Search

Search only in certain items:

A Whole New World
A Whole New World
Liz Braswell | 2015 | Young Adult (YA)
8
7.0 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book has had very mixed reviews… and to be honest I can see why.

The first about 1/3 of the book follows the Disney film pretty much to the letter, and without surprising anyone too much that is when the story changes.

In the film Aladdin gets the lamp… in this book he doesn’t (I won’t write “spoiler” as that bit is written on the front cover) and needless to say the camel dung hits the fan.

Where I think people might not like this book is the style of writing. Without being derogatory to the style this is very fanfictiony. You know those AU stories where one thing has changed? Well, that. At times the language is a bit too modern, it IS set in old Agrabah afterall.

I can see where the author tried to go with the plot, and while maybe not the most highbrow retelling of the story, it also wasn’t as bad as the previous reviews I’d read made it out to be. Certainly not a kids story (a tad gory, character death warning, violence etc) but a logical enough route for the bad guy winning.

Don’t go into this book expecting an epic Disney tale and you might well enjoy it. The author has rewritten Beauty and The Beast and Sleeping Beauty to follow this one, and I’m going to give them a read as well.
  
Boy, was that violent - if this was a movie, it would probably be given an '18' (or 'R'estricted, for those Americans out there) rating, not just for the blood, guts and gore, but also for the - occassional - nudity, and the not-so-occassional language.

Actually a collection of 5 different short stories, I can't say how true to history these are as I'm not a Norse scholar. I also found the vernacular a bit off-putting (were swear-words the same in the early Medieval Period as they are now? Really??), with the art-style (and plot) in some of the stories were better than in others. Talking of stories, this contains the following:

[b]Lindisfarne[/b]: depicting an early Viking raid on the monastery of the same name
[b]The Shield Maidens[/b]: in which three Viking women hold off hordes of the Saxons
[b]Sven the Returned[/b]: in which Sven returns to his homeland to claim his inheritance, having previously run away and joined the Byzantine Varangian Guard
[b]Thor's daughter[/b]: in which a clan leader is murdered and his land sold to a rival leader but his 14 year old daughter takes up his mantle and leads an army against the encroaching Vikings
[b]The Cross & The Hammer[/b]: Set in Ireland, this is more-or-less a murder mystery in which the central character is trying to track down the person(s) responsible for a spate of killings.
  
    Rory's Story Cubes

    Rory's Story Cubes

    Education and Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    9 cubes, 54 images, over 10 million combinations and infinite stories. Shake to roll the cubes....

    Lightbot : Code Hour

    Lightbot : Code Hour

    Education and Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Get kids hooked on coding within minutes! Lightbot : Code Hour is a programming puzzle game- a...

    M1

    Math 1 On-Track

    Education and Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Learn about counting 1-100, addition and subtraction, number lines and more from a trusted source!...

    Voice of DAISY

    Voice of DAISY

    Book and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Supported OS: iOS 9.0 or later Device: iPhone 4S/5/5S/5C/6/6 Plus/6s/6s Plus/SE/7/7 Plus, iPod touch...

    Human Anatomy Atlas 2018

    Human Anatomy Atlas 2018

    Medical and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Human Anatomy Atlas 2018 Edition is the go-to 3D anatomy reference app for healthcare professionals,...