A review by catholicamanda
The Orphan's Wish by Melanie Dickerson
2.0
full review to follow but for now I will just say: What exactly was the plot again??
Okay… so this was supposedly a retelling of the story of Aladdin but, apart from the same name, I have a hard time seeing it.
Aladdin is rescued from the streets of the Holy Land by a knight and a priest at the end of the Crusades. We never learn the priest’s name. Seriously, the text only calls him “Priest” which is totally not logical and pretty irreverent. He would have been called “Father.” And he should have been a named character… but I digress.
Aladdin is taken to Hagenheim and raised there in the orphanage where he befriends the Duke’s daughter, Lady Kirstyn. They are fast friends and Aladdin even takes a bear mauling to save Kirstyn.
Then Aladdin turns 18 and decides to leave to become rich and make his own fortune. That is all he really wants, to be rich. So off he goes and meets Herr Kaufmann. Aladdin is so perfect that he impresses Herr Kaufmann and is named his heir over Herr Kaufmann’s own son, Michael.
While Aladdin is off making money, Kirstyn mopes around the castle missing him. Then she is tricked by Anna, one of the orphans from the orphanage, and kidnapped by Michael, who also happens to be Anna’s boyfriend. Originally this was to get a ransom from her father but that falls through. Now Michael wants to hurt Kirstyn to hurt Aladdin because he is jealous of Aladdin’s relationship with his own father.
So the Duke shows us and tells Aladdin that Kirstyn has been kidnapped. So Aladdin goes off to try to rescue Kirstyn. And Kirstyn tries to stay alive with Michael calling the shots.
Confused yet? A bit. And I don’t really see the connections to the fairy tale that this is supposed to be a retelling of… *shrug*
The characters are also pretty flat. Aladdin is portrayed as perfect and yet still tormented by being forced to steal as a literal child so now he wants to become rich apparently. Lady Kirstyn is beautiful but naive. Michael is cruel and just plain not nice. Abu is a little street orphan rescued by Aladdin.
And at 55% of the way through the eBook, it could have ended. Things were wrapped up enough and I honestly just did not see the plot continuing past there… but there was still over 40% of the book left to come…
This review first appeared at CatholicAmanda.com
Okay… so this was supposedly a retelling of the story of Aladdin but, apart from the same name, I have a hard time seeing it.
Aladdin is rescued from the streets of the Holy Land by a knight and a priest at the end of the Crusades. We never learn the priest’s name. Seriously, the text only calls him “Priest” which is totally not logical and pretty irreverent. He would have been called “Father.” And he should have been a named character… but I digress.
Aladdin is taken to Hagenheim and raised there in the orphanage where he befriends the Duke’s daughter, Lady Kirstyn. They are fast friends and Aladdin even takes a bear mauling to save Kirstyn.
Then Aladdin turns 18 and decides to leave to become rich and make his own fortune. That is all he really wants, to be rich. So off he goes and meets Herr Kaufmann. Aladdin is so perfect that he impresses Herr Kaufmann and is named his heir over Herr Kaufmann’s own son, Michael.
While Aladdin is off making money, Kirstyn mopes around the castle missing him. Then she is tricked by Anna, one of the orphans from the orphanage, and kidnapped by Michael, who also happens to be Anna’s boyfriend. Originally this was to get a ransom from her father but that falls through. Now Michael wants to hurt Kirstyn to hurt Aladdin because he is jealous of Aladdin’s relationship with his own father.
So the Duke shows us and tells Aladdin that Kirstyn has been kidnapped. So Aladdin goes off to try to rescue Kirstyn. And Kirstyn tries to stay alive with Michael calling the shots.
Confused yet? A bit. And I don’t really see the connections to the fairy tale that this is supposed to be a retelling of… *shrug*
The characters are also pretty flat. Aladdin is portrayed as perfect and yet still tormented by being forced to steal as a literal child so now he wants to become rich apparently. Lady Kirstyn is beautiful but naive. Michael is cruel and just plain not nice. Abu is a little street orphan rescued by Aladdin.
And at 55% of the way through the eBook, it could have ended. Things were wrapped up enough and I honestly just did not see the plot continuing past there… but there was still over 40% of the book left to come…
This review first appeared at CatholicAmanda.com