I'm a sucker for a retold fairy tale so this book was right up my ally. I really liked Haelewise as a main character. I was a little surprised about the framing device of the present day researcher, but it didn't really take anything away from the story so it was fine.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I actually didn’t manage to read this one before publication, so I borrowed the audiobook from the library and listened to the finished copy.

I waited way too long to write this review, so there won’t be my usual level of detail. I, overall, really enjoyed this story. It’s in the same vein as Heartless by Marissa Meyer. This is the story of Mother Gothel from Rapunzel. We follow her from the time she’s young right up to where the story we’re familiar with starts.

I really enjoyed this story. The world building was really well done. I think the setting and descriptions really did a great job of setting the tone of the story. It was easy to like Gothel. She was a young woman growing up in a world that was often unkind to women.

The story felt slow and meandering, but I think that’s common with the retellings I tend to read. I think this will be a huge hit with anyone that liked retellings, anyone that liked historical fantasy, and anyone that likes villain origin stories. I definitely recommend this one.

This book was amazing. It's such a unique twist on Mother Gothiel's origin story. I loved the character development and relationships between the characters.

A well-written book but I didn't connect with it. I struggled to finish it and disliked that any time the protagonist had something good happen it was immediately followed by something terrible.

I just finished reading The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne and I'm definitely feeling differently about Mother Gothel at this point. The book tells the backstory of a witch called Haelewise, who grows up to be Mother Gothel. Set in medieval Germany, this tale follows Haelewise as she navigates a world of witches and magic and religious persecution. She is an outsider shunned by her village because of a medical condition passed on to her by her mother. When her mom dies she leaves the village to search for a secret haven for women with her gifts, or curse. Gothel is real but it's not exactly what Haelewise thought and she is faced with the decision to trade one form of oppression for another or to fight for what she believes in. ⠀
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I really enjoyed the author's use of the German mythology and lore along with medieval religious history. Haelewise is an interesting, headstrong female lead who is both sympathetic and reckless. She grows a lot through the story and her interactions with the other characters show a quiet strength that develops over time. The magic and intrigue of the royal and religious leaders, as well as her friends and foes in the village, create a rich tale that really makes you think about how she came to have Rapunzel trapped in the tower.

This a reimagining of Mother Gothel, the women who locks Rapunzel in a tower. It as unique and interesting. The character of Haelewise was definitely the stand out. She was very well written in my opinion. I found her development over the course of the story to be really engaging.

I will say, the story begins in modern day, and I was interested in that story right from the get go, which put me off of the first few chapters that actually following the story of Haelewise. Also I in general have mixed opinions about reimaginings of fairytales that almost seem to jump through hoops to justify the actions of the character who is normally the villian. But despite those two things, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a review!

I was excited for a villainous redemption story like Circe or Wicked, but this is so... boring. I appreciate the research done on medieval German settings, but I found it hard to get invested in the heroine's motivations. Just meh.

When I saw this book, I was instantly interested. I mean, the origin story of Mother Gothel set in medieval Germany? Yes, please. I should have loved this book but characters with no depth and flat writing ruined it for me.

As a retelling, it simply wasn’t good. Without reading the synopsis, you wouldn’t have known that this was the origin story of Mother Gothel until the very end of the book. Rapunzel is hardly in the story at all and I mean, that’s fine but why even market it as a retelling? This could have been a new fairytale-esque story in a historical setting and totally stood on its own.

As for the characters, I initially really liked them but the growth and depth simply wasn’t there. I didn’t feel that Haelewise really changed as the story went on, except to maybe become more annoying. I also could not have cared LESS about the relationship between Matthaus and Haelewise. It felt very stale and Matthaus was just a flat, boring character. I really didn’t expect them to end up together because he seemed like that typical first love in YA stories. I assumed Haelewise would fall in love with someone better suited for her and not the boy next door that she grew up with. I was very disappointed with the entire romance subplot.

The worldbuilding was also, for lack of a better word, flat. I never had a good grasp of what Haelewise was seeing or where she was at. In a fairytale retelling or in a fantasy, I want those magical, flowery descriptions.

The majority of this book was spent with Haelewise going from place to place. She met many people but none of them had any lasting impact on the overall story. It’s really a shame because they were interesting, especially Haelewise’s grandmother. Of course, this isn’t my story but if I could have edited it, I would have cut back on the traveling, built up all of the characters and focused more on Haelewise’s life after Rapunzel. The most interesting part of the story was the last chapter and if that could have been moved to the 50% or 75% points, this would have been a much better story.

