Thank you for providing me with an arc Netgalley.

This is a captivating journey into the world of fairy tales, weaving a spellbinding narrative that reimagines the story of Rapunzel. Set in a lush and fantastical landscape, the novel follows Gothel, a complex and enigmatic character whose origins and motivations are shrouded in mystery. What makes "The Book of Gothel" truly remarkable is its fresh perspective on a timeless tale.
One of the most compelling aspects of the novel is its exploration of themes such as power, identity, and the nature of love. As Gothel grapples with her own desires and ambitions, readers are drawn into a web of secrets and revelations. Surprisingly, "The Book of Gothel" exceeded my expectations, offering an enjoyable reading experience. While it may appeal to fans of fairy tale retellings, its rich storytelling and compelling characters make it a captivating read for anyone seeking a journey into the realm of fantasy.

Thank you for the e-arc of this book. I have requested this because of the intriguing synopsis and I really wanted a retelling story. Unfortunately this book felt very different and it took me a while to get into it. It definitely is not what I expected.

This felt a lot like historical fiction and from that point of view I believe that the medieval Germany depicted seemed welk presented, but I don't know that much about this to be 100% sure. In a way it was refreshing to link the Rapunzel story with its original historical setting.

The main character, Haelwise, was hard to relate to. I couldn't understand her a lot of times and it was a little annoying from time to time. The magical aspects were a little all over the place for me. I was expecting something else.

As a whole, the book is a mix of things that should be interesting, but because I was expecting something different I didn't fully enjoy it.

This is a bit of an odd book to review - it felt like a very different book to the blurb provided, and I came away from it quite unclear about what I had actually read (and why I had even persisted).

The medieval Germany depicted here has been well-researched, and I recognised references to manuscripts such as the Falkenlied. The execution of the German felt a little clumsy (more Google translate than native speaker, but I could be wrong). And it was enjoyable to link the story of Mother Gothel/Rapunzel back to its original historical setting.

We follow a part of the life of Haelwise, a young woman in a rural village dependent on the protection of her herbalist/midwife mother to prevent villagers attacking her for her fainting spells who, after experiencing a tragedy, seeks protection at the Tower of Gothel.

Unfortunately Haelwise is an idiot. Her actions make no sense, particularly given that she knows that she is at risk and in danger. She makes poor decisions out of  "love" and misplaced loyalty and completely disregards the instructions for her own safety and protection that she's been given later on in the book.

There's a sense of the folktale about the magic that's alluded to in the story - shape-changing princes and boundless woodlands and mysterious boundaries. And it should give a hint of something a little more ethereal, just at the edge of what we can sense. Unfortunately it comes across as muddled and unclear in a way that really doesn't benefit the story either, particularly with the additon of kings and princesses running through the woods.

Finally, I'm not sure what the Prologue and Epilogue add to the story - it's nice to place this in the historical context of German manuscripts, but quite jarring to introduce a modern-day scholar who is reading it for the first time, ending in a twist that didn't feel particularly special.

Unfortunately, as you can tell, I quickly became frustrated with this book, and persisted, but at its expense.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DNF after 50 pages.

This will be a perfect book for the right reader, but it wasn't for me! It's one I might try again when I'm in the right mood, but it was a little too bleak for me at the time.

Loved this so much, when I read the synopsis I was eager to dive in and I wasn’t disappointed at all, this is amazing. The writing is fantastic , the characters are well constructed, engaging and continue to grow with the story. The story itself is so creative and imaginative full of magic and romance. I can’t recommend this highly enough, go read this today

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Mother Gothel tells the story of the woman behind the story of Rapunzel, the woman Haelwise before she came to hold Rapunzel in the tower as her captive. This book is fiercely feminist, it’s not the most subtle in the sense that the majority of the characters are women but they’re well built, fascinating women.

Plot wise the pacing is a little off in that you spend quite a bit of time with Haelwise first at home with her mother, and then in the tower learning her gift with Kurenburg/Mother Gothel, and in this stationary moments, this book is more about character development. For me, I didn’t have an issue with this, it just depends what you want from a book, to go somewhere or to know and understand someone/something. Essentially, for me, the book has more of that purpose, it’s not about taking you far but taking you to the character of Haelwise and helping you know her, a character you thought you knew from very little in stories. It’s a book about how women are so much more than what we appear to be, whether what you can see is of our choosing or not, we have our own truth in a world spoken by men and this book speaks it loudly to the reader.
The women in this book are warriors in their own battles, they’re loving, wise, protective and underestimated.

I particularly liked Hael’s relationship with her mother, but there were so many strong female characters brought to the page I was almost spoilt, I would have loved to have more from Beatrice as even in her few scenes she commanded such power.

