Rapunzel's Revenge: the outlaw of the wild west
- noorka
- Oct 27, 2015
- 2 min read
“Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother...or the woman she thought was her mother. Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the enormous garden wall. As she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and was horrified by what she saw beyond.” – synopsis from author’s website
This is a review of Shannon Hale’s Rapunzel’s Revenge. The graphic novel is a retelling of the Grimm Brothers’ version of Rapunzel.
Accuracy
Girl stolen from her parents because of lettuce pregnancy craving – check
Imprisoned in a tower at the age of 12 – check
Prince who finds Rapunzel because of singing – not check
Engaged to a prince and secretly sneaks him into tower – not check
Hair chopped off because of disobedience – check
Prince blinded by thorns only to find Rapunzel and their children because of her singing – not check
Originality
This is an aspect that isn’t clearly evident from the synopsis, but shown in the cover art, the story is set in the Wild West. This is not at all the setting you would expect for a story that is originally about such a passive princess. In this story Rapunzel becomes a hair-whipping outlaw who is searching for her real mother along with her partner, Jack (as in the beanstalk).
Another original aspect of this story is that it is a graphic novel. It is full of rich imagery that is better captured as an image than purely through words. Not many traditional novelists can bridge the gap to comics, but Hale’s writing hold up well in the format.
Creativity
My favorite aspect of this story is that Rapunzel becomes a very active heroine with a clear purpose. She knows that she has to get out of her tower and try to find her real family so she takes matters into her own hands and hair. She whips her hair back and forth so well that she beats up many ruffians and thugs. By taking matters into her own hands she is able to make her life better even if it isn’t necessarily in the way she originally thinks.
Overall
This is a fast paced and wild adventure that will keep you entertained. There are definitely some parallels that you can draw between this story and Disney’s Tangled. Comments from Goodreads were overwhelmingly positive. The few negative reviews were due to style and personal preferences rather than any major flaw in the story.
Rapunzel’s Revenge is a fun and interesting, although not wholy true to story, adaptation of Rapunzel. I would recommend this retelling as a 3.5/5 stars.
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