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…” However, I did miss the bromance between Aladdin and Genie, which was one of my favourites from the original telling of the story that was missing in this retelling.

Braswell, Liz (February 4, 2020). Straight On Till Morning: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781484781302. I wouldn't recommend this novel. Even if you love fantasy (like me). Even if you liked Aladdin (1992) the movie (like me). Or even if you have not seen the movie - just watch the movie, you don't need to read this book. This book is so unnecessary - it's not even a GOOD representation of movie. Or whatever it is supposed to be. Season Three: " The Hunted" • " Riders Redux" • " The Book of Khartoum" • " While the City Snoozes" • " Two to Tangle" • " The Ethereal" • " The Shadow Knows" • " The Great Rift" But honestly, if you took out that 20-25% of the novel, there'd be nothing missing from it and readers would probably be thankful for it, because it was a slog even for me to get through (and I imagine a teen would probably be like "Pfft, I know this already; this is boring"). And it often got many of the details from the movie wrong if it were actually being included for the sake of consistency (i.e. Jasmine getting half an apple in the story, versus in the movie getting a whole one from Aladdin during their first meeting in his hiding place). So what was the purpose of the retracing? Calonita, Len (April 2, 2019). Mirror, Mirror: A Twisted Tale. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN 9781982520458.

The novel is contradictory in that it's boring to read it having already watched the movie, but the story almost assumes the reader is familiar with the Disney characters. They are never developed beyond one-dimensional hero/villain/love interest archetypes. Jafar is nothing more than a pantomime antagonist. Aladdin has no personality beyond his desire to save everyone else. It was actually painfully boring to read the parts that were an exact novelization of the film. Why bother when I can just watch the excellent Disney version instead? And it never fails to remind us that Jafar is evil, yo. Every scene he's in, he's using an oily voice. The tower where he lives is encased in an "evil orange glow". When he laughs, "not evilly" has to be added because he obviously does it so often. Agrabah • Cave of Wonders • The Sultan's Palace • The Vanishing Isle • Odiferous • The Isle of Galifem • Morbia • Old Wizard's Lab

In the end, a read that I was aptly excited and enthused about ended up not being able to carry the imaginative promises it purported to have. That's not to say I won't follow this series though, because I think it has a ton of potential to work with. I just hope that the journey's more dynamic and immersive in future stories than this one was. The first six chapters are a mirror re-telling of the classic Disney movie. In fact, the tagline on the cover of the book “ What if Aladdin had never found the lamp?” is wildly misleading. Aladdin does find the lamp, and it is only once this happens do things start to go awry. Up until that point, we get all the same scenes, all the same dialogue, except built upon with more detail. Iago: Come ON! I know this one! I'm raising my wing and getting wing cramps over here! CHOOSE ME to answer already!

Other Editions and Formats

It's really similar to the movie, which I guess could be a good thing or a bad thing. I'm looking at it as a bad thing, but hey, another reader out there might be delighted that there is a new publication of Aladdin in book form, with a slightly different spin, too! Not me though. Read on. I deleted my pre-review so you can't see, but I was super excited for A Whole New World. I put a gif with Aladdin throwing money and everything. I was ready to love it.