Yikes! This could have gone a lot better. If you 've seen the movie Aladdin (1992), 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... there are issues with this book that are issues that I have that have to do with the writing, the structure, the plot, the basic development. 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. …show more content…
And there was so much modern jargon, which was really detracting from the feel of the story. 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. To my knowledge. 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... but it just seemed silly and poorly written. I hate saying things like this, but when it becomes that big of an issue for me I have to point it out. Also, all of Braswell 's characters, both the old and the new, had one major flaw: lack of characterization. It 's as if Braswell expected the reader to use and be satisfied with prior knowledge. I was not satisfied. I wanted her to mold each character into her own and make them something new and refreshing to read about. Instead, they lacked depth and dimension. Although the new characters introduced were highly likable, they, too, lacked characterization, which was gravely …show more content…
The story itself does not stand up to its own possibility. Whenever I picked it up I found myself intrigued by it but I never thought to read it except for an obligation to finish it. My enthusiasm wavered as I went on and that is never a good sign. I ended up skimming the final conflict because by that point I just did not care anymore. I have never read Liz Braswell before, so I have no idea is this is me not liking the book or me not caring for her writing. It 's hard to tell unless I tried to read something else by her. Maybe it 's me, maybe I would have loved this book twenty years ago. Maybe it 's the writing itself, or perhaps it 's constraints levied on the author by Disney itself to make a book that compliments their canon, but I did not enjoy this book as much as I should. It will sell because many people like me will be intrigued by the twist, and the fans of Disney should eat it up. Honestly, there is no reason to read this book. Haven 't watched the Disney movie? Then go watch that instead. Have watched the Disney movie? Then go watch it again. I struggle to believe either fans OR newbies will find anything to love here. It moves from darkness and violence into cartoonish territory and back again, never quite becoming anything more than a