Towering Review

Towering 

By Alex Flinn

Published May 14th, 2013 by HarperTeen

293 pages

3.5 stars - Interesting Retelling!

At first, I merely saw his face, his hands on the window ledge. Then, his whole body as he swung himself through the window. Only I could not see what he swung on.

Until, one day, I told my dream self to look down. And it was then that I saw. He had climbed on a rope. I knew without asking that the rope had been one of my own tying.

Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snow fall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her. 

Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again.

Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now. 

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Alex Flinn knows her fairy tales, and Towering is her most mind-bending interpretation yet. Dark and mysterious, this reimagining of Rapunzel will have readers on the edge of their seats wondering where Alex will take them next!

Let me start off by saying that I have read quite a few of Alex Flinn's books and have really enjoyed them. I'm a fan of retellings and am always excited when I find ones that are different yet enjoyable. Well when I found Towering at the library I became excited. So far this is the first retelling of Rapunzel that I have read and in my opinion it wasn't that bad. Though I do feel like it wasn't one of Flinn's best. 

The "Rapunzel" of this book was Rachel and she was similar to the original yet different as well. Her hair grows and she lives in a tower but Rachel also becomes the heroin not once but twice. There is also Wyatt who isn't stuck in a tower but has problems of his own as well. His problems and "demons" cause him to leave his home for a place in the middle of nowhere with an older woman he barely knows. There aren't many characters in this book because the setting is kind of in the middle of nowhere. 

Well... I liked Rachel and Wyatt but at times I felt like we didn't really know them. The book is told in both of their perspectives but for some reason I feel like I didn't click too much with them. Wyatt had issues back home that he was getting away from and I think those gave him a little more depth once they were told but other than that I felt like I couldn't really connect with him. Rachel didn't have too much from her past to share since she had been stuck in a tower but it was interesting to see how little she knew of the current world. I really loved reading Dani's journal entries and wish that there would have been more of them because I think they really added to the suspense and mystery of the story. Overall Towering was interesting enough for me to want to keep reading but I don't think it's one of my favorites. I liked the fact that there were twists and surprises in the book because it definitely did make it different and interesting. So if your into retellings then I think you should try this one out and hopefully it'll speak to you more than it did to me! :)

Vanessa