Rating: WORTHY!
This one appealed to me from the title, to a glance through the pages in the bookstore, to reading the entire thing cover to cover in one sitting. It was awesome. The art work was understated, but still colorful, lively, and playful. The writing was humorous, adventurous, easy to read, and thoughtful. The title character is an original, strong female character of the kind I really like to find in my fiction even more than I do in real life - because I know they exist in real life, but I have a really hard time finding them in fiction!
Rapunzel is kick ass, but not in a mean-spirited, or overly brawl-y way. She's smart, inventive, brave, and dedicated. The relationship she develops with the male she eventually hooks up with is realistic, and contrary to the way far too many YA novels would have it, Rapunzel doesn't wilt and fade away upon the arrival of a male. She takes charge and assumes a leadership role, and he goes along with it supportively as the cover makes crystal clear. I recommend this couple!
The setting of this German fairy tale in the wild west struck a sour note with me, but it worked out in the end, so I was willing to give that a bye. Rapunzel frees herself and starts determinedly to free her mother from the mines. She's derailed several times on this quest, but with her beau's help, and after some spectacular challenges along the way, she eventually gets there.
Note that this story preceded the Disney movie Tangled - which curiously appears to share a lot of traits with it (Rapunzel's facility with her hair, her hooking up with a thief rather than a prince, her being withheld from and in ignorance of her true mother, and so on). Disney's movie was fun, but this original is more fun.