This book is about motherhood, sisterhood and the spirituality of womanhood and I adored every moment of it. Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good retelling of a classic tale so when I saw this I knew it was one I had to read. We all know the tale of Rapunzel but often the villains in the story have more to them then initially meets the eye, this was certainly the case where Mother Gothel was concerned.

The story opens in a modern day setting and from there we are are taken back in time to Haelewise and her story. To start with I loved the story and learning about Haelewise and her mother. The tragedy that fell upon them both in her mother's death and how Haelewise tried to survive was beautiful and heart-breakingly depicted. I did however find the middle part of the story slow and found my interest waiver at times. I found myself growing frustrated with Haelewise and felt she needed to stand up for herself a little more.

I'm pleased to say that the story did improve and I really enjoyed the ending, the twists put on the original tale and the heart break. I would have liked to have flipped back to the present day a little more as just having the prologue and the epilogue set in a modern world felt a little disjointed, but that is just a personal preference.

A retelling of Rapunzel, but from the evil stepmothers POV and her storyline.

With such a unique concept, it's hard to do it well and achieve what this book did. It makes you feel sympathy for the supposed future villain, and in that I think it was very strong in itself. The worldbuilding was complex, and managed to be quite other worldly, in part due to the strength of the writing and the lore conveyed through each chapter.

I had a lot of fun reading this!

This book is far from what i was anticipating in a Gothel backstory re-imagining and unfortunately i couldn't connect with it.
DNF at 20%
I really believe this to be entirely down to my personal taste and wouldn't hesitate to recommend others pick it up.

A retelling of the story behind Rapunzel, the woman who holds her captive and why. I live a retelling that focuses on the villain, and gives a backstory that explains their actions - and The Book of Gothel certainly falls into his category.

Haelewise is a healer and Midwife, just like her mother. But when she's left alone in the world, crippled with fainting spells that turn her village against her, she's forced to seek out shelter and a new life away from everything she's ever known. It's an isolating story, one that shows the power people have to shun anyone different and I really liked the start of the story where there's an overlayer of loneliness and desperation in Haelewise's plight. It's definitely a character driven story that builds on this idea of a woman branching out into the world and trying to find her place in it while finding like minded people along the way.

However, I do think that the story takes a really long time to get going and a lot of the book is spent developing Haelewise's character at the expense of everyone else. I couldn't tell you anything about Matthaus for example, and at times I found the writing a bit 'young' compared to the content. As a result, it was a bit jarring.

Not a bad retelling, but I wanted more from it to really stand out.

I’ve read a lot of retellings by now, and I find that Rapunzel retellings in particular can be hit or miss – something about the way the story works doesn’t always lend itself to a more modern interpretation of the characters, unlike, say, Beauty and the Beast. I was a little bit apprehensive going into The Book of Gothel, partly for this reason and partly because it was compared to The Bear and the Nightingale, a book I really didn’t enjoy – but I needn’t have worried on either account. This is a very solid and enjoyable historical fantasy that offers easter eggs for those on the lookout for Rapunzel-ish elements, but otherwise it’s a pretty original story. Think Juliet Marillier or Kate Forsyth, rather than a straightforward retelling. It’s dark in realistic ways, and feels very much rooted in the historical context, so if you’re looking for shiny fae fantasy, this isn’t going to fill that need for you, but if you’re after a quieter tale of women’s resilience and innate magic, you’ll be very happy with this.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say I don’t really think this needed the Rapunzel side of things at all! Haelewise (later to become Rapunzel’s witch, though not in the circumstances you might expect) is a really engaging character and I loved the world she moved in, with its shadowy forests and moments of peace. Her coming of age is very readable and while it would have been easy to feel like this was a depressing book, there’s something that kept it interesting to me, something in the way that Haelewise is written to be a believably strong, flawed woman. The plot explores patriarchy, religion, feminism, and sisterhood, but it’s all juggled very deftly, and I was impressed by how hopeful it left me feeling.

If you’re in the mood for a grounded historical fantasy centred firmly on women, The Book of Gothel is a great bet even if you don’t normally like retellings. I mentioned it above, but if you loved Kate Forsyth’s Bitter Greens, I think you need to read this too! Four out of five cats.

I had to put this book down at around 40%. It was very slow going and I didn't feel engaged enough with the story or the characters to continue. I did like the heroine's romantic relationship and was curious to see more of that but I was bored by all the rest. There is a bit of magic, a lot of Middle Ages atmosphere and superstition but I struggled with the writing and instead of hate reading I chose to stop.
This book might work better for other readers but was not the right kind of book for me.

