Review Detail

Disney Pixar’s Brave has joined the ranks of Disney Twisted Tales, with Fate Be Changed, which asks, “What if the witch gave Merida a different spell?” The answer to that is a delightful bit of time travel where Merida meets her parents, Princess Elinor and Fergus, before they meet each other.
Merida has grown up with the story of her parents meeting and falling in love, but when she ends up unknowingly being the one thrown by her horse and found by Elinor instead, she has a lot of work to bring these two together.
Along the way, Merida gets a chance to befriend Elinor and see that at her age they have similar feelings about marriage and the burden of being a Princess. She also sees that many things are different from her time, such as meeting her coldly strict grandparents for the first time.
I really like the portrayal of Fergus in this story. In the movie he is oafish and comic relief. In this story he is quietly calm, kind, and competent, making it believable why Elinor would fall in love with him even though she is betrothed to another since her birth.
This book is a cozy reimagining of the story of Brave and hits all the feel-good notes of Merida trying to get her parents to fall in love in time for her to exist. During the story, she is slowly turning into a bear; that doesn’t add much to the plot but doesn’t hurt it either.
I read this book as an audiobook, which was a great choice to feel immersed in the story. The Scottish accent made it feel authentic, and she sounded like the voice from the movie, giving it added credibility. Overall, this is a fun addition to the Twisted Tale series, and we are left with a few changes in the Brave world for the better.