3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Redhook for an ARC of The Book of Gothel in exchange for an honest review.

Man, this one is… complicated. It’s got a lot of themes/elements that are usually catnip for me, but it just didn’t pan out as well as I wanted it to. Despite that, I think that The Book of Gothel was generally well-written and accomplished the goal it set out to do.

The Book of Gothel is a villain origin story/Rapunzel retelling, giving voice to the witch who locked Rapunzel in a tower. In McMyne’s retelling, the witch is named Haelewise and started out as just a regular girl in a village, albeit ostracized and suffering from fainting spells. After her mother dies, she leaves town and travels to the tower of Gothel, where she finds her grandmother and starts learning about midwifery and also a little bit of magic. Then she meets a princess and everything goes awry, and she travels across medieval Germany, guided by a voice and her own desperate need to know things, even things she probably shouldn’t know.

The thing is, I think that this is a really good debut, and that McMyne successfully tells the story she wanted to tell. I also really enjoyed the framing device that she uses in the prologue and epilogue, and I think it added a nice depth to the story. The Book of Gothel is also obviously incredibly well-researched and is wonderfully atmospheric: the world McMyne crafted felt super real and lived in.

I do wish that the villain was more nuanced and less Obviously Evil, and that Haelewise maybe leaned into villainy a little bit more. I guess I wished that with this particular retelling, the main character was less misunderstood hero and more morally gray and cunning. I also felt like her love interest was sort of just… there. The pacing also felt uneven at times, and I remember being surprised that so much time was spent on Haelewise’s childhood. Still, I think this sort of thing is a feature of most retellings, so it’s mostly just something to keep in mind while reading.

Apart from those quips, I found most of what didn’t work for me was on me and not the book/author/writing. Usually, exploring the relationship between Christianity/organized religion and pagan/folk religions is a theme that always works for me, and I usually love medieval settings. While I wish there was a bit more exploration about the wolf skin, I think that on the whole I did enjoy these aspects of the story, which is why it was frustrating that the novel as a whole didn’t work for me. In part, it’s because there was (to me) an unexpected large focus on motherhood/being a mother, which is a theme I am super picky about. Haelewise’s inner narrative of needing to be a mother didn’t quite work for me, especially because I wasn’t all that compelled by her love interest.

I did like that she was suspicious about all the new information she was given, since she was so sheltered and isolated during her childhood, but it I thought it felt a bit out of place that despite the fact she’s hesitant to fully believe anything she’s told, she readily trusted the voice that lead her to the tower of Gothel without even once questioning that that was maybe not what it seemed. Haelewise’s absolute need to know everything was difficult to get through, since a lot of the time she just really struggled to take no for an answer, even when she was told she either couldn’t know yet or because her timing was absolutely horrible. It was also hard for me to watch her make ill-advised choice after ill-advised choice and then be surprised she’s suffering the consequences. Mostly, I just found her a difficult character to get a point-of-view perspective from.

Ultimately, The Book of Gothel was interesting and I think it will work for most people, especially if they love fairy tale retellings. It was a good debut with great attention to detail and is very well researched. I think McMyne is an author to keep an eye on, and while this one didn’t work for me (and I do genuinely wish I liked it more), I would recommend it to most people, and think it’s worth a read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Man, "The Book of Gothel" was one of my most anticipated releases for 2022, so you can imagine how bummed I am that it did not work for me AT ALL. Honestly, I ended up skimming the last half because I was totally uninterested by that point but just stubbornly refused to DNF it.

Credit where it's due, "The Book of Gothel" ("TBOG") is insanely well researched and super atmospheric. I had a strong sense of place the whole time I was reading and I thought McMyne did a good job crafting an atmosphere that mirrored the mental state of Haelewise, our MC.

Unfortunately, I absolutely hated Haelewise. Like, found her to be full-on boring to read about and honestly kind of a pathetic character, which is problematic because TBOG is a first-person narrative told through her eyes. She was just SO PASSIVE. Like, even towards the climax of the book - and using the term "climax" is a stretch because I didn't feel any real tension - I just felt like she was reacting to things instead of making them happen.