Full of big promises, I'm afraid the The Book of Gothel severely under-delivered. It had an amazing premise that went largely forgotten as the novel progressed, and ultimately brought nothing new or original to an already saturated genre.

On a positive note The Book of Gothel was very well researched and included some beautiful setting descriptions. It blended fantasy, history, and faith in a nuanced blend. Where it fell short for me, however, was in its overall plotting. Ultimately, this being a Rapunzel "retelling" was nothing but a MacGuffin. You could have removed that entire concept, and the book would have remained virtually indistinguishable. Apart from its title, the narrative had no connection to its core concept, which definitely changed the way I read the story.

For me, The Book of Gothel's biggest downfall was in its character and worldbuilding, however. Apart from Haelewise herself, all the characters were incredibly underdeveloped. The side characters and villains were entirely forgettable (indeed, I forgot who half of them were multiple times and had to flick back to give myself a quick primer whenever they reappeared in the story). This was especially stark with the book's odd framing - a framing that was in and of itself both completely unnecessary and a huge missed opportunity.

The Book of Gothel certainly wasn't a bad book, but it was definitely something different to how it was both framed, and marketed. If you want a general book about the history of female spirituality and the advent of Christian primacy that is well researched, then this is definitely a book worth reading. But if you're looking for a fairytale retelling with a dark academia feel, then this book will leave you sorely disappointed.

As soon as I heard of this book I knew I had to read it. Rapunzel is one of my favourite stories, with Tangled being one of my favourite disney films, and I have always been intrigued by Mother Gothel! So, for me, getting to read a story about how it all started was just so appealing to me! ⁣
⁣
This book did not disappoint and it still blows my mind that this is a debut novel! So much thought went into this book and it was spell-binding! ⁣
⁣
I loved the range of characters you get to meet along the way and I loved watching Haelewise discover who she was. ⁣
⁣
I definitely recommend picking this one up if you're a fan of fairytale retellings! ⁣
⁣
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I've always loved the tale of Rapunzel and have thoroughly enjoyed other stories based on the dark Mother Gothel. This book was no exception, 5 stars.

I was interested by the idea of a retelling from Mother Gothel's perspective, but this doesn't really focus on the Rapunzel myth itself. It's more about the titular character and her life and power.

Overall I found it enjoyable. I didn't really understand the need for the book-end parts (the modern bits) as it didn't really add a great deal to the story. I enjoyed the Germanic cultural and magical exploration, and found the writing really evocative. I do think the writing style is interesting and compelling, as it did keep me reading, but I think I found issues with a few of the plot points. The ending, for example, felt very rushed - all of a sudden things were at a climax and wrapped up, summarising years in only a few lines. It just felt at odds with the rest of the story.

It was an interesting retelling though, and even though the cover doesn't make sense with the content (as there's no actual Rapunzel in it to the very end and there's no mention of long magical hair) it does at least spark that recognition for people so they know what the story is based on. All in all an enjoyable 3 to 3.5 star read.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book. I love retellings so I was excited to dive into this Rapunzel villain story, exploring the backstory of the famous story.

The descriptions were wonderful, dragging you into the story and creating a magical atmosphere you felt a part of. The characters were well thought out, developed and were the main reason I enjoyed this book so much.

I’m excited to see what the author writes in the future. I’ll certainly be checking out more! Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author, for a chance to read and review this book.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ rounded down

Thank you so much to Little Brown Book Group/Orbit and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

This was an easy, enjoyable read with a different take on Mother Gothel.

The book has no focus on the Rapunze fairytale and instead focussed on the early life of the eponymous Mother Gothel.

I did find some of the characters not to be entirely fully realised in this, I felt some of the plot points really didn’t end up being of any import, I feel like more time should have been spent on fleshing these out more or omitting them.

For me the ending felt very rushed and suddenly everything was done, I don’t feel any sense of completion as I personally found it hurriedly done.

However, the MC was overall likeable and I enjoyed when the story focussed more on the alternative religion, that plot point whilst not fully explored was definitely interesting.

Would recommend for people who enjoyed Heartless/Malice or other similar retellings.

The Book of Gothel is the tale Rapunzel from Mother Gothel’s perspective. Sadly, as far as fairytale retellings go, it is decent at best and formulaic at worst. Overall, the book was enjoyable, if not outstanding.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

The Book of Gothel is absolutely amazing. The writing is superb while the concept is brilliant. The story is Rapunzel from the perspective of Mother Gothel. The tale is set in the 12th century in Germany. The characters are engaging and well-developed. The story is very imaginative and fun to read. It is filled with magic and romance. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Book of Gothel today.