Best Books of Reimagined Disney
Everyone has their favourite Disney classic - that particular magical kingdom, badass animal sidekick or West End worthy song that you can't help but belt at the top of your lungs. And some authors have taken that love one step further to create whole sequels, alternative endings and general twisted tales of the classic films. Below are some of the best of the best to help you satisfy your Disney cravings long after the final credits have finished rolling.
Cinderella (Original film released in 1950):
It's 200 years since Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy-tale is over.
Sophia knows the story, though, off by heart. Because every girl has to recite it daily, from when she's tiny until she's sent to the royal ball for choosing. And every girl knows that she has only one chance. For the lives of those not chosen by a man at the ball... are forfeit.
But Sophia doesn't want to be chosen - she's in love with her best friend, Erin, and hates the idea of being traded like cattle. And when Sophia's night at the ball goes horribly wrong, she must run for her life. Alone and terrified, she finds herself hiding in Cinderella's tomb. And there she meets someone who will show her that she has the power to remake her world...
Beauty and the Beast (1991):
Feyre is a huntress. And when she sees a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she kills the predator and takes its prey to feed herself and her family. But the wolf was not what it seemed, and Feyre cannot predict the high price she will have to pay for its death...
Dragged away from her family for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding even more than his piercing green eyes suggest. As Feyre's feelings for Tamlin turn from hostility to passion, she learns that the faerie lands are a far more dangerous place than she realised. And Feyre bust fight to break and ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
Fall in love, break the curse.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall, is cursed. Forced to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he can only be freed by love. But at the end of each autumn is is transformed into a beast hell-bent on destruction, and after so many failed attempts, his kingdom and its people are barely holding on.
Harper's life has never been easy, but she's learned to be tough enough to survive. She won't let anything hold her back, not her cerebral palsy or her mother's deteriorating health. But when she is sucked into Rhen's world, nothing is as it seems. Powerful forces are standing against Emberfall...and it will take more than a broken curse to save it from utter ruin.
The Little Mermaid (1989):
Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe the most - a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian's heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavoury hobby - it's his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she's more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good.
But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind's greatest enemy?
The story of the Sea Witch, told from her viewpoint as a twelve-year-old girl...
Evie has been wracked with guilt ever since her best friend, Anna, drowned. So when a girl appears on shore with an uncanny resemblance to Anna, Evie befriends her in an effort to make amends. And as the two girls catch the eyes - and hearts - of two charming princes, Evie believes that she might finally have a chance at happy ever after. But is Evie's new friend really who she says she is?
Sleeping Beauty (1959):
Half sisters Isabelle and Aurora are polar opposites: Isabelle is the King's headstrong illegitimate daughter, whose sight was tithed by faeries; Aurora, beautiful and sheltered, was tithed her sense of touch and voice on the same day. Despite their differences, the sisters have always been extremely close.
And then everything changes, with a single drop of Aurora's blood, a Faerie Queen who is preparing for war, a strange and enchanting dream realm--and a sleep so deep it cannot be broken.
Alice in Wonderland (1951):
Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers - precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretched back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she managed to keep it together, For now.
When her mother's mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice's tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice's mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.
Mulan (1998):
Mariko has always known that being a woman means she's not in control of her own fate. But Mariko is the daughter of a prominent samurai and a cunning alchemist in her own right, and she refuses to be ignored. When she is ambushed by a group of bandits known as the Black Clan enroute to a political marriage to Minamoto Raiden - the Emperor's son - Mariko realises she has two choices: she ca wait to be rescued... or she can take matters into her own hands, hunt down the clan and find the person who wants her dead.
Disguising herself as a peasant boy, Mariko infiltrates the Black Clan's hideout and befriends their leader, the rebel ronin Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, Okami. Ranmaru and Okami warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. But as Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets that will force her to question everything she's ever known.
Aladdin (1992):
Princess Arie never expected to manifest a Jinni's Gift. When she begins to hear the thoughts of those around her, she hides it to the best of her ability. But to her dismay, the forbidden Gift is growing out of control.
When a neighbouring King tries to force her hand in marriage and steal her kingdom, discovery becomes imminent. Just one slip could cost her throne. And her life.
A lamp, a heist, and a Jinni hunter's crew of thieves are her only hope for removing this Gift - and she must remove it before she's exposed. Or die trying.
My Saviour... Or my ruin?
One night, and my entire life went up in flames. All because of him. Jafar. As my world burned down around me, he offered me a choice. Walk away with nothing but my freedom...or rise to his challenge and win my fortune back.
I bargained.
I lost.
Now Jafar owns me, and even as my mind rails against his rules, my body loves the punishments he deals out when I break them.
But a gilded cage is still a prison, I'll do anything to obtain my freedom.
Even betray the man I'm falling for.
(Content warning: this book contains depictions of consensual non-consent)
Peter Pan (1953):
There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. Once, I loved a boy called Peter Pan. Peter brought me to his island because there were no rules and no grownups to make us mind. He brought boys from the Other Place to join in the fun, but Peter's idea of fun is sharper than a pirate's sword. he wants always to be that shining sun that we all revolve around. He'll do anything to be that sun. Peter will say I'm a villain, that I wronged him, that I never was his friend. Peter lies.
There are of course many many more books that use Disney as their inspiration. Some of the best series include the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, the Igloo Books' Twisted Tales and Serena Valentino's Disney Villains series, all of which are brilliant reimaginings where each book focuses on a different Disney film.
While these initial recommendations feel like more than enough to get you going, here are some honourable mentions (in no particular order) that are also worth checking out:
- Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
- Cruel Beauty by Rosamond Hodge
- Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a book by Jennifer Donnelly
- Rise of the Sea Witch by Stacey Rourke
- The Surface Breaks by Louise O'Neill
- Coral by Sara Ella
- A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas
- Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige
- Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
- Defy by Sara B. Larson
- The Witch's Kiss by Katharine & Elizabeth Corr
- Geekerella by Ashley Poston
***Disclaimer: I have not personally read all of the above books and so cannot comment on them all individually. Many have simply been recommended to me for the purpose of this article***
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