Book Review: “Rapunzel Untangled”

“Rapunzel Untangled” by Cindy C. Bennett

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tale Re-telling

Source: NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Read Cindy’s guest post about adapting Rapunzel.

Summary from Goodreads:

Rapunzel is not your average teenager. For one thing, she has a serious illness that keeps her inside the mysterious Gothel Mansion. And for another, her hair is 15 feet long. Not to mention that she’s also the key to ultimately saving the world from certain destruction. But then she meets a boy named Fane, who changes all she has ever known, and she decides to risk everything familiar to find out who she really is. Filled with romance, adventure, and mystery, Rapunzel Untangled is one story you won’t want to put down. Discover the true meaning of love and friendship in this modern twist to the classic fairytale.

This is the most modern retelling of the story I’ve read so far. This Rapunzel lives in the here and now. She has the internet to do homeschooling online… and she just discovered Facebook. I liked the idea of using Facebook to have her meet her “prince” but it still felt a bit weird. Sure it’s not that hard to believe that Fane would accept a friend request from someone he doesn’t know with very little information on their page but I have a bit of a hard time believing he would spending so much time talking and flirting with a complete stranger (who could totally be a man or a serial killer).

Rapunzel starts off a bit naive and one-sided. She has spent her entire life in the tower with no one to talk to but her mother. Once she starts spending time with Fane, she begins to fully develop. She becomes a stronger person. She starts to question everything in her life. Fane initially rubbed me the wrong way. He continually called Rapunzel “hot”. He continued to call her that even though it made her a bit uncomfortable. It made him seem immature and a bit stupid (since that was the only compliment he could come up with for her). Once he stopped calling her that I warmed up to him. Their relationship was cute enough. Pretty typical for a younger YA book.

The Rapunzel elements were interesting in the book. I thought the book was going to go in a very different way but was surprised with the twists in the story. It was surprisingly dark much like Zel was. The darkness did feel a bit out of place because the story felt pretty young. It wasn’t horribly off putting but it did feel a bit disjointed.

The bottom line? Interesting modern take on the fairy tale!

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