Tag: Disney

Book Review:  When You Wish Upon a Star, by Elizabeth Lim  

Image belongs to Disney.

Title: When You Wish Upon a Star
Author: Elizabeth Lim    
Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
Genre: Fantasy    
Rating:  4 out of 5

“Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight . . . ” so begins the wish that changes everything—for Geppetto, for the Blue Fairy, and for a little puppet named Pinocchio. The Blue Fairy isn’t supposed to grant wishes in the small village of Pariva, but something about this one awakens some long-buried flicker within. Perhaps it’s the hope she senses beneath the old man’s loneliness.

Or maybe it’s the fact that long ago, before she was the Blue Fairy, she was a young woman named Chiara from this very village, one with a simple wish: to help others find happiness. Her sister Ilaria always teased her for this, for she had big dreams to leave their sleepy village and become a world-renowned opera singer. The two were close, despite their differences. While Ilaria would give anything to have a fairy grant her wish, Chiara didn’t believe in the lore for which their village was famous.

Forty years later, Chiara, now the Blue Fairy, defies the rules of magic to help an old friend. But she’s discovered by the Scarlet Fairy, formerly Ilaria, who, amid a decades-long grudge, holds the transgression against her sister. They decide to settle things through a good old-fashioned bet, with Pinocchio and Geppetto’s fate hanging in the balance.

Will the sisters find a way back to one another? Or is this, like many matters of the heart, a gamble that comes with strings?

I really liked the narrator of this audiobook. I enjoyed her different voices and her varying inflections. I loved the relationship between Chiara and Ilaria and how close they were growing up—but I honestly didn’t care for Ilaria much. She was so selfish and self-absorbed that I had real trouble relating to her. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Pinocchio, so I came to this story with fresh eyes, and I enjoyed this new take on an old Disney classic.

Elizabeth Lim lives in New York City. When You Wish Upon a Star is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Disney in exchange for an honest review.)

A Whole New World, by Liz Braswell

(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Disney Press.)
(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Disney Press.)

Liz Braswell was born in England but now lives in New England. She produced video games for a decade, but now writes full-time. She used to write adult horror stories, but now writes young adult books (not horror). Her newest book, A Whole New World, is a re-imagined fairy tale and hits shelves September 1st.

Most people know the story: Aladdin is a street rat in the city of Agrabah, living on the streets and stealing food to get by. He meets the—disguised—Princess Jasmine and rescues her, but gets captured by the guards and thrown in the dungeon. While there, a mysterious old man makes a deal with him: he’ll get Aladdin out of prison if Aladdin will dare the Cave of Treasures to bring him the lamp. A double-cross ensues from the old man, really the evil Jafar in disguise, and Aladdin ends up with the lamp and the genie, and wants to become a prince so he can marry Jasmine.

That’s not what happens in A Whole New World. Aladdin lives in an Agrabah wracked by poverty, starvation, and despair. When he meets Jasmine and is thrown in the dungeon, he agrees to bring the old man the lamp in exchange for his freedom. Aladdin procures the lamp, but the man abandons him in the cave. When Aladdin frees himself, he discovers that Jafar is now the most powerful sorcerer in the world, and rules Agrabah.

Desperate to make the people and Jasmine love him, Jafar’s grip on the city tightens, aided by monstrous magical creatures. Jasmine must lead the people in rebellion to try to free them from Jafar’s tyranny.

A Whole New World is not the Disney tale readers remember, but it contains elements of it. This tale shows the true story of life in Agrabah, and what could have happened, in a world where the good guy doesn’t necessarily win.

(Galley provided by Disney Press via NetGalley.)