Mini Review of Twisted Tales

1. Reflection – Elizabeth Lim

Reflection is the twisted tale of Mulan. This version of Mulan takes place just after the defeat of the Huns when Mulan creates the avalanche which covers the Hun army.

Mulan was the first strong female character I saw in a Disney film.

As Captain Li is wounded he is slipping in and out of conscious and Mulan feels as though it is all her fault because he was injured trying to save her life. The remnants of their army makes camp fro the night and is contemplating leaving Captain Li, however Mulan is determinded to help him.

In the night the Li family guardian comes to her and takes her into the underworld to try to save Captain Li.

Over all I really enjoyed this book because of the amazing descripton of all the underworld levels. I was also kept wondering if they would make it back in time before Captian Li would die. I also kept forgetting that Li still thinks Mulan is Ping. I kept forgetting that they needed to be back above level and that’s where they are meant to be, but because the story was so good and kept me gripped I was fully emersed in where they were at the time.

If you want to read this one you can get it here.

2. Fairest of All – Serena Valentino

How great is this front cover!?

This is the story of how the wicked Queen became so evil.

To me this was fascinating because I wanted to know what happened to her for her to become so mean. I always want to know how a person becomes wicked, and this gave me the answer to the wicked Queens life.

I enjoyed this a lot because it walks the line of mental health disorders and the power of manipulation it also lays with the struggle of self-doubt and worth.

Was the Queen born evil, or was she the product of a master manipulator?

You can find out here.

3. As Old As Time – Liz Braswell

In this twisted tale we learn something amazing, Belle’s mother is the one who actually cursed the beast. which is an incredible twist, who’d have thought!?

I love that the smoke creates an image of the beast.

I really enjoyed this because it jumps between the past and the present and thus between Belle and her mother. We get to find out so much more of the kingdom and what it used to be like before the beats was cursed.

The descritption in this book is so great that I could picture the hills and the forest in the backdrop of the town. I could practicaly see each individual leaf on each tree.

Liz Braswell has done a great job on this one, I wish that there was a follow up to it honestly. I would like it to continue.

You can get the book here if you would like to.

4. A Whole New World – Liz Braswell

This is quite a dark take on the old Aladdin classic. In this turn of events Aladdin never actually has the lamp. Jafar rises to power with the help of the genie and learns of old magic that should never have been found.

I think my favourite character in Aladdin is Genie and Diago.

The dead come back to life and try to find Jasmine who has run away from Jafar to find friends amoung the people of Agrabah. She must unite the people and ask them to trust her as she, along with the ‘street rats’ try to take down the evil sorcerer Jafar.

Aladdin is one of my favourite Disney movies, so this re-telling of it put a big twist on what I already knew. I enjoyed Jasmine because she wasn’t a damsel in distress at all. In fact none of the female protagonists in the above four books are damsels in distress, they can all hold their own.

If you want to give it a try just click here.