Once Upon a Dream (Twisted Tale Series #2)

by Liz Braswell

Overview

What if the sleeping beauty never woke up? Once Upon a Dream marks the second book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. It should be simple--a dragon defeated, a slumbering princess in a castle, a prince poised to wake her. But when the prince falls asleep as his lips touch the fair maiden's, it is clear that this fairy tale is far from over. With a desperate fairy's last curse controlling her mind, Princess Aurora must escape from a different castle of thorns and navigate a dangerously magical landscape--created from her very own dreams. Aurora isn't alone--a charming prince is eager to join her quest, and old friends offer their help. But as Maleficent's agents follow her every move, Aurora struggles to discover who her true allies are and, moreover, who she truly is. Time is running out. Will the sleeping beauty be able to wake herself up?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781484707654
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	04/05/2016
Series:	Twisted Tale Series
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	55,386
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

After the sort of introverted childhood you would expect from a writer, Liz earned a degree in Egyptology at Brown University and then promptly spent the next ten years producing video games. Finally she caved into fate and wrote Snow and Rx under the name Tracy Lynn, followed by The Nine Lives of Chloe King series under her real name, because by then the assassins hunting her were all dead. She also wrote A Whole New World, the first book in the new A Twisted Tale series. She lives in Brooklyn with a husband, two children, a cat, a part-time dog, three fish and five coffee trees she insists will start producing beans any day. You can email her at [e-mail] or tweet @LizBraswell.

Editorial Reviews

01/01/2016
Gr 7 Up—What if Sleeping Beauty never woke up? This work asks readers to rethink the classic Disney version. Prince Phillip throws his sword at the dragon version of Maleficent, but when he approaches the sleeping Princess Aurora and kisses her lips, he, too, succumbs to the sleeping curse. Meanwhile, Aurora is alive and living a normal life, or so she believes. Maleficent rescues the kingdom and princess from her neglectful parents, taking the crown for herself. When Aurora overhears a confession of truth from Maleficent, her world begins to crumble. She has been asleep this entire time. The world she thought was real has been a construct of her dreams. Her escape from the evil fairy's grasp leads her to Prince Phillip, who, in her dream world, becomes one of her few allies in her attempt to finally defeat Maleficent. The princess is the ultimate hero of her own fate. She is a strong, intelligent young woman who struggles to find and trust her own skills. Switching between the real and the dream worlds may confuse readers at first, but those who stick with the jumping narration will be rewarded with a fun, fast-paced adventure. Readers' possible confusion mimics Aurora's own grappling with reality vs. her dreams. Aurora finds her voice and becomes the queen she was born to be. VERDICT For fans of the original story who are ready to see a self-reliant, take-charge princess emerge.—Carrie Fox, South Park High School, PA

School Library Journal

2016-02-02
What if Disney's Sleeping Beauty never woke up? Princess Aurora endures endless days of useless boredom in the surreal, post-apocalyptic confines of Thorn Castle, whose shellshocked inhabitants survive only due to gracious Queen Maleficent's powers. Slowly the princess realizes that she is trapped within her own dreams, an alternate reality horribly twisted by the evil fairy after her dragon form wasn't completely slain. Familiar characters from the film (and some intriguing new ones) help Aurora in her struggles to awaken and save her kingdom, but her greatest enemy is her own overwhelming despair. Greatly improving upon A Whole New World (2015), the first in the Disney-authorized series, this story starts after the movie's end, fleshing out its tissue-thin archetypes into likable (if fallible) personalities: the fairies become more otherworldly, the villain more magnificently evil, and the prince downright endearing in his unflagging cheerfulness and dogged devotion. Since nearly the entire narrative occurs in Aurora's subconscious, her character is the most deeply explored—in a daringly faithful depiction of chronic depression, with all the loneliness, listlessness, and self-loathing that entails. Hundreds of pages of Aurora's pain and passive futility may be even harder to read than the brief, grisly interludes of Maleficent's viciousness, but the dreary slog is redeemed once the princess finally reclaims the intelligence, courage, and compassion that are her true birthright. A surprising and clever twist on a beloved tale. (Fantasy. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews