A Whole New World

July 15, 2015
In a Disney-authorized riff on the animated film Aladdin, one crucial plot twist has horrifying results. The first quarter of the book serves up a straightforward novelization of the film, until evil vizier Jafar traps the roguish protagonist underground-in this version, without the magical lamp. Aladdin escapes to find that with the genie's aid, Jafar has publicly murdered the feckless sultan, imprisoned the princess Jasmine, and terrorized the people of Agrabah into submission. Fortunately, Aladdin can call upon the Street Rats to spearhead a revolution, but can a gang of petty thieves prevail over Jafar's black magic? Briskly paced, with nonstop action and clever allusions to classic horror tales, this retelling suffers from paper-thin characterization and abrupt shifts in tone, from saccharine romance to snarky quips to grisly horror, including the tortures and deaths of more than one beloved movie character. The setting and dialogue are rife with jarring anachronisms, and even when some characters are granted added depth-as in the genie's tragic back story and Jafar's terrifying descent into madness-it often backfires, for instance conflicting creepily with the former's jocular wisecracks and latter's cartoonish villainy. Despite a tacked-on happily-ever-after epilogue, the darkness and violence, culminating in a rebel "victory" that is at best ambiguous, leave a bitter aftertaste. Competent enough as fan fiction, but strictly for (not-too-devoted) fans of the movie. (Fantasy. 13-18)

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October 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-The first quarter of this work functions as a novelization of the Disney movie that inspired it, detailing the escapades of young street urchin Aladdin as he steals to survive. After Aladdin encounters the princess Jasmine at the city market, the villainous Jafar, the childlike sultan's grand vizier, uses Aladdin to retrieve a magic lamp from the Cave of Wonders. It is here that the story deviates from Disney, as this time around it is Jafar who claims possession of the lamp and uses the genie inside to murder the sultan and take his throne. Upon escaping from the Cave of Wonders, Aladdin teams up with Jasmine and a band of thieving street rats to stop the evil sorcerer and reclaim the city of Agrabah. The action-packed story maintains a brisk pace, but the characters lack depth and complexity, and though Braswell succeeds in creating a darker tone, she is less successful in her efforts to ground Jasmine and Aladdin's revolution in Agrabah's economic inequities. Furthermore, the novel is a bit heavy-handed thematically, and anachronistic word choices and dialogue have a tendency to pull readers from what is otherwise an interesting, if simplistic, setting. VERDICT An additional purchase where there is an enthusiastic audience for retellings.-Lauren Strohecker, McKinley Elementary School, Abington School District, PA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
What if Jafar got the lamp instead of Aladdin? That's the twist in this fan-fiction-like take on Disney's Aladdin, first in a series of such reimagininings. Jasmine and Aladdin, revolutionary heroes, fight a power-hungry villain and his undead army. The comic, anachronistic genie is the highlight of this strange mash-up of modern American and (questionable) non-specific Middle Eastern cultures. For die-hard Disney fans only.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)