Also, the pacing of this was slow AF. Now, I don't inherently mind slow novels, because they give you time to spend with the character; but when you can't stand the characters then a slow pace is just torturous.

I honestly think I'd have liked this more if McMyne had just leaned into writing a novel about a villain, instead of trying to re-write the fairy tale to make Haelewise a sympathetic character. It seems like a lot of these recent "feminist re-tellings of famous stories" are doing this - re-writing the story to make the female character the hero. I don't have an inherent problem with this approach, but I've just felt like they tend to be so boring to read. Like, just give me a bad bish who is unapologetically living her life and villain-ing it up! I beg you!!

One of the better fairy tale retellings to come along in the past few years. The story of Rapunzel sits mainly in the background of this piece, not really coming into effect until the end of the book, which weaves magic with historical fiction to tell the story of Mother Gothel. I found the book well written, and the characters engaging and enjoyable. The only thing that really took me out of it is an strange choice of framing device. There's not enough of it to make me care about it, just enough to be a distracting. You could easily excise it from the book and lose absolutely nothing. I am puzzled by the choice to include it at all.

I was so super excited when I found this book! I am always on the lookout for fairytale retellings, especially when they’re about the villain! It was beautifully written, almost poetic in nature :)

Holy wow. I’ve found a favorite of 2022. Lovers of historical fantasy will swoon for this book! The Book of Gothel is an immersive tale written like an old fairytale. (Think of the style of the The Wolf and the Woodsman and/or The Winternight trilogy) One thing I admire about the author is that you can tell how much research they did on the time period/history. You can rely tell a lot of time was spent on research to make the historical aspect as accurate as possible for the story. The book is sometimes slow, specifically at the middle. In this case, being slow is not a bad thing! It adds to the old fairytale charm and immersive experience into medieval Germany. You really get to know the time period, characters, and setting because of the pacing. This is a wonderful retelling from a perspective I wanted to hear from for years. I’m a delighted we got to hear Gothel’s story finally. I adored the author’s take on the Rapnuzel story we all know. More importantly, I appreciated that the book stayed true to the title. This was truly a book about Gothel. It isn’t focused on Rapunzel or her story. Rapunzel only comes in when it is necessary to Gothel’s story. This was a 4 star read for me but the last 20 percent off the book bumped it up to five stars. I loved how everything tied up in the end and all the pieces came together. Definitely a new favorite and will be purchasing when it is out physically!

The Book of Gothel is a beautifully written fairytale that retells the classic story of Rapunzel, but from the point of view of "Mother Gothel." Instead of being a villain origin story, the reader can expect a well researched novel brimming with religion, magic, and female empowerment set during medieval times. This was an unexpected delight, perfect for fans of Circe and Wicked.

Loved loved loved this book!

Solid 3.5 stars

This book was a slow one. I have to admit it took a while to get into. Then, because I got into it, was one of the only reasons why I finished it.

I love anything and everything fairytale. I also love a villain story. This novel promised that but gave me more Maleficent the movie vibes if you know what I mean.

I loved the inclusion of the German language as that’s the language I’m currently studying. I did find that sometimes I didn’t understand what they were saying - which caused me to have to look it up. I can only imagine others who haven’t seen the language having issues without translations following.

The story itself was interesting. I thought we were getting just a Rapunzel beginnings retelling. Instead, I found numerous other fairytales interwoven. Lots of heartache in this novel - which is something we don’t normally get in fantasy series - real world heartache.

I received an ARC from netgalley for review.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne. It was an unusual take on the story of Rapunzel and I found it interesting. From Haelwise's upbringing, to leaving her father's house, to her journeys to where the voice took her, I found it fascinating following her thoughts, feelings and the wisdom and knowledge she acquired at each step. Not your basic Disney retelling! I went through this one quickly, really enjoyed it!

