July Monthly Recap

Well, it's August, so it's time for a new monthly recap. I technically should have had this up last week, but better late than never.

Books Read

A Whole NewWorld: A Twisted Tale – 4/5 stars

Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale – 3.5/5 stars

This book was enjoyable just like A Whole New World, but I didn't care for it quite as much. To be fair, Sleeping Beauty isn't really one of my favorite Disney movies and Aurora isn't a favorite Disney Princess of mine. I do have to say that I did really enjoy her characterization in this book though. She really had a chance to grow and come into her own, something she didn't get to do in the movie. Phillip got a little bit of character growth as well, but he still felt kind of flat. I do have to say, that I think the author of these books enjoys killing characters.

Movies Watched

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Marvel movies are my favorite movies, and this one is no exception. I really enjoyed the first Ant-Man movie and this one was just as good as the first in my opinion. It was a great adventure with some good laughs along the way. That mid-credit scene though… Marvel, you're killing me here.

Travels

I enjoyed a nice week at the beach with one of my best friends in July. It's always nice relaxing by the ocean, especially when you get to see dolphins swimming by. I also had fun shopping and playing mini-golf. Got to say that I'm not the best at mini-golf, though I was able to get one hole-in-one.

August's Book of the Month

As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind-memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her beautiful mother is none other than the enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

I had meant to get this book read and finished in July, but it didn't happen, so I've decided to just go ahead and do it for my monthly book review. This was the Twisted Tale book that I thought sounded the most interesting. Beauty and the Beast has been one of my favorite Disney movies for a long time, so I'm curious how this will actually measure up in the end.

Book of the Month: A Whole New World

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin. 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.

Rating: ***** 

I love Disney. I love fairytale retellings. So finding a retelling of one of Disney's movies had me intrigued.

This story goes over a few events from the movie before it diverges into the twisted tale aspect. Revisiting parts of the movie was nice, because it does give you a chance to get into the heads of Aladdin and Jasmine before everything goes bad for them. Because things obviously go bad when Jafar has the Genie under his control.

The characters were all enjoyable. Aladdin and Jasmine aren't too far off from their original Disney version, but they still go through some changes – Jasmine more so than Aladdin. Genie is pretty similar, but slightly more subdued in my opinion. Actually we learn a little bit more about his history in this book, which I found to be pretty interesting. Genie's past isn't something I'd thought much about before. Jafar is Jafar. There's really not much else to say there expect that he teeters on the edge of losing his mind on occasion and there are a few tidbits about his past as well. Abu, Rajah, and Carpet are all around too, though with smaller roles for the most part. There are also a few new characters from Aladdin's past, and they were a nice addition.

There was a notable absence in this book however. Jafar's sidekick, Iago, is mentioned a few times, but never actually makes an appearance. His absence is explained, but I found myself actually missing him. Part of me kind of wonders if the author kept him out of the story in an attempt at being more realistic. It sounds weird considering we have Genie, Carpet, and magic in this story, but the author does seem to be keeping things more grounded to an extent. Of the animal characters in the movie, Iago was pretty different than Abu and Rajah in the fact that he can verbally communicate more than a normal parrot. It might would be easier to keep him out of the story than trying to find a way to realistically explain it, but that's just speculation on my part.

Of negatives, I really only had two complaints. The first is the lack of interactions between Aladdin and Genie. In this story, Jasmine is the one who really befriends Genie and Aladdin has one or two meetings with them, only one of which where they actually talk. Aladdin thinks that the two of them could have been friends in another life, which we all know is true. Aladdin and Genie's friendship is one of my favorite things from the movie, and I found myself really disappointed that we couldn't have it in this book. My other complaint is the fate of a few characters. I won't say more than that, because it heads into spoiler territory.

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable retelling of Disney's version of Aladdin. If you've ever wondered what it would have been like if Jafar had been the one to use the lamp first instead of Aladdin, I'd recommend this book.