Rapunzel's Revenge

Fairytale meets Western in this humorous, rollicking adventure tale featuring Rapunzel, a pampered only child growing up in a beautiful castle. Her mother, Gothel, is the ruler of the castle - at least, Rapunzel believes she is her mother.

When Rapunzel becomes dissatisfied with her life, yearning to see the world beyond the picture-perfect palace and gardens, beset by disturbing dreams that hint at forgotten people and places, Gothel grows angry. "Ignore the dreams, my dear," she says, "And they'll go away." But Rapunzel can't ignore them. Against Gothel's wishes, she finds a way out of the castle - and what she discovers beyond its walls shakes her world, leaving her horrified, angry and determined to take action.

And so her adventures begin - taking her from a safe, stultifying existence to the rough-and-tumble life of a wild west outlaw. When she teams up with Jack, a young man she meets in her travels, they journey together, experiencing all kinds of hilarious and hair-raising adventures. But Rapunzel knows she must return to face Gothel - yet how can she hope to defeat someone with such amazingly strong magical powers?

This graphic novel was great fun to read. I particularly enjoyed the slapstick humor and the many "inside" fairytale jokes that are a great payoff to fairytale fans. Rapunzel is an excellent, feisty, tough and kind heroine, and the wild west setting was a surprising and effective backdrop for the tale. I will be looking forward to further works by this talented team - and I hope I won't have to wait too long!

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale; illustrated by Nathan Hale (Bloomsbury, 2008)

This review was cross-posted on my blog, Books and Other Thoughts.

Rapunzel's Revenge

Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon & Dean Hale
Illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation)

Pages: 144
First Published: Aug. 5, 2008
Genre: graphic novel, fairy tale, children
Rating: 5/5

Reason for Reading: A few reasons actually. I've never read any of Shannon Hale's books but want to someday and this looked like a good way to get introduced to her storytelling. I was at the library one day and saw it, browsed through it and almost took it out but decided I had enough GNs at home already to read. Then the very next day Darla D. posted a review of it on her website, so it felt like kismet and if Darla says it's good I know I can trust her.

First sentence:

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl.

Comments: This Graphic Novel is a retelling of the story of Rapunzel. Not much of the original fairy tale remains in this fabulous retelling of a pampered but lonely little girl who when she learns her Mother is not her real mother but an evil dictator is banished to eventually die in a huge towering tree with a hollowed out room at the top. Rapunzel uses her long hair as rope to eventually escape and meets up with Jack (of the Beanstalk fame) and together they set off to save their world. Rapunzel who was taught rope lassoing as a young girl by one of the guards at her palace now braids her hair and uses them as lasso weapons of destruction. She becomes almost like a superhero in this rollicking read.

I absolutely loved the Western meets Fairy Tale presentation. (reminds me of the Western/Sci-Fi of Firefly) Absolutely truly unique and original story which makes me yearn to read more of Hale's work. The artwork is absolutely flawless. Bright, colourful and detailed making one look into each frame as you read. I really have no complaints about this book at all. Though there was one tiny little thing that bothered me. Rapunzel is a feisty, strong female character which is fine and good and especially enjoyable, but Jack has been relegated to sidekick and his character is squeamish and frightens easily. I don't like it when the female character is made to look strong at the expense of showing a weak male character. Reverse discrimination is still discrimination. But really it just bugged me a tiny bit. Highly recommend this to anyone who loves graphic novels or fairy tale retellings.

Nicola