Thanks to the author, Redhook Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Final rating: 4.5 stars

This is the first Rapunzel retelling that I’ve read, and I definitely enjoyed it! It’s set in 12th century Germany but actually starts out in current day, with a researcher being called in to review a recently discovered medieval manuscript. This manuscript turns out to be written by Haelewise, who became known as Mother Gothel. It’s written in such a way that if you removed the magic, it would be 100% believable since it also uses real historical figures as characters, such as Hildegard who becomes Saint Hildegard.

There is a heavy focus on the clash between Christianity and a pagan religion focused on the Mother Goddess, as well as a major focus on what it is to be a woman and what is expected of us.

The main character Haelewise was an interesting character. Because of her physical characteristics (black eyes) and the fainting spells that she suffers from, she is an outcast in her small town and eventually sees her branded as a witch. She eventually seeks refuge at the tower of Gothel and becomes apprenticed to the wise woman who lives there.

Once Frederika shows up at Gothel that’s where the story really started to take off for me, I found Haelewise’s journey to be interesting and I enjoyed trying to figure out how she became the villain of the original story.

I immensely enjoyed the writing, it was beautiful and I definitely would be interested in reading more from this author.

The things I didn’t really like was how there were quite a few parts of Haelewises inner monologue that was very repetitive, and since so much of this story was Haelewise recounting what happened to her there was a lot that was pretty repetitive. The pacing was also a little off for me, at times it would feel like nothing was happening, just pages of Haelewise monologuing.

I do kind of wish that we had gotten more of the circle of women, and maybe a darker version of Haelewise. After all, she goes through so much hardship and long term doesn’t seem to have any sort of negative impact on her, other than her relationship with Matthaus. Even though I would’ve loved if it had gotten darker (I do love my dark fantasy!) I’m satisfied with how everything worked out with this. To me, this was almost like if cottagecore was a medieval fantasy story, and it was great!

I REALLY wanted to like this book -- I'm a huge fan of fairytale retellings and I love the Rapunzel story. But sadly, I had to DNF this book about 1/3 of the way through. To me, the pacing to build up to all the later action and drama felt very slow and drawn out, and I was getting bored and anxious for when the plot would start to pick up. Also, one reason I was attracted to this book was that it had gotten a starred review from author Rena Rossner praising its Jewish character representation. This review had given me the impression that one of the main leads or love interests was Jewish, instead of a minor character that gets killed off. As a Jewish reader myself, I personally would have enjoyed it more if the former option was the case. However, other readers like Mrs. Rossner may disagree, and they have the right to. However, I did enjoy all the historical details about living both as a peasant and a herbal healer in medieval Germany. I also thought it was clever that "Mother Gothel" was a given and passed-on title rather than someone's given birth name.

Thank you for letting me review this book early.

This was such an incredible concept. The author is very good with words and it was beautifully written, but I got very bored and struggled to finish.. glad I did though because overall it was a good story.

One of the best books of the year! The setup for Book of Gothel is fabulous and the pay off at the end had me in tears. Atmospheric, feminist, and utterly unputdownable. You’ll love Haelwise from start to finish and the romance will bring a smile to your face!

The Book of Gothel is a Rapunzel retelling from a witch’s POV. I ~almost~ didn’t stick with this book at first because the beginning is a modern academic setting before the story actually starts. I’m happy I stuck with it though because this retelling is unique and the writing is lyrical. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

As a true fairytale fan, I had very high hopes going into this book. The book of Gothel was a wonderful journey. The story of Haelswise was sad and alarming with how she was treated for being different. Although I found some parts of her journey a little lack luster, the story as a whole was wonderful! I would recommend anyone with love for fairytales to read The Book of Gothel.

