From the Stacks: The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon

Aside from the books and authors on my auto-buy list, I am going to attempt to spend 2014 reading the books I have but have not finished before buying all the new shiny and awesome sounding books. I don't know how successful I'll be, but I will at least make an effort. Because of that, a number of my From the Stacks reviews may or may not be "older" books. 

Also, because of needing to spend more time on my creative writing and not all of my reviews here, I am halting the two-reviews-a-week for the foreseeable future. So, my blogging schedule right now is that there will be a writing update post on Tuesdays and a From the Stacks review on Fridays (though the occasional bonus review may still crop up).

So, for my first review of the year, I have The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon, an author I discovered a couple years ago and who is on my auto-buy list. She does retellings, mostly of the fairy tale variety. The Fairest of Them All is a hybrid retelling that brilliantly combines the stories of both Rapunzel and Snow White.

What if Rapunzel was Snow White’s evil stepmother? From the author of Godmother and Mermaid, The Fairest of Them All explores what happens when fairy tale heroines grow up and don’t live happily ever after. 

Living in an enchanted forest, Rapunzel spends her days tending a mystical garden with her adoptive mother, Mathena. A witch, Mathena was banished from court because of her magic powers, though the women from the kingdom still seek her advice and herbal remedies. She waits, biding her time to exact revenge against those who betrayed her. 

One day Rapunzel’s beautiful voice and long golden locks captivate a young prince hunting in the forest nearby. Overcome, he climbs her hair up to her chamber and they fall into each other’s arms. But their afternoon of passion is fleeting, and the prince must return to his kingdom, as he is betrothed to another. 

Now king, he marries his intended to bring peace to his kingdom. They have a stunning daughter named Snow White. Yet the king is haunted by his memories of Rapunzel, and after the mysterious death of his wife, realizes he is free to marry the woman he never stopped longing for. In hopes of also replacing the mother of his beloved daughter, the king makes Rapunzel his queen. 

But when Mathena’s wedding gift of an ancient mirror begins speaking to her, Rapunzel falls under its evil spell, and the king begins to realize that Rapunzel is not the beautiful, kind woman he dreamed of.

Overall Rating: 5/5

Plot: Finding a way to put a unique twist on Rapunzel and Snow White is interesting enough but to combine the two tales together and make Rapunzel into Snow White's step-mother...that is genius, and it works so well. This novel is told from Rapunzel's POV and you really feel for her in her loneliness and her struggles, particularly after she meets Prince Josef. There are so many little connections in this story, not just with the classic fairy tales but also with Greek mythology. The first part of the story takes place in the forest and in Rapunzel's tower, and after the Prince (now King) comes for Rapunzel the story moves to the castle, and that is where all the various plot threads weave together, and we discover what set Rapunzel on this path as well as what outcome is in store for the kingdom. It is a well put together story that is quick and easy to read.

Characters: Rapunzel is definitely an anti-heroine and after becoming the Queen she does teeter on the brink of turning into a villain, but I'd like to think that her overall goodness keeps her on the right track. She does not have the easiest of lives, with the secrets kept from her, the lies told to her, the struggle of using magic and the ethical issues inherent in that struggle, and dealing with the consequences of her actions. Plus, I have to say that I really enjoyed the relationship between Rapunzel and Snow White; it was adorable and I kinda liked that for once it seemed that Snow White had a decent stepmother who cared for her. Mathena Gothel, the woman who raised Rapunzel is who I would call the villain in the story, but she wasn't exactly evil. She had just been treated badly and was in a way seeking justice for what happened to her. Prince/King Josef was more a secondary character and he spent most of the time entranced by Rapunzel's voice and hair in a way that made his love and passion fueled by that magic rather than anything honestly true. I did believe in his love for his daughter though. The male character I did enjoy was Gilles, who plays the role of the Huntsman in the classic Snow White tale, though in this rendition he is not a classic hunter but a falconer/hawker, which is pretty cool. I actually wish a little more time had been spent with him because much like with Josef, this was more of a secondary role. Then again, it was nice that the main focus of the story was on the leading ladies.

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