At this point I was more interested in reading about Jafar, to be honest. At least there was a little bit of excitement with him because he's so evil. Really, I didn't enjoy reading about any of the characters. I guess it's a good concept, reimagining classic Disney stories but it could've been written better, I think, and without making the characters so flat and uninteresting.
So yeah, this book wasn't the right one for me, per se. I do hope others will enjoy it more than I did but I wouldn't recommend it. Apr 17, Frankie Lovely marked it as dnf. Feb 09, Mel Daily Prophecy marked it as to-read Shelves: Half of my interest is just jumping on the bandwagon. The other half is because of the series title. This is the book 10YO Hannah has been begging for. View all 5 comments. Feb 09, Alyssa rated it it was ok Shelves: September 1, Rating: This could have gone a lot better.
If you've seen the movie Aladdin , then you're set. This book isn't necessary at all, if you've watched the movie. And even if you haven't watched the movie This wasn't a good story, and it wasn't a good book based off the movie. Whatever it was, it wasn't great. Aladdin is a Street Rat, born and raised in the streets of Agrabah. One day, the princess decides to take a stroll in the market. Aladdin rescues her from getting her hands cut off. She tells him that she is running away from home, because her father is going to force her to marry someone.
Then Aladdin is whisked away to Jafar, who has him get the lamp from the cave in the desert, by trickery. Aladdin survives, Jafar gets the lamp, and makes two wishes - to be the sultan, and to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Together, Aladdin and Jasmine must rally the Street Rats and people of Agrabah in order to defeat Jafar and take back the city. I did actually finish this book, which is a plus. I'm not in the habit of DNF-ing, but still.
This book wasn't so awful that even I couldn't finish it. 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! What I Did Not Like: The writing style was VERY trivial - juvenile, as a friend of mine said. 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.
And back to the writing in general - poor, at best. I couldn't take the writing seriously, because it seemed choppy and almost conversational, but not a good kind of conversational. Like a conversational with someone that isn't telling the story well. It was like the author was trying too hard for this book to be fun and light and cute This book is so similar to the movie, I might as well have just popped the movie in and watched. But this book was way worse - the movie is amazing and cannot be touched, but this book doesn't come anywhere close to the movie.
And separate the book from the movie - this book would still be painful, with the choppy, childish writing style, the poorly development characters, the sloppy romance. I'll get to that in a minute. I didn't feel like Jasmine or Aladdin grew very much, as characters. Jasmine, maybe, because she stopped being spoiled for about ten minutes so she could save the world.
The thing is, Braswell does a lot of telling, and not showing. The same goes with Aladdin's character development. I'm struggling to understand this. This book is supposed to be a Young Adult book, right? It seemed so poorly constructed, maybe for young kids, ages seven to ten or something. Logically, it doesn't make sense. The romance is so sloppy! So much insta-love going on!
From the start, it's attraction at first sight, which is FINE. But the relationship does not develop at all. Braswell does a lot of telling us about the relationship, but not showing. I don't know how Aladdin and Jasmine grew to trust each other or even like each other. Not good enough for me. 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. Would I Recommend It: I wouldn't recommend this novel. Even if you love fantasy like me. Even if you liked Aladdin 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. I think it's generosity at this point, and the fact that I was mostly entertained while reading. Notice I never said anything about boredom. I may read the next book in the series, especially the books are companion novels.
There may be hope yet! This just proves that something is wrong with me. I can't even find a four or even a three star review in the sea of one and two stars. I totally get why people hated this. Hell, I'd hate the fuck outa this if I read it last year. I'm trying not to be so picky and critical anymore. It's no fun picking out every fucking thing that bugs you while you read.
I think what bugged most people was that for t After read: I thought I'd hate it too, but honestly it worked for me.
Could the author have gone in a different route? But she didn't and that's ok with me. I did have some problems with the book. The pacing towards the middle so soo slow. Towards the end it picks up a lot. I know in the movie Aladdin and Jasmine fall quickly but in the book it just irritated me. Insta love in books suck. Movies I'm ok with Where the fuck was Iago?? I think he was in like one scene I don't think Jafar would have called someone "buddy".. I think what I liked most was how evil Jafar was in this and how dark the book is.
I mean Jafar view spoiler [fucking kills the sultan. Yumm I will admit that I'm a tad bit disappointed that this didn't blow me away like I wanted it to. But I'm glad I didn't hate it like everyone else. My tip to anyone who wants to give this a go: Forget the negative reviews and go into this with a clear and positive mind.