I was really excited to get my hands on an ARC for this book because I LOVE a good fairy tale retelling, especially ones exploring the "baddies". I liked the main character and love story in this one, however, the MC Haelewise suffered far too much for my liking in this one without enough wins. It just felt like every other female character she met decided on a whim to help her... as long as Haelewise did XYZ for them first... and that just sat wrong with me. This story dangles this ~mysterious~ group of strong women that support each other through out the book, but we don't actually ever get a payoff. I also think I would have liked to see a darker, less naive version of Haelewise as she grew from all these new experiences. I wanted her to stick up for herself– stand her ground and fight, but she mostly was on the run or at the mercy of others' generosity. I had similar issues with the well loved book <i>Circe</i>, so if you loved that one - you will probably enjoy this. I would say my favorite part about the book was the world-building and religion/magic. The way the author wove in christianity and Wiccan vibes was very cool and uniquely done. I also enjoyed the romance in this one, the love interest was respectful and the spicy scenes done well. That said, I would definitely read more from this author in the future.

The Book of Gothel, by Mary McMyne, is a reimagining of Rapunzel from the witch’s perspective.
I really loved this book! Thought it was so original(much more than I expected in the current sea of Disney retellings), and I will be singing its praises for a long time to come.
Everything was perfect and unique, from its setting(13th century Germany), to its characterization and world-building, and to the fact that it featured a young Saint Hildegard as a character.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy or historical fiction, and especially to those who love both.
4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book was okay. Maybe I am burnt out on villain origin stories/retellings. This one just did not stick with me as many others have. The writing was beautiful. I think it had great potential. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

Wicked…but make it the witch from Rapunzel!

The Book of Gothel dives into the backstory of Mother Gothel, the witch who locked Rapunzel in the tower. She tells us right at the start: you DON’T know the true story, and then sets out to set the record straight. I don’t often read reimaginings/retellings of fairy tales, so I was excited to see how this one came together.

The book begins with a modern academic receiving a medieval manuscript of Mother Gothel. Once we’re in the manuscript, we learn a lot about her childhood, how she ended up at the tower, and she became known as an evil witch. Growing up, Haelewise (Mother Gothel’s real name) suffered from fainting spells, causing everyone in town to believe she was possessed by a demon. Being ostracized in such a way was difficult, but she found solace in her mother’s stories of magic & folklore. When her mother died, Haelewise embarks on a journey that results in her learning more about the magic her mother told tales about.

There was a decent amount of exploration into religion, namely a divide between traditional Christianity and the “witchcraft” of a condemned group of spiritual women.

What I liked:
-The concept is very unique. Following Haelewise (the young woman who becomes Mother Gothel) as she learns more about the secret spiritual side of her own mother was unexpected & very intriguing.
-There were a number of female characters who had interesting storylines.

What didn’t work for me:
-The pacing was really off. Giant chunks of time go by where nothing happens. Most of the book feels like exposition - but then even the few moments of action sort of read like that too.
-The author does a LOT of telling…a little more showing would have been nice. I never felt connected to Haelewise because it didn’t feel like I was experiencing the story with her; she was simply recounting a list of things she had lived through.

Overall, this book missed the mark for me but still held my attention. I think if the concept intrigues you, it’s worth picking up!

Thank you to NetGalley & Redhook Books for this ARC. The opinions in this review are entirely my own unbiased thoughts. This review will be added to my account on Goodreads and TheStoryGraph immediately, and onto my Instagram account @bookish.901 within the next week.

Disappointed that I won’t be finishing this one. I was looking forward to this book because I love Rapunzel and haven’t read a Mother Gothel retelling before, but it’s just insanely slow and I have no interest in the characters. The beginning especially drags and I’m not invested enough to continue.

I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did! Being a medieval history minor, I’m pretty picky when it comes to historical novels that take place during the medieval ages, but McMyne seems to have done her research and has done a really wonderful job of portraying what life would have looked like for a woman in the 1100’s.

I really loved the prose in this novel as well. I think Haelewise‘s voice comes across so strongly. There wasn’t a moment in the novel where I felt that we had become disconnected from how she was going through this world. I always felt like I was discovering things along with her, and not trying to interpret what would happen next. It made for a really wonderful read.