Hello all! 

​​​2022 was a great year for Rapunzel Reads! Some quick highlights: 

• We interviewed nine more of our favorite authors: Lisa Fipps, Scott Reintgen, Barbara Dee,  Robert Beatty, Harry Harvey, Laura Brooke Robson, Claribel A Ortega, Diana Farid, and Janae Marks! Check out all our interviews to hear about their inspiration, favorite books as a kid, and more. 
• We reviewed 43 books (and had an awesome guest review on Those Kids from Fawn Creak)! 
• We kept reviewing favorite sequels, and this year, we highlighted four which were just as good as their predecessors: Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality, Breaking Badlands, The Last Fallen Moon, and Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris. 
• We posted two awesome booklists: one highlighting favorite books in verse, and another focusing on books we love with particularly amazing covers. 
• We reviewed a number of spectacular YA books, both on our For Older Readers page and under the Young Adult category on our main page. 

Plus, if you haven't seen it already, we joined Instagram, ​and we'd be thrilled if you followed us there! We post whenever we have a new review, and highlight some bonus recommendations too. Check it out, and follow us @rapunzelreadsbooks! 

And now...on to our fourth annual Books of the Year! 


This year, we chose ten books that were our particular favorites, in six different categories: graphic novel, novel in verse, series, realistic fiction, YA fantasy, and MG fantasy. It was so hard to narrow down these ten from all the phenomenal books we read this year, but these are, indisputably, standouts: whether from their stunning characters, beautiful prose, unexpected depth, or exciting twists, they stuck out to us while reading, and stayed with us all these months later. We're so glad to get to share them with you--we hope you love them as much as we do! 

Starting next Monday, we'll highlight two of our favorite books every day. Stay tuned here and on Instagram to see our favorites, and thank you for supporting our blog this year! 

Here's to another year of fabulous books, 
​Ella and Lina

By Ella

​Becoming assistant to mapmaker Paiyoon has been Sai's first and only chance to escape the life she was born into. But in a birth-based society where your ancestry determines your future, Sai has to keep her con father and home in the marshes outside the city of Mangkon a secret--or risk Paiyoon's employment and the only chance she's ever had to earn enough to escape her father and the low status afforded to her by her birth. 

When she and Paiyoon are given a place on an expedition intended to map the southernmost reaches of the world, Sai is thrilled. Here, at last, is her chance to escape her life and Mangkon and use her wages to start over somewhere where no one knows her. 

But Sai isn't the only member of the ship not telling the whole truth, and when she discovers the expedition may be headed for the mythical Sunderlands, land of dragons, riches, and the impossible, Sai must decide what she's willing to give up to reach the future she's worked so hard for. 

The Last Mapmaker is an expertly paced, imaginative fantasy novel which I couldn't stop reading until the final page. Sai is the rare protagonist who doesn't always do the right thing, but always does it in a way so understandable and relatable that a reader can't help but sympathize with her decisions; I love how her choices and feelings drive the course of the story. Without using excessive description, Soontornvat's writing makes this world bloom in my mind, and I had a very strong sense of place throughout this book. I loved the details of the setting, particularly Mangkon and the legends about the mysterious Sunderlands. I highly recommend The Last Mapmaker to readers ages nine and up, particularly those who enjoy fantasy novels with strong heroines and complex characters. 

By Lina 

The princess with flaming hair, signifying war; the coveted bride with blushing cheeks, representing bloodshed; the girl who, despite the battles fought over her hand in marriage, never speaks a single line---who really is Lavinia of Virgil's epic The Aeneid? In Le Guin's imagination, she is thoughtful, caring, quiet, fiercely intelligent: a leader in her own right, who loves her people and her freedom, and refuses to be bound to the future others choose for her.

In Lavinia, the titular character traces the story of her life, one ignored or overlooked for centuries. She tells of a happy childhood, the only daughter of King Latinus, wandering the forests and fields of Latium with her best friend; of the sudden arrival of suitors vying for her hand in marriage, and thus the end of her freedom; of the Trojan stranger, foretold of in omens, who arrives on their shore; of the fated war fought with her own future as its prize. And she tