Review: Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale

Author Liz Braswell returns with book two in the Twisted Tales series. Book two, Once Upon a Dream tackles the tale of Sleeping Beauty. Just like book one, A Whole New World, the tell is a dark story. The tag line from the cover reads, "What if the Sleeping Beauty never woke up?"

Maleficent is in control of Aurora's dream world. Aurora's dreams are gray and confusing without much love or sunlight. The tale picks up when Phillip pierces the dragon's heart and runs to wake up Aurora except the sleeping power of the castle overcomes Phillip before he can kiss Aurora. The reader is transported to Aurora's dream.

Familiar Disney characters appear in the story - Aurora Rose, Prince Phillip, Maleficent, Maleficent's minions, Aurora's parents, Phillip's father, and the three good fairies. New characters are also introduced into the tale as well.





Disney's Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite Disney movies. I was very intrigued to hear this story and how Braswell would twist this tale. She gave the characters added depth compared to the movie. The story is very dark with some bloody scenes. I was rather relieved to finally finish the audiobook. It was a bit lengthy for me and dark magic wasn't enjoyable. (Compared to book one, book two is just over an hour longer.) I would definitely place this story in the young adult / teen section of the library. There is a hint of romance, but it focuses more on individual growth versus relationship growth.

James Patrick Cronin returns to narrate Once Upon a Dream. His reading was enjoyable. I recognized his voice from book one, but I never felt that the character voices overlapped between the books. Which is great, since each story is a solo book in the series. The ladies voices were believable. Blackstone Audio added intro and exit music.

Reviewed from an Audiobook Jukebox copy. Thank you, Blackstone Audio!

Audio Book Details...
Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell
Read by James Patrick Cronin
Produced by Blackstone Audio
Number of Discs: MP3 download (37 parts)
Total Time: 9 hours, 42 minutes
Release Date: October 2016
ISBN: 9781504751346