A Whole New World is the first installment of books in the Twisted Tales series by Liz Braswell. I grew up as and have remained a pretty big Disney fan, and her books offer a new perspective on some of my favorite stories. A Whole New World is (as the title suggests) based on Aladdin. What if Aladdin never found the lamp and Jafar was the first to summon the genie? What if the story basically starts out with Jafar getting the lamp and using his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in Agrabah and the rest of the world? A rebellion forms as Agrabah prepares in fear for Jafar’s final wish with the genie in attempt to return to freedom. Aladdin becomes a “Han Solo” of the story and Princess Jasmine evolves into a “Leia” of the story and becomes a revolutionary.

So the plot of the story instantly had me intrigued and I already added the rest of the series to my TBR. With this darker twist to our beloved tale, the story of Aladdin suddenly becomes more relevant as an adult because of the real-life similarities and understanding of the consequences of civil war and government takeover.

The first quarter (approximately) of the book is almost identical to the Disney movie most of us have seen. The differences start to occur when Aladdin goes to retrieve the lamp. Part of me wishes that “introduction” would have been shorter and more focus would have been placed upon the twist of the story, but another part felt wonderful to revisit the classic story and be refreshed of what happens. We get a handful of new characters to the story and an army of the undead, too!

There was one death in the book that shocked the heck out of me and I actually gasped and did a little pearl clutching motion. I won’t give anything away, but just know that going into this book you may have some moments where you are pleasantly surprised as well as shockingly saddened.

This book was a 3.5 out of 5 for me. This was a pretty quick and easy book to get through. The story flowed as simply as one might expect. One of the reasons I am deducting a half star or so is because I wanted to learn more about Jafar and get inside his twisted, dark mind. Instead, there was a LOT of information focused on Aladdin and Jasmine, which we could also get from the original movie. Like, does Jafar just like to look menacing while he’s rubbing one out or what?!

That being said, I am looking forward to see if other books in the series DO take that stance and focus more on the villain than the hero/heroine. I am excited to read the next book in the Twisted Tales series, Once Upon A Dream, which is based upon Sleeping Beauty and if she never awoke from her curse.