Once Upon a Dream

A darker rendition of Sleeping Beauty. For some reason, Aurora really annoyed me throughout the book. I was hoping to like this book more than I did because I love the movie. This twisted tale was just okay to me.

This was more a 3.5 for me personally–I think it was well done, and very creative, but I think part of my problem might just be that Sleeping Beauty isn't my favorite story, haha. This is the second retelling I've read which really focused on the dream aspect of the magic sleep–and, to be honest, I found it confusing. I didn't really get what was going on in the story until about page 145-150. I knew something was up, of course, but I couldn't tell what was real! Now, I'm sure that that was at least partly the author's intention, since the main character is confused too. However, it left me kind of on the back foot and uncertain for the rest of the story, too, and I found it hard to engage with Aurora. Again, though, Aurora is far from my favorite Disney heroine or fairy tale character, so perhaps she was starting at a disadvantage! ;)

I am not fully familiar with the original Sleeping Beauty story aside from the fact that the princess is in a deep sleep and true loves kiss will wake her up. That is all I really know about the story so I can't really comment on how similar this story is to the original. I did enjoy this one while I was reading it but once I finished it I was just like oh ok. I wasn't expecting it to end the way it did. I won't say why because it could be a spoiler but I was kind of let down by how it ended. Overall it was an ok story.

Finally finished this book after a long reading slump. It was a great escape for me. It‘s a fun and creative alternate ending to my favorite Disney princess‘s story. I loved the world building and the fleshing out of Aurora‘s character. I enjoyed the darker themes of depression as well. I‘d love to revisit this book in the future and it got me excited for the rest of the twisted tales.

Ok so I technically finished this last night, but WOW THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!!! The only thing I didn't like was that Maleficent was So evil, because I always liked her. However, I LOVED the fact that Aurora had actual feelings and was an Actual person with problems, instead of a Meek, Mild little girl like she is in the movie. I loved this a LOT and I'm really excited to read more of the Twisted Tales Collection!!!!