A review by passionatelycurious
The Witch's Tower by Tamara Grantham

3.0

I was in the mood for magical fairytale retellings, and Grantham's "The Witch's Tower," a retelling of Rapunzel from Gothel's point of view, sounded like an interesting change of pace from the Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella retellings that I read last year. In this retelling, Gothel is our hero who teams up with a prince's squire, Raj, to find a pair of magical shears to free Rapunzel, who is described as a somewhat feral, nearly insane princess that is trapped in her infamous tower by her father, an evil sorcerer that controls the lands they live on. Along their journey, in a truly Wizard of Oz fashion, they are joined by a nameless shapeshifting wolf, a terrible and drunken musician, and a cursed dragon princess. There is a happily ever after for Gothel, and I did enjoy the journey they took, but I found it fairly boring and predictable. I think this would be a great book for a young teenager that's looking to get into fantasy, but probably too young to truly be labeled young adult. There's a very light romance and a few fighting/battle scenes, but it's overall a very cute, wholesome story about found family and friends, and it's a very easy read that probably would have taken me a day if I had had the time to commit to it. It leaves off in a way that gives plenty of room for the side characters own stories and I know that there are more books in the series.