Jafar has the lamp.
The Sultan is dead.
Aladdin and Jasmine must team up with the Street Rats to take back the kingdom.
The twisted tale of Aladdin tells a different, darker tale of Agrabah in Liz Braswell’s book. It is a desert kingdom where magic and Djinn can change the fate of the people in a heartbeat. Death and corruption are common themes in this retelling, meant for young teens rather than children. There are lessons to be learnt in each chapter, about right and wrong, and how sometimes doing the wrong thing for the right reason can still land you into trouble.
We learn more about the Genie’s past, his lost people—including his wife—and how he came to be a Djinn enslaved in the lamp.
This Jafar is much darker than the original. He is willing to sacrifice Iago, the only creature he ever loved, in order to achieve the power that he seeks.
While the original characters remain the same we are introduced to new ones in the form of the Street Rats. Morgiana and Duban are the de facto leaders, two people that took a different road than Aladdin, choosing to steal not just for themselves but for the others who cannot help themselves.
It takes the uprising against Jafar for Aladdin to realize that perhaps his way of doing things is not the only right way and that maybe he’s been a little bit selfish by not helping those around him.
The story ends with magic disappearing from the world, but as we all know magic can be found in the most ordinary of places, and all you need for a happy ending, is happiness.
Written by Shani Irvine
