Realm of Wonders by Alexandra Monir
What's It About?
Pairing a beloved Disney princess with the tough realities she faces, Monir’s book is a cant-miss take on a beloved franchise and a much-needed reminder about princesses — they’re just like us.Prepare yourself to get lost in the magic of Disney with Alexandra Monir’s Realm of Wonders (Disney Hyperion). Pairing a beloved Disney princess with the tough realities she faces, Monir’s book is a cant-miss take on a beloved franchise and a much-needed reminder about princesses — they’re just like us. Princesses also experience struggles after they marry their prince. Realm of Wonders takes us on a magic carpet ride into the world of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin.
Princess Grapples with Loss as She Becomes Ruler
Jasmine is still grieving the death of her father and trying to understand how she could ever rule the kingdom like he did. So, when she is faced with the death of a sultan, Agrabah and the royal family are met with another tragedy and one more mystery to solve. Immediately, Jasmine must handle the issue as a ruler, a task that she feels unprepared to do.
Monir’s original tale about Jasmine takes fans beyond the beloved Disney films and into the world of these characters. Monir has expertly depicted a Persian-inspired world, where she gives newly introduced characters Persian names and mixes in elements from Persian culture. Along with the beautiful and immersive setting, the author knows how to develop her characters.
Inspiring Story of Bravery — with a Touch of Disney Magic
It’s amazing to witness Jasmine as she finds the bravery to be powerful, embraces and gets comfortable with her leadership skills, and gains the strength to take on dangers and face complicated challenges head-on. Themes of female empowerment rule the book, as well as what it means to find one’s true self. Readers will be delighted to dive into a new side of Jasmine’s personality.
BookTrib had the chance to interview Alexandra Monir about her past books, her take on Jasmine’s story, the themes that run through all of her writing, and what’s next for her.
Your best-known dystopian sci-fi dulogy, The Final Six, features a group of teens on a mission to Jupiter. What inspired you to create this world and characters?
The Final Six was one of those magical lightbulb-idea moments of my author life. I was listening to a radio interview with an aspiring astronaut who had applied to be a part of the MarsOne mission (a privately-funded space mission to colonize Mars, which of course never ended up happening!) and as I listened to this woman talk about how she was willing to give up her life on Earth if she were chosen for such a groundbreaking mission, I suddenly had the thought: what if she didn’t have a choice? What if a group of people were drafted to colonize space, like in a war draft, as a last chance to save the human race in the wake of climate change’s devastating effects on Earth? From there, I came up with the characters of Leo and Naomi and their star-crossed love story, and then I was off and running!
You’ve moved from time-travel romance, to sci-fi, to thrillers. What made you pivot and tell the story of the beloved Disney character, Jasmine, in Realm of Wonders?
I have so much fun writing in different genres, but there is a common thread in all of my books thus far: coming of age, discovering your power, and falling in love, all in a heightened, high-stakes world! Realm of Wonders definitely fits with those themes, but I was also so thrilled by the opportunity to write this book because I’m a lifelong Disney superfan. I’m especially a fan of Princess Jasmine and Aladdin, and they will forever hold a special place in my heart.
As a child of the 90s, who was also one of the only Iranian or Middle Eastern kids in my town, to see characters from my part of the world finally represented in pop culture meant everything to me. I’ll always be grateful to Disney for that, and it was the biggest honor for me to get to continue Jasmine’s story with this novel.
What was that path to becoming a Disney author like? How did it feel to know you’d be entering a whole new world of writing?
It’s truly been a wish-upon-a-star experience! I had always hoped to one day write for Disney, and then about a couple years after The Final Six came out, when I was gearing up to release the sequel, my agent got an email from my now-editor at Disney Books, saying they were looking for a Middle Eastern author to write a Princess Jasmine novel and they thought of me! I’ll never forget the thrill I felt, receiving that email! I had to then audition for the job by writing the first chapter, and then wait nervously for the Disney team to read and make a decision—which thankfully was a yes!
In Realm of Wonders, readers will get to know Aladdin’s heroine better than ever before. What was it like to dig into the personality and story of a pre-existing character? Was it easier or more difficult than crafting an original character?
It was so much fun getting to further develop this iconic character, especially a character who had meant so much to me growing up. It was a little tricky at first trying to get her voice just right, since I wanted to stay true to everything we know and love about Jasmine from the movie while at the same time showing much more of her vulnerable side, her emotions, and her inner world.
I had to make sure, in the darker or more emotional moments, that I wasn’t losing Jasmine’s spark and fiery spirit. This was where revisions were really my friend, because the more I read through and reworked each scene, I was able to find that balance of a more complex Jasmine who is also hopefully everything you loved from the movie.
What is next up for you in the literary world and beyond? Will you be tackling the stories of any of the other iconic Disney princesses or characters? Or trying out a different genre?
I would LOVE to write another Disney book, and I do have an idea I’m currently in the early brainstorming stages of, though it’s not a princess story. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share more about this soon! In the meantime, I’ve been hired to write the pilot script for the TV adaptation of The Final Six, which has been the most amazing experience so far. Fingers crossed it will get made and we can see this world onscreen in the near future!
About Alexandra Monir:
Alexandra Monir is the Iranian-American author of the internationally bestselling novel The Final Six, the DC Comics superhero novel Black Canary: Breaking Silence, and five other books for young adults. Alexandra spent her teen years as a pop singer before publishing her debut novel, Timeless, and continues to write and record music. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, toddler son, and one fluffy Shih Tzu. To learn more about Alexandra, visit her online, and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