It might seem like I hated The Book of Gothel but I didn’t. I just think it could have been much more than it was. I would read more from Mary McMyne in the future.

I really enjoyed this book. It takes the myth of Mother Gothel, the witch from Rapunzel, and not only humanizes her, but includes her in historical events. Of course, Gothel is not actually her name. Gothel is the name of the tower in which she inherits.
I think witchcraft, especially in a historical context, is very interesting. If a woman was an especially good midwife or such, she could have been hung for being a witch. This is a danger that is very present in the book. Another great factor was that the characters were human. They made mistakes and had bad qualities to them. They made choices that were definitely bad choices but it all added to the story. 4 stars because it dragged at certain points.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for an early copy of this book.

I loved this Rapunzel retelling. It's more the background story of Rapunzel's family. It's full of magic, folklore, religious and social commentary, and lots of action.

Mother Gothel is the "witch" who lives in the Tower, but this story puts a very modern feeling spin on the traditional tale.

If you like fairytales I highly recommend this one.

Haelewise is the daughter of a midwife living in The Black Forest. Her mother tells her all sorts of fantastical stories about the world as she is growing up. As a girl she has unusual fainting spells that her father insists is a demon that needs to be exorcised. When her mother falls ill and passes away she leaves Haelewise with some pagan gifts that leave her questioning her upbringing. Her father quickly remarries and she is run out of town with no option but to trace her mother's past to a mysterious tower in the woods.

I love fairy tale retellings and this one has a lot of great elements. It is very slowly paced, but I was really invested in Haelewise and really wanted to find out what happened to her, how she overcame her increasingly bleak circumstances and how she came to know Rapunzel.The story weaves so many Grimms elements together in a very realistic way. I liked the play of the ancient women's magic and Christianity and the way it all reads like historical fiction. The prologue and epilogue connecting it to modern times were a bit unnecessary but all in all this was an enjoyable read.

Thanks to Redhook Books via Netgalley for advanced access to this novel. All opinions above are my own.

DNF @ 47%

I keep trying to get back into this book, but I just find myself uninterested in the rest of the story. The plot feels... nonexistent, and the MC isn't enough to pull me back in despite the lack of things happening. Maybe I'll pick it up again at a later time.

The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne tells the "true" account of Gothel, chronically the life of Haelwise, the daughter of a midwife. However, when her mother tragically dies, she sets out to find the legendary tower from her mother’s tales.

I do want to point out that this is a Rapunzel retelling that very much takes a historical approach, and I appreciate the amount of research that the author pouring into portraying medieval Germany.

However, the story itself didn’t grab me. The characters fall flat and the story slowly meanders through Haelewise’s life without a sense of focus.

Typically, I adore origin retellings (i.e. Wicked or Maleficent) where a villain is told through a complex, sympathetic lens, but there is no character complexity here.

The Book of Gothel is a charming and cozy tale about the witch who placed Rapunzel in her tower.

This story took me by surprise! We follow Haelewise, a girl from a small medieval village. She is an outcast, shunned by her village and her father because of her evil fainting spells. Her only solace and protection is her mother. When her mother dies, she sets out on a journey to find a tower named Gothel.

We get to watch Haelewise grow in herself despite the odds stacked against her. This enchanting story will pull at your heart strings for better and worse. A beautiful take on a well known classic!

Add this to your TBR and fall in love with Haelewise just like I did. Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love a well done retelling of a classic! There is just something about the nostalgic comfort of a classic narrative with a modern twist to pieces of the story that are often missed or skewed due to the perceptions at the time the story was told. I’m partial to them especially when they highlight and make central a women originally perceived as villainous in nature. The Book of Gothel is a blend of fantasy with historical fiction mixed in to create such a retelling. It follows the origins, struggle, love and loss of the woman who would become the witch who, according to legend, trapped Rapunzel in a tower.

Haelewise is brave and kind even though she’s spent her life being mistreated by almost everyone she comes across following the early death of her mother. She has a thirst to survive, and holds on to the hope of love in her childhood friend. The plot is driven by her hope and will to overcome the powers that keep her as a women living with health “spells” that lead others to categories her something to be detested and made an outcast, or more dangerously, a witch. The theme of those who hold the power write the story of history.

