jafar who claims possession of the lamp and uses the genie inside to murder the sultan and take his throne. Upon escaping from the Cave of Wonders, Aladdin teams up with Jasmine and a band of thieving street rats to stop the evil sorcerer and reclaim the city of Agrabah. The action-packed story maintains a brisk pace, but the characters lack depth and complexity, and though Braswell succeeds in creating a darker tone, she is less successful in her efforts to ground Jasmine and Aladdin's revolution in Agrabah's economic inequities. Furthermore, the novel is a bit heavy-handed thematically, and anachronistic word choices and dialogue have a tendency to pull readers from what is otherwise an interesting, if simplistic, setting. VERDICT An additional purchase where there is an enthusiastic audience for retellings.—Lauren Strohecker, McKinley Elementary School, Abington School District, PA

School Library Journal

2015-06-29
In a Disney-authorized riff on the animated film Aladdin, one crucial plot twist has horrifying results. The first quarter of the book serves up a straightforward novelization of the film, until evil vizier Jafar traps the roguish protagonist underground—in this version, without the magical lamp. Aladdin escapes to find that with the genie's aid, Jafar has publicly murdered the feckless sultan, imprisoned the princess Jasmine, and terrorized the people of Agrabah into submission. Fortunately, Aladdin can call upon the Street Rats to spearhead a revolution, but can a gang of petty thieves prevail over Jafar's black magic? Briskly paced, with nonstop action and clever allusions to classic horror tales, this retelling suffers from paper-thin characterization and abrupt shifts in tone, from saccharine romance to snarky quips to grisly horror, including the tortures and deaths of more than one beloved movie character. The setting and dialogue are rife with jarring anachronisms, and even when some characters are granted added depth—as in the genie's tragic back story and Jafar's terrifying descent into madness—it often backfires, for instance conflicting creepily with the former's jocular wisecracks and latter's cartoonish villainy. Despite a tacked-on happily-ever-after epilogue, the darkness and violence, culminating in a rebel "victory" that is at best ambiguous, leave a bitter aftertaste. Competent enough as fan fiction, but strictly for (not-too-devoted) fans of the movie. (Fantasy. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews