Twisted Tales #2 Once Upon A Dream

Presenting Twisted Tales #2 Once Upon A Dream by Liz Braswell.

Here is the summary of the book:

What if the sleeping beauty never woke up? Once Upon a Dreammarks the second book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways.

It should be simple--a dragon defeated, a slumbering maiden, a prince poised to wake her. But when said prince falls asleep as soon as his lips meet the princess's, it is clear that this fairy tale is far from over.

With a desperate fairy's last curse infiltrating her mind, Princess Aurora will have to navigate a dangerous and magical landscape deep in the depths of her dreams. Soon she stumbles upon Phillip, a charming prince eager to join her quest. But with Maleficent's agents following her every move, Aurora struggles to discover who her true allies are, and moreover, who she truly is. Time is running out. Will the sleeping beauty be able to wake herself up?

The 2nd story in the Twisted Tales series. Once Upon A Dream by Liz Braswell. What if Aurora never woke up from the kiss. What if instead of breaking Sleeping Beauty out of the spell, Prince Charming too gets sucked in ..... Much much better than the first story where she dealt with Aladdin. There is definitely an improvement but somehow I still got bored with it.

This story definitely has its plus and minus points. The author takes the time to set the world. That is good. She takes the time to set the mood and environment of the story. That is definitely good. But she takes too long to get to the good arts and it lags a lot. That is definitely bad. Saw a lot of influences from the Maleficient movie (attest I felt that). Definitely good.

Despite the direction the plot took to differ itself from the classic fairytale. At the end of its story remained the same. Felt disheartened there, I wanted the 3 fairies to be the bad once here as the plot first established them as but liked how the author did the twists & turns and the reveals. Aurora was a lot whinny & petulant throughout the story. And I just got bored with it ...... But hopefully it will improve more in the next story.

"A different what-if take to the Sleeping Beauty"

Genre :     Fairytale re-telling, Fantasy

Publisher: Disney Press

Release Date: 5th April, 2016

My Copy: publisher & netgalley

Rate:             2/5 (It was Ok)

Other Books by the Author(review links):
         #1 A Whole New World

Buy:         Amazon | Book Depository 

Twisted Tales #1 A Whole New World

Presenting Twisted Tales #1 A Whole New World by Liz Braswell.

Here is the summary of the book:

Welcome to a new YA series that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. Each book asks the question: What if one key moment from a familiar Disney film was changed? This dark and daring version ofAladdin twists the original story with the question: What if Jafar was the first one to summon the Genie?

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.

Part of the new series Twisted Tales, where each book tells a different fairytale with a twist. A Whole New World, of course tells that of Aladdin and the Magic lamp. Frankly the endeavor resulted in an Ok first adventure. It held a lot of promise really, adding to the lore like that but the execution is mediocre at best.

It bases itself on the Aladdin movie too much, not just with the plot much with the dialogue, the language and the mannerism of the characters. The animated movie was an amazing masterpiece and reserves its own place, catered for children and lighter than what the plot of the book needs with its dark tidings. The dialogues in the book on the other hand were a lot more modern than what I would had expected. Keeping the movie in its place, this is a novel and moreover its a fantasy in a period back in history, so we expected to feel the era here, which doesn't really happen ...... It would have set it of rather nicely though.

When I first read the synopsis I mistakenly though the genie is not added in this story .... but it is actually Jafar who succeeds in getting the lamp first ...... wasn't expecting it but that made a great twist and the idea about the civil war in Agrabah was also very well implemented. The characters also felt flat, they are just the Aladdin, Jasmin, Genie, Abu or Jafar from the animated movie and nothing more. The author didn't remodel them, didn't add anything new to them to fit her story, they just stayed like they always have been. So that was doubly disappointing.

There is a major difference between writing for tv/movie or for a book. You can get away with the 'tell' feature via dialogues because the other parts are fulfilled by the visual details but in books what won't do. Books work with the 'show' aspect. In books you only have words to paint the moment in the readers mind. Sadly didn't happen. I know majority have DNF'd the book but I persisted in hopes that things get better but didn't find enlightenment. The effort was good on the author's part but this book needs polish and seeing the severity of the plot, a lot more oomph to give it the edge it deserves.

"An unsatisfactory Aladdin with a twist"

Genre :     Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Fairytale Re-telling, Paranormal

Publisher: Disney Press

Release Date: 1st September, 2015

My Copy: publisher & netgalley

Rate:             2/5 (It was Ok)

Buy:         Amazon | Book Depository