| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: Medium-Low Violence level: Medium Back Cover: “High in my tower I sit. I watch the birds fly below, the clouds float above, and the tall, green forest stretch to places I might never see. Mama, who isn't my mother, has kept me hidden away for many years. My only companions, besides Mama, are my books—great adventures, mysteries, and romances that I long to make my reality. But I know that no one will come to save me—my life is not a fairy tale after all. Well, at least no one has come so far. Recently, my hair has started to grow rapidly and it's now long enough to reach the bottom of the tower from my window. I've also had the strangest dreams of a beautiful, green-eyed man. When Mama isn't around, I plan my escape, even if it's just for a little while. There's something—maybe someone—waiting for me out there and it won't find me if I'm trapped here towering above it all.” |
Having now utterly ruined the suspense of the plot, I may as well tell you that an awful lot of the excitement is found in that suspense. There’s the digging up of family history, the finding of the tower and its occupant, and the longstanding mystery of exactly why she’s there and who the actual bad guy is. Because of course you can’t just come right out and tell a girl the whole story of why she’s spending her life locked in a tower, can you? Actually, I felt that the backstory was really well done and explained a lot of things that otherwise looked like nothing but irrational behavior.
I especially liked that this version of Rapunzel (and no, that isn’t her name) is fully aware that she can escape from her tower whenever she likes. That’s another part of the original that doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, is the girl entirely without cutting tools of any sort up there? Even pulling out one hair at a time will eventually get you a good strong rope. And furthermore, this version does as much rescuing of her “prince” as he does of her. Possibly more. What he does is to help introduce her to the world and solve the mystery of her life, but she manages to save him from certain death more than once. In fact, he ends up in more of a sidekick role than anything, which is a very nice change. I like her capability, and the fact that she learns to be confident in herself by the ending.
Now, I only have one small problem to mention. I don’t mind the magical drug that ends up causing magic hair and healing tears. I don’t mind the mental connection that draws the two kids together. I can even live with the random ghost appearances at useful moments. My one problem is that the whole thing was kicked off by a prophecy, and there’s never any explanation about who made the prophecy, or when, or why, or how they knew. It’s all just, “There was this prophecy,” and for some reason everyone takes it seriously.
Aside from that small but obvious plot hole, I’d call this a superior effort of retelling. At least it makes sense.