Book Review: Towering by Alex Flinn

Towering
Author: Alex Flinn
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling
Released: May 14th 2013
Review Source: HarperTeen
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) 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!

Beginnings....with new people, new friends and new surroundings, can be very challenging. Wyatt finds himself beginning a new life, with new people, new relationships and new surroundings. This new life even forces Wyatt to go on the search for an answer to a mystery that no one seems to have an answer to. Forced to live with a old woman that he knows little about and isolated from the rest of the world, Wyatt occupies his time with exploring the unknown.

This is the third book that I've read, written by Alex Flinn. By far my most favorite was Beastly, which later became a movie that followed the novel somewhat closely. Allowing the viewer to truly capture the twist and turns of a fairy tale made over, modern day style. Towering is another such tale. With the core being the familiar story of Rapunzel and the outer parts comprising of new relationships, new beginnings, death and mysteries. With so much going on, I found it slightly hard to follow in the beginning. Background knowledge and back story is important, but I felt it lacked those significant details that truly keeps a reader reading for more.

By the middle of the story, I lost my interest in Wyatt, Rachael and Danielle, hoping disparately that a bright light of realization, excitement, and interesting moments would shine over the last pages of the novel giving me the sense that this was what I was hoping for in a novel. Unfortunately, this did not happen, still I pushed on to the end. Finally, it takes tremendous writing skills to transform a story that the world has learned to love and make it your own and that I recognize. I was grateful that the end of the novel gave me closure for the characters and the storyline. I'll pass this book along to my budding middle school reader, as I'm sure she will have another perspective, as I am just one voice of many.