Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell || Book Review

A few book reviews ago I mentioned that I read a fairytale retelling this year. This is that fairytale retelling.

I thought to myself that fairytale retellings should be worth the read because they give us an alternative perspective to the fairytales we already know. Those ‘what ifs‘ are always fascinating.

My sister in law M and I read this book as a buddy-read too, our first one being The Hundred by Kass Morgan , and she lost interest in the book and didn’t finish it. Here’s my take on the book Once Upon a Dream.

Even though it wasn’t what I expected, I’m not put off from giving other fairytale retelling books a chance.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Book Review: Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell #bookreview #lizbraswell #fairytaleretellings #bookblogger #bookaddict #booktwitter
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Challenge prompt: A book with a fairytale retelling
Originally published: 2016

Pages: 448
Format: E-book

Plot from GoodReads:

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?

Thoughts:

The pace in this book felt like it took forever to get to any interesting points and when it did, those interesting points weren’t all that interesting.

The premise was good and it looked like it had the potential to be something cool but it missed the mark of cool and fell into the bland category.

Aurora was a boring character and towards the end I didn’t even feel like I was rooting for her happy ending. She came across as petty. Instead I was rooting for Maleficent about halfway through the book.

The prince… Let’s just say the Disney version was better, and that’s saying a lot.

The dialogue in the book was immature and I couldn’t understand why it had such basic conversations, given the standard of the book.