Who knows, you might just enjoy it. Happy reading Before read: I fucking love Aladdin!!! Why is it that all the books I want to read don't come out till later in the year View all 7 comments. I hated the film. Absolutely hated Aladdin, the little thieving But I'll give this a chance. Twisting the story like the blurb promises? For a start, the first quarter of the story is exactly like that bloody film. If I wanted to read fanfiction, I head on over to some fanfic site.
This book just grated on me. I didn't like the tone, I didn't like the characters and I absolutely did not enjoy reading it. But I will give the other Twisted Tales books a go in future. I received a copy of this for free via NetGalley for review purposes. Jan 30, Colleen Houck added it Shelves: The beginning starts off in a very similar fashion to the film.
It was so close, it was like I was reading the screenplay, but then it veered sharply right after the Cave of Wonders. This is a much blacker, much more dangerous Jafar. If you thought he was creepy in the Disney movie you'd better prepare yourself.
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I liked seeing a more mature Aladdin and Jasmine but its also sad in a way. This book brings being a Street Rat into sharp focus and its not all singing and making buffoons of the soldie The beginning starts off in a very similar fashion to the film. This book brings being a Street Rat into sharp focus and its not all singing and making buffoons of the soldiers. A very interesting adaptation.
Jul 13, Cody rated it it was ok Shelves: So we're given a character role reversal in which Jafar is the first to summon the genie however the whole scenario leading up to this moment is virtually the same; Aladdin is tricked into retrieving the lamp by Jafar disguised as an old beggar which is located in a stone tiger cave in the desert. Jafar is pretty much still the evil power hungry villain so his first wish is to obviously become Sultan and rule all of Agrabah. In all of his madness he also wants to be loved willingly by his people and his soon to be wife Princess Jasmine. We are still treated to some of Aladdins most loved characters such as Abu, the magic carpet and even Iago to some extent.
This book was fast paced, had lots of action which left little room for an actual romance boo! I think it was the promise of unique difference and just 'more' which didn't come across to me that forced my rating down but otherwise it was an entertaining read. I will be keeping an eye for future releases in the Twisted Tales series as I love Disney movies and books, who doesn't?
Literary-ly Obsessed , Twitter This has the potential to be absolutely EPIC if it's done right! Please, please let it be done right. Mar 04, Sophia Sardothien rated it it was ok Shelves: Thank you Netgalley and Disney press for sending me this book in exchange of an honest review Personally I can't really get through this book The narration was a bit immature for me. Oct 10, Katie. I was so excited to start this book because I loved previous Disney novelisations I had read.
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This one was crap. It told a story that could have been amazing and twisted and shocking but instead it was just so incredibly lacklustre. The characters were never really rounded out into believable people. The story was just this happened, then this, then this. The beginning was the best part as it followed the movie. T I was so excited to start this book because I loved previous Disney novelisations I had read.
This book had so much potential overall but it just ended up letting me down dramatically.
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- Beginning Magic Money: A Course in Creating Abundance, Book One by Holly Alexander.
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I'm going to spend my time on better stuff than this. A Whole New World is basically a novelization of the animated Aladdin. If I want to watch Aladdin, I'll just watch Aladdin. I come to retellings for something new. I know, I know, Jafar's going to get the lamp first, and maybe something original will happen that. I can't vouch for that obviously. What I can say is that, in the chapters I read, the characters are flatter than the animated characters on my tv.
I get the fe Pages read: I get the feeling the reader's just supposed to fill in the personalities from the movie, which again why would I bother with the book then? All that's been added so far is that Aladdin had a sweet mom who died. 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: Perhaps there was a moon in the sky somewhere, but her brother the sun ruled now, and everything faded into the whiteness of the hot day—which was even hotter on a glaringly bright sun-bleached roof. Listen, I think teenagers know about times of day and where the sun and moon might be.
These pretensions to fanciness are frustrating when they really don't fit with anything going on. Go rewatch Aladdin instead. May 01, Tanja Tanychy St. I love how the adage of being grateful and holding your tongue in check is described. These are great reminders that are not outdated at all, and are very practical and easy to implement. New tips of how to actually change your trajectory of abundance was clearly laid out in a simple format.
