Rapunzel Untamed by Erin Bedford

Dystopian Fairy-Tale-Inspired Urban Fantasy

I absolutely love reworkings of the classic fairy tales. I’ve read several different ones by various authors in the last couple of years. But I haven’t read any revamps of Rapunzel or any other books by this author. So I was looking forward to a new fairy tale twist and a new-to-me author. Neither disappointed I am happy to say. This version of Rapunzel is a dark dystopian urban fantasy. Now, don’t let all that heaviness make you think that it is all dark; I have read some retellings that I like that. This one had a surprising amount of humor, especially when Rapunzel/Eva is rescued. There are other parts that are quite funny as well, like the discussion about Eva wearing a bra.

The author did a very good job describing the world from Eva’s perspective, even though Eva is confused about her circumstances. This isn’t easy to do, to get information across while the perspective character is in a confused state. But the author seems to do so with absolute ease. I found Eva’s head an interesting one to be in, and I really enjoyed the various personalities of her rescuing mages. The descriptions throughout the book are well done, not too much yet just enough to get across the character’s state of mind as well as what is happening. The writing at times feels immersive. The end has a surprising twist; the book ends on a cliffhanger. So if you aren’t a fan of books that end on cliffhangers, you might want to skip this one. But it is a very well done inspired-by-fairy-tale story, so you might want to consider it anyway.