This is a book I've been anticipating for a long time, but had trouble ordering for some reason. The first time I ordered it my copy got lost in the mail and I was automatically refunded. The second time the package was delayed twice, then lost again, yet it suddenly showed up right out of nowhere a week later. So at least I have the book now, but at the same time, where did the mail keep messing up so badly?
Oh well. Spoilers ahead and stuff.
This is basically an alternate universe story taking place in the Lion King universe during Scar's reign from Nala's POV. It shows how Nala struggles to fit in with her fellow lionesses after Simba's presumed death. When Nala hears rumors that Simba might still be alive in a jungle called Garamba, she unexpectedly teams up with Scar and Zazu to find him. However, Scar seems to have ulterior motives for wanting to find Simba: He wants the prince gone for good this time.
Overall I loved this book. It has its flaws, but the rest was so good that I simply didn't care much.
I'll get the flaws out of the way first. First, the author should do more research into African wildlife. At one point cougars are mentioned (in Africa? Those live in the Americas.) and hyenas are referred to as "dogs" when they're obviously feliformia, not caniformia. So both are incorrect.
There's also some inconsistencies between Nala's age as opposed to her size in the story. Nala is a little older than six months old when this story takes place (this is explicitly stated), and while lion cubs of this age are by no means adults, they are still already pretty sizeable, being roughly the size of a medium-sized dog like a Labrador retriever. Yet in this story Nala is picked up and tossed by monkeys, as well as scruffed by other lions, like she weighs nothing and is still the size of a small cub like she is in the movie. This simply doesn't add up.
The book also isn't very descriptive: Aside from some locations we never really learn what any of the characters look like. Which, sure, might work for the characters we already know from the movie, but there's also a ton of side-characters introduced here and we legit get no description of them, so it's really hard to visualize them. We know that Abena is smaller than Nala, but outside of that pretty much none of the newcomers get a proper description so what they look like is anyone's guess.
The whole synopsis of "Nala teams up with Scar" was also a bit underplayed and doesn't take up a lot of pagetime. And the implied Scar redemption arc never happens and he just goes on being evil even after having some moments of implied character development. It just never goes anywhere. Honestly this felt less like a twist on The Lion King and more of a straightforward AU fanfic where Nala finds Simba much earlier and he comes home sooner. And Scar gets killed by some rando lion pride.
But that said, I legit really loved this book. I found the exploring of the Pridelands and beyond to be really exciting. I loved new side characters like Abena and Puleng, as well as the character development and depth Nala, Sarabi and Sarafina get. As much as I love The Lion King movie, I do acknowledge that it's really Simba's story and some of the side-characters like Nala and Sarabi are pretty flat and not too developed. Which is fine for the movie itself, but it does leave the room open for exploration. And that's exactly what they did here, and I loved it! Nala is a flawed and insecure but determined young lioness who follows her heart. Sarabi's grief is properly explored for once. Sarafina is so scared of losing Nala after Simba's death that she becomes a helicopter parent, much to Nala's annoyance. It's all so good!
The journey to get to Garamba also had me hooked (one and a half times, considering Nala has to attempt the journey twice before getting anywhere). I always wanted to know where things were going next and if we would even get to see Simba. For all we know, the sighting of Simba really could've been a case of mistaken identity and Nala mightn't have found him at all.
The relationship between Scar and Nala in this is also fun to explore. Granted, maybe not as deeply as it could've been, but it's fun to see Nala go from openly hating Scar to them lowkey awkwardly bonding a bit to the point they even rescue each other at one point. Of course, in the end the darkness in Scar won when they got to Simba and Scar tried to kill him, but it was fun at least seeing a mildly more kind side to Scar. But like I mentioned above, it would've been even greater if this had been explored more.
I kinda wish we got more stories like this set in the Lion King universe, because I could do with more of this.
I really liked this book, definitely one of my favorite reads of the year so far. Before you ask, I don't think I'll be reviewing most of the other Twisted Tales as, while I do like Disney movies, I don't care to engage that much with most of them. But I am always up for more Lion King stuff. I also heard there's a Fox and the Hound Twisted Tale upcoming, so I'll probably check that one out as well.
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