A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale- A Disney Nerds Book Club Review

Have you even finished your favorite Disney film and wonder, what if the good guy didn’t win? Well, I’ve got the book series for you! It’s The Twisted Tale series by Liz Braswell! Each book retells our favorite Disney films with a twist. Since each book retells a story, you do not have to read the series in order but I decided to do so. The first book in the series is “A Whole New World” which retells Aladdin and asks the question: What if Aladdin had never found the lamp?

It’s such a crazy to question to ask. What if Aladdin never found the lamp? How would that be possible? It immediately pulls you into the book.

The story starts similarly to the film, we meet Aladdin, he’s a Street Rat with his pet monkey Abu. We get a little more detail of Aladdin’s childhood though which just makes him a deeper character in my opinion. Aladdin also still meets Jasmine when she’s a runaway and those first sparks of love emerge. He also still gets arrested. Jafar still poses as an old man who needs his help with going into the Cave of Wonders. Then things change. We still go with Aladdin into the Cave of Wonders. Abu is with him and he still touches the forbidden treasure. They’ve also met the Magic Carpet who helps them escape. Jafar is at the entrance of the Cave and he throws Aladdin into the Cave after he’s handed the lamp.

Here’s where things change, Abu doesn’t steal the pickpocket the lamp from Jafar. Aladdin, Abu, and their new friend the Magic Carpet are now trapped in the Cave of Wonders, without a lamp, and they have to find a way out.

I won’t give away any major spoilers

Now that we’re at the point the book starts to differ from the movie, I got sucked into the story even more. You can imagine what evil things transpire with Jafar in possession of the lamp at this point in the tale. Jafar still has his two wishes we see in the film, to be the Sultan of Agrabah and the most powerful sorcerer. The genie is serving Jafar but we can still see he does have that heart of gold we loved from the movie. But we really see what evil lies in Jafar’s heart. We read along as Arrabad becomes a dark city and the townspeople are now scared of their new Sultan.

So now that we see that Jafar has taken control over Agrabah, we now follow Aladdin and Jasmine and they try and stop him and restore the kingdom. We watch their planning and trying to help the people of Agrabad in addition to taking back the kingdom. It’s really great to read more about them as characters and see the love and respect that develops between them. We also meet new characters that help Aladdin and Jasmine. The new characters help enhance the town and what it’s really like to live in Agrabah.

Do they succeed?

You’ll have to read the book to find out!

Personally, I love this new take on this story I love. I will have to admit that it took me a minute to stop comparing the book to the film since they start off the same and then split into different stories. But once my mind stopped comparing the book to the movie I was sucked into the story. I was fully immersed and couldn’t put the book down. While reading the book, I wanted to see if the good guys won or if they were doomed since they never at the lamp from the beginning. Also, I got more depth of the characters I loved. I saw Aladdin and Jasmine in a new way and appreciate them more. I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling and can’t wait to read the next story in The Twisted Tales!

In short, I HIGHLY recommend reading “A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale” by Liz Braswell

Stay tuned for more Disney Nerds Book Club Reviews each month! Including more reviews of this series and more!