Review: Towering by Alex Flinn

Towering by Alex Flinn

Release Date: May 14th 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: Hardcover/egalley
Pages: 293
Source: Library/Edelweiss
Author: Website | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
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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!

It took me forever to get through the first half of this book. By forever I mean I started reading this at the end of May and didn’t finish it until midway through August. I think it was partially because it was on my Kindle and I just haven’t been in a Kindle mood lately but I also think it was sort of slow and it just wasn’t holding my interest. Once I sat it down I had no real interest to pick it back up. That is one of the main reasons that it got the rating that it did. The last half of the book, which I also happen to be reading a copy from the library, I flew through. I’m sure it was also a combo of having a physical book and it got much more interesting towards the end but by then I didn’t really care anymore.

This was the first Alex Flynn novel I have read, although I also own three of her other books. I was super excited that I was granted the opportunity to read this book before it was released, although I didn’t get to it. Unfortunately as I said, it just didn’t catch my interest at first. I was expecting a lot more. This was the first Rapunzel retelling I have read though so I don’t have anything to compare it to.

I expected the hair growth of course because that’s what happens in the story. However, the magic tears and super strength threw me off. There was also insta-love. Like extreme insta-love. I understand the girl has been trapped in a tower for years but I still can’t stand insta-love.

Anyway, on to the storyline. The book switches between two points of view. The being Rachel, who is our Rapunzel. She is trapped in a tower in the middle of a dense forest in the middle of nowhere. The only thing she knows is that her mother was killed and she is in danger too. A lady she calls Mama brings her meals every day. I figured out very quickly who Mama was. Which is another reason why I ended up not caring at the end.

Wyatt is our male interest and our other point of view. He comes to stay for the summer at a completely random house. He is staying at his mother’s childhood friend’s mother’s house. Yea… They haven’t see each other in years and she didn’t even like the lady when they were younger so that was just not believable. They explain it more at the end but I mean really… Wyatt is a depressed kid whose friend is killed and he takes it very hard. He comes to stay at the house to get away from everything.

There were drugs, teenage pregnancies, curses (I don’t know what the curse is still), telepathic powers, and a key hidden in a magical hairbrush. There were some very strange things in this book. A lot of things that I didn’t understand. Lots of Star Trek too. I’m not sure why this was a focus point so often but that was a little strange.

In the end I was disappointed by this story and was definitely underwhelmed. This won’t keep me from reading more of Alex Flinn’s stories.

My Rating:

(Actual rating 2.5 stars)

*This book was provided by Edelweiss and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.