While this story is a slow burn, and our heroine does behave and make choices like the teenager she is, the story is beautifully written and full of depth and compassion. There are cellmates of self sacrifice, the will to remake oneself, adventure and romance. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the gritty side to fairy tales, adventures and historical fiction. I will absolutely be returning to this autthor!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

3 ⭐️ Ok…I went back and pushed myself to finish this book and it did not change my mind. This book simply wasn’t at all what I had thought it would be, and I think some of that comes down to the cover and marketing. The cover makes you think this is going to be a villain origin story/Rapunzel retelling and that is not at all what this is. Instead, it’s basically historical fiction with some fantastical elements focused on the main character during her teenaged years and examining the life of women in medieval times. Especially women who did not fall into the traditional Christian roles and how they were ostracized and treated. Due to this there is a lot of discussion of pregnancy, and when life begins, and bodily autonomy for women, largely because the main character is from a long line of midwives and wants to be one herself. While those are all important discussions to have, for some reason this one just didn’t grab me. There were also a few things that I was flat out just like…but why? For example: the main character hasn’t started menstruating and is like obsessed with that to the point she uses a special oil to try to bring it on, and had a weird obsession with wanting to keep the babies she helps delivers…like literal crazy kidnapper vibes. All in all, not a bad book by any means just not my cup of tea.

I’m giving this one a solid 4 stars. It’s an interesting premise, I like a good villain backstory, and Gothel is definitely not a villain that gets a lot of attention.

What I liked: I loved the historical Germanic setting; I’m so glad the book didn’t stray into Disney territory. The writing style was good, I could tell that the effort had been made to write this in a way that made it feel like a translation from an old text while still infusing modern storytelling techniques. I was invested in the characters and the story. Though it started out slow for me and I was afraid I was not going to like it much, I ended up very moved by the book in the end.

What I disliked: the writing style. Yes, this is both a like and a dislike. While I appreciate the effort it takes to write this way, it’s just not really for me. I felt the same way about the writing in Gods of Jade and Shadow. In order to make it feel like a fairy tale being translated from Old German, you lose some of the characterization and depth of modern storytelling. It’s still well written, it just doesn’t suit my personal tastes as well. I also didn’t love the pacing. The first several chapters felt very slow and didn’t hook me in very well. It honestly took a while for me to get invested and even after I was hooked, the pacing slowed and sped up in a way I did not enjoy.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it was a very good palate cleanser between other books.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC!

Such a creative retelling of Rapunzel, rather than focusing on the princess herself we get to hear the story of Haelewise. Dealing with the death of her mother, Haelewise must learn how to fend for herself in a town that hates her. With a father who left her, she decides to seek out the promise of Gothel, hoping to reconnect to her mother and get some answers about the magic around her.

How would your perspective of religious beliefs change after reading a medieval codex illustrated with images reminiscent of fairy tales? The historical fantasy, The Book of Gothel, by Mary McMyne strives to answer the question. The story is told from the viewpoint of Haelewise, a young woman living in a Christian world during the Middle Ages in Germany. Her father and villagers believe a demon possesses and curses her with fainting spells. Her mother, a midwife and healer, tries to protect her from the scourge of the church, but she dies when Haelewise is an adolescent. Fearing persecution, Haelewise escapes on a quest to uncover her past at the Tower of Gothel, where her grandmother resides. There she begins a journey to discover her life’s role based on the spiritual healing of the ancestral Mother Goddess.

McMyne masterfully weaves fantastical elements into the historical backdrop of medieval Germany. A page-turner, the tale reminds me of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, but from a woman’s perspective. The storytelling gripped me from the beginning and continued holding my interest until the memorable ending. Haelewise is an engaging heroine who rises from self-doubt as a child into a formidable woman, discovering her strength from the Mother Goddess. This evocative story is rich in sensory descriptions, and the suspense heightens to a heart-throbbing climax. It is a multi-layered story with themes of unconditional love, redemption, and coming of age.

The Book of Gothel will appeal to both fantasy and historical readers who enjoy vivid storytelling, bringing to mind favorite fairy tales that might be based on past real-life experiences. Highly recommended.

I voluntarily reviewed this book for the Historical Novel Society, and the review is also posted in the Historical Newsletter HNR Issue Issue 101 (August 2022).

This is a delightful modern fairy tale retelling with hints of Rapunzel, and a sympathetic witch. The story is fleshed out with enough character building to make it interesting. The main character, Haelewise, has enough agency to escape the foretold doom that traps most fairy tale protagonists. She is courageous, intelligent, and admirable, and it's very satisfying to see her prevail over the difficulties she encounters.