Book Review: Aladdin and His Wonderfully Infernal Device

Aladdin and His Wonderfully Infernal Device by Tee Morris
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've been reading and listening to Tee Morris since he podcasted Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana. I've really enjoyed Phoenix Rising, The Janus Affair, and all of the MoPo podcasts, so much so that I automatically buy the printed collections on Nook and Kindle to support the authors (the podcasts are better though).

I avoided reading all of the other reviews of this story so I could approach it with an open mind. I am a huge fan of fairy tales--Grimm, Anderson, Arabian Nights, etc. I am also a huge Disney fan. I think this treatment of the story needs more fleshing out and a little more originality to separate it from its predecessors.

If I wasn't aware of (or maybe because I was aware of them) the slight pop-culture references, mixed with steampunk and a retelling of Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp was a very disconcerting experience. It didn't flow. I wasn't transported to a Middle Ages Middle East where science and magic blend into something awe-inspiring (which I think was the point of the story).

I've come to expect better storytelling from Tee. This seemed slapdash and rushed and left me disappointed, something that has never happened before when immersing myself in Tee's works.

The beginning is great, but it loses something around the middle and never regains it. I kept reading in hopes that the story would recover, but, to me, it never did.

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