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.

What an enchanting reimagining of Rapunzel! Such an interesting take on a classic fairytale, that somehow read like a historical fiction due to the setting & inclusion of actual historical figures from medieval Germany.

Haelewise is a bright, determined and loving young woman, so unlike the Mother Gothel of the stories we’ve been told. I was so excited to read through her life as she learned more about the folklore that guided her mother and grew into her own power. She fought to always do what she believed was right, consequences be damned.

I also loved the placement of this story in the context of a scholar looking to publish work on the lives of medieval women. While that element of the plot only arose in the prologue and epilogue, I found myself thinking every once in awhile how incredible it would be to be the first to discover and translate something like this.

I feel like I say this about every book nowadays, but truly, I couldn’t put this down. And I’ll undoubtedly be reading any future books Mary McMyne writes.

This book really ended up being a pleasant surprise, and I'm really glad that I read it, despite some initial misgivings. There has been something of a glut of fairy tale retelling focused on the villain, and not all of those have worked for me (specifically Malice and Misrule) tonally. I worried that this would feel like a more disneyfied or girl bossed retelling, but I'm happy to say it avoided any of this pitfalls.

This story takes place during the high medieval ages and covers one of my favorite themes, which is the intersection of Christianity and pagan religion. Haelewise is afflicted with a fainting illness as a child. These spells are a sign that she has a connection to the spiritual beyond what is allowed in a Christian society (in the words of the book, she sense the "thinness" between this world and the next). This, in combination with her lack of menstruation, makes her a village pariah, and eventually she is forced to flee.

There's a lot more here about wise women and superstition, about what makes a woman trustworthy or "normal" and while it will feel familiar to people who've read stories about witchcraft or pagan religion, yet it doesn't feel overplayed. I especially loved the addition of the abbess and the "other side" of things here.

The only reason I'm rating 4 instead of 5 is because the pacing doesn't quite work for me here. This is also a common issue for me with some of these books. At times the narrative feels a bit formless, without a clear structure to guide it. That didn't keep me from enjoying the story though.

100 pages in and I'm just bored. The prose isn't lush or lovely enough to carry what is, for the first third of the book at least, a whole lot of dull misery. It felt really simplistic and predictable, with Haelewise being a very uninteresting protagonist - there was just nothing unique about her personality or desires or goals, or even her suffering. The narrative treats everything, including the hints of magic and goddess-worship, as mundane, taken for granted, so there wasn't any wonder or beauty there either.

Even once I got to the point where Things Were Happening, I just wasn't interested. Every character felt flat, defined by just one or two character traits - the 'great romance' had zero foundation or chemistry - and it all just fell so flat.

Utterly disinterested in reading more/seeing how it ends.