Of course, it wouldn’t be a Twisted Tale if the story stayed exactly the same as the original though and it doesn’t take long for the story to go in a completely different direction. What would have happened if Jafar had stolen the lamp before Aladdin had discovered the genie and made his wishes? Well you’re going to have to read the book for yourself to find out that but it does involve a street rat and a princess who join together to lead a revolution. The writing style was VERY trivial - juvenile, as a friend of mine said. And there was so much modern jargon, which was REALLY detracting from the feel of the story. Too many modern phrases (or attempts at modern phrases) for my taste. This is supposed to be a fantasy novel, with magic and sultans and sorcerers and genies. Nowhere is this supposed to have even a hint of modern-day contemporary world-building or aspects or anything. To my knowledge.

Braswell, Liz (September 1, 2020). Unbirthday: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781484781319. Also, what's really killing me is that it's written in oddly overblown language, contrasting with the flatness. Chapters open with sentences like this: Evening came: the sun began its downward journey, the moon prepared to rise, and Aladdin woke from his afternoon nap. I compliment the author with how surprisingly dark the story's direction took its characters, which I liked, considering the twist of fate with the characters also affected certain aspects of their personality differed from the well-known versions of their characters, which made it interesting for me.I, thoroughly enjoyed the alternate of this Aladdin story, with Jafar getting possession of the genie lamp instead, definitely worth the read, twisting the relationships, the interactions of certain characters that were flipped due to this change of the story.

We get a bit of grey morality with Rasoul, but that's it. The revolution goes off without a hitch and everyone who isn't Jafar lives happily ever after. The characters never struggled. It just felt like they were going through the motions. I never felt fear for them. Cookie cutter perfect ending! As one would probably expect. I feel like this book would have made a great Middle Grade novel. But not necessarily YA. Season One: Getting the Bugs Out • Mudder's Day • Fowl Weather • The Prophet Motive • Much Abu About Something • My Fair Aladdin • To Cure a Thief • Never Say Nefir • Raiders of the Lost SharkBecause of how much I enjoyed reading it. Is it a masterpiece of literature? No. But do you know what it is? FUN! The characters were LITERALLY cardboard. Zero passion, zero development, zero everything. They just existed and that's it. They were not fleshed out at all. 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…” Braswell, Liz (February 4, 2020). Straight On Till Morning: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781484781302.

This twisted tale is quite dark at the end, and as a result, the target age of this would be older than some of the other twisted tales I have read. Rochon, Farrah (September 6, 2022). Almost There: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781368077569.

Subjects

Mrs Potts, Chip Lumiere and Coggsworth are all as loveable in As Old As Time, as they are in Beauty and the Beast. We are still treated to some of Aladdins most loved characters such as Abu, the magic carpet and even Iago to some extent. The new twist novel promises more action but I was still waiting for the story to become darker than the original and although we do get this in some violent scenes, it still wasn’t enough for me. From a certain point onwards this book followed the film and then turned into a typical hero/heroine trying to defeat the villain and save the world.