Today’s review is about GOTHEL AND THE MAIDEN PRINCE by W.R. Gingell. It’s part of A Villain’s Never After series of standalones. So reading the other novellas is not a prerequisite. This novella is a slice-of-life retelling of Rapunzel from the villainous witch’s point of view.

This review is brought to you by my participation in the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS). SFINCS, pronounced “sphinx”, is a yearly competition to recognize, honor, and celebrate the talent and creativity present in the indie community. It’s a sister competition to both SPFBO and SPSFC, and it highlights greatness in the novella format in all areas of speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc.). I am part of Team Behind the Musings. You can find out more about us here.

Author: W.R. Gingell
Series: A Villain’s Never After, #8
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Self-Published
Publish Date: October 1, 2021
Print Length: 134
Purchase: Amazon

Gothel and the Maiden Prince Synopsis

Deep in the forest, far from the light, a sorceress with magic of the blackest kind keeps prisoner the princess she stole away years ago. From time to time, a prince will come to challenge her, but by and large, life is peaceful for Gothel. And that’s just the way she likes it.

She’s not prepared for the earnest young prince who seems more determined to talk her to death than challenge her to a duel of magic; nor, having tricked him into a battle of questions, is she expecting him to show more interest in her than the tower-bound princess.

And Gothel is certainly not prepared to give up any of her power to keep him around, though she might be prepared to answer just a few more questions…

Gothel and the Maiden Prince is one of twelve short novels in A Villain’s Ever After, a collection of standalone stories featuring villainous twists on some of your favourite classic fairytales. Read the series in any order for magical adventures…and fall in love with villains as you’ve never seen them before. Who said villains can’t have happily-ever-afters?

Gothel and the Maiden Prince Review

GOTHEL AND THE MAIDEN PRINCE is a retelling of Rapunzel, but from the witch’s point of view. It’s part of a series of standalones, so it’s not necessary to read the other novellas to jump right into this one. Gothel is tired of dealing with the princes that make their way to her tower under the auspice of rescuing the alleged locked up princedss. So Gothel makes her way to the nearby village to give them a scare such that they never again give any princes directions to her tower. Along the way she inadvertently catches the attention of the Maiden Prince, who, despite his abysmal sense of direction, finds his way to her tower. After some deliberation, he enters into a magical agreement with her, mainly to learn more about Gothel herself rather than the princess.

GOTHEL AND THE MAIDEN PRINCE seemingly has everything I love: a retelling, a POV from the villain, and a hint of romance. However, I found the writing style very distracting. It’s not uncommon for one sentence to comprise an entire paragraph, which results in an overuse of commas and difficulty following along. I think this is partly because most of the story is in the heads of Gothel and the Maiden Prince. So the reader reads what feels like a stream of consciousness and reasonings. As a result it felt somewhat bloated.

The dialogue, however, is a complete 180 in comparison. It’s easy to follow along and the magical agreement serves as a device to allow the two main characters to learn more about each other. It also gives the Maiden Prince an excuse to visit every day and, subsequently, learn more about why the princess is in the tower. There are some heavy trigger warnings with the princess’s history, but know they are historical and don’t go into detail.

There is some very light romance in this novella, so anyone who prefers little to no romance can appreciate that aspect. The most exciting part of the story happens at the end with an unexpected battle. I was glad for it if only to mix up the pace a little bit.

Rating: withheld
Content warnings: childhood sexual abuse (historical), incest (historical)
Reading format: Kindle e-book

For additional thoughts about GOTHEL AND THE MAIDEN PRINCE, check out a review by Sue’s Musings. If you liked this book, you may also enjoy THE BOOK OF GOTHEL by Mary McMyne.