Jan 06, Samirian D. Fun and Inspiring Easy Read Reading about the author's firsthand account with the Magic Money philosophy was inspiring. You were eager to put the principle to the test. Great book for beginners to understand money mindset and treating money with respect and purpose. I thoroughly enjoyed the quick read and am looking forward to the advanced study! Mar 28, Hilary rated it it was amazing. I can't wait to get started I am familiar with some of these concepts, but Holly has put the steps into concrete actions. I have felt like something is missing from my execution to fully realize the financial freedom I desire.
Reading it today made me realize I did have unexpected money coming in! I will focus on the steps on this book and move onto the next! Jan 27, Diego Velez rated it it was amazing. Jan 14, Shane Phelps rated it it was amazing. Really enjoyed the book. Well written and easy to read.
Great money basics we all need to remember and practice, even if you don't believe in "magic": Have recommended it to a friend and will be getting a copy for my kids! Aug 01, Lupita rated it really liked it. Cellphone bill resolved Immediately after i stsrted reading the affirmations i started to get discounts an unbelievable extensions on my bills. My cellphone company gave me 7 months to pay my cellphone bill..
Thank you for the simplicity of explaining how to align with money. Sep 30, Bonnie rated it it was amazing. Love the abundance of great information. I am just beginning the Magic Money Course and excited to put all the information Holly has shared into practice in my everyday life. Thank you, Holly for sharing your journey and knowledge this course with everyone. Jun 02, Jai Rahim rated it it was ok.
Sep 16, Skin and Body Bliss rated it it was amazing. Linda now wants to return to London, and John, too, wants to see this "brave new world". Bernard sees an opportunity to thwart plans to exile him, and gets permission to take Linda and John back. On their return to London, John meets the Director and calls him his "father", a vulgarity which causes a roar of laughter. The humiliated Director resigns in shame before he can follow through with exiling Bernard.
Bernard, as "custodian" of the "savage" John who is now treated as a celebrity, is fawned on by the highest members of society and revels in attention he once scorned. Bernard's popularity is fleeting, though, and he becomes envious that John only really bonds with the literary-minded Helmholtz. Considered hideous and friendless, Linda spends all her time using soma , while John refuses to attend social events organised by Bernard, appalled by what he perceives to be an empty society.
Lenina and John are physically attracted to each other, but John's view of courtship and romance, based on Shakespeare's writings, is utterly incompatible with Lenina's freewheeling attitude to sex. She tries to seduce him, but he attacks her, before suddenly being informed that his mother is on her deathbed. He rushes to Linda's bedside, causing a scandal, as this is not the "correct" attitude to death. Some children who enter the ward for "death-conditioning" come across as disrespectful to John until he attacks one physically.
He then tries to break up a distribution of soma to a lower-caste group, telling them that he is freeing them. Helmholtz and Bernard rush in to stop the ensuing riot, which the police quell by spraying soma vapor into the crowd. Bernard, Helmholtz, and John are all brought before Mustapha Mond, the "Resident World Controller for Western Europe", who tells Bernard and Helmholtz that they are to be exiled to islands for antisocial activity.
Bernard pleads for a second chance, but Helmholtz welcomes the opportunity to be a true individual, and chooses the Falkland Islands as his destination, believing that their bad weather will inspire his writing. Mond tells Bernard that exile is actually a reward. The islands are full of the most interesting people in the world, individuals who did not fit into the social model of the World State.
Mond outlines for John the events that led to the present society and his arguments for a caste system and social control. John rejects Mond's arguments, and Mond sums up John's views by claiming that John demands "the right to be unhappy". John asks if he may go to the islands as well, but Mond refuses, saying he wishes to see what happens to John next.
Jaded with his new life, John moves to an abandoned hilltop tower, near the village of Puttenham , where he intends to adopt a solitary ascetic lifestyle in order to purify himself of civilization, practising self-flagellation. This soon draws reporters and eventually hundreds of amazed sightseers, hoping to witness his bizarre behaviour; one of them is implied to be Lenina.
At the sight of the woman he both adores and loathes, John attacks her with his whip. The onlookers are wildly aroused by the display and John is caught up in the crowd's soma -fueled frenzy. The next morning, he remembers the previous night's events and is stricken with remorse. Onlookers and journalists who arrive that evening discover John dead, having hanged himself. Although Bernard is an Alpha-Plus the upper class of the society , he is a misfit. He is unusually short for an Alpha; an alleged accident with alcohol in Bernard's blood-surrogate before his decanting has left him slightly stunted.
Bernard's independence of mind stems more from his inferiority complex and depressive nature than from any depth of philosophical conviction. Unlike his fellow utopians, Bernard is often angry, resentful, and jealous.
Beginning Magic Money: A Course in Creating Abundance, Book One (Magic Money Books 1)
At times, he is also cowardly and hypocritical. His conditioning is clearly incomplete. He doesn't enjoy communal sports, solidarity services, or promiscuous sex. He doesn't even get much joy out of soma. Bernard is in love with Lenina but he doesn't like her sleeping with other men, even though "everyone belongs to everyone else". Bernard's triumphant return to utopian civilisation with John the Savage from the Reservation precipitates the downfall of the Director, who had been planning to exile him.
Bernard's triumph is short-lived. Success goes to his head.
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Despite his tearful pleas, he is ultimately banished to an island for his non-conformist behaviour. John — the illicit son of the Director and Linda, born and reared on the Savage Reservation "Malpais" after Linda was unwittingly left behind by her errant lover. John "the Savage", as he is often called is an outsider both on the Reservation—where the natives still practice marriage, natural birth, family life and religion—and the ostensibly civilised World State, based on principles of stability and shallow happiness.
He has read nothing but the complete works of William Shakespeare , which he quotes extensively, and, for the most part, aptly, though his allusion to the "Brave New World" Miranda's words in The Tempest takes on a darker and bitterly ironic resonance as the novel unfolds. The admonishments of the men of Malpais taught him to regard his mother as a whore; but he cannot grasp that these were the same men who continually sought her out despite their supposedly sacred pledges of monogamy.
Because he is unwanted in Malpais, he accepts the invitation to travel back to London and is initially astonished by the comforts of the World State. However, he remains committed to values that exist only in his poetry. He first spurns Lenina for failing to live up to his Shakespearean ideal and then the entire utopian society: After his mother's death, he becomes deeply distressed with grief, surprising onlookers in the hospital.
He then ostracizes himself from society and attempts to purify himself of "sin" desire , but is finally unable to do so and hangs himself in despair. He feels unfulfilled writing endless propaganda doggerel, and the stifling conformism and philistinism of the World State make him restive.
Helmholtz is ultimately exiled to the Falkland Islands —a cold asylum for disaffected Alpha-Plus non-conformists—after reading a heretical poem to his students on the virtues of solitude and helping John destroy some Deltas' rations of soma following Linda's death. Unlike Bernard, he takes his exile in his stride and comes to view it as an opportunity for inspiration in his writing. Lenina is promiscuous and popular but somewhat quirky in her society: She is basically happy and well-conditioned, using soma to suppress unwelcome emotions, as is expected. Lenina has a date with Bernard, to whom she feels ambivalently attracted, and she goes to the Reservation with him.
On returning to civilization, she tries and fails to seduce John the Savage. John loves and desires Lenina but he is repelled by her forwardness and the prospect of pre-marital sex, rejecting her as an " impudent strumpet ". Lenina visits John at the lighthouse but he attacks her with a whip, unwittingly inciting onlookers to do the same.
Her exact fate is left unspecified. Sophisticated and good-natured, Mond is an urbane and hyperintelligent advocate of the World State and its ethos of "Community, Identity, Stability". Among the novel's characters, he is uniquely aware of the precise nature of the society he oversees and what it has given up to accomplish its gains. Mond argues that art, literature, and scientific freedom must be sacrificed to secure the ultimate utilitarian goal of maximising societal happiness.
He defends the genetic caste system, behavioural conditioning, and the lack of personal freedom in the World State: Fanny Crowne — Lenina Crowne's friend they have the same last name because only ten thousand last names are in use in the World State. Fanny voices the conventional values of her caste and society, particularly the importance of promiscuity: Fanny then, however, warns Lenina away from a new lover whom she considers undeserving, yet she is ultimately supportive of the young woman's attraction to the savage John. Henry Foster — One of Lenina's many lovers, he is a perfectly conventional Alpha male, casually discussing Lenina's body with his coworkers.
His success with Lenina, and his casual attitude about it, infuriate the jealous Bernard. Henry ultimately proves himself every bit the ideal World State citizen, finding no courage to defend Lenina from John's assaults despite having maintained an uncommonly longstanding sexual relationship with her. Benito Hoover — Another of Lenina's lovers.
She remembers that he is particularly hairy when he takes his clothes off. His plans take an unexpected turn, however, when Bernard returns from the Reservation with Linda see below and John, a child they both realize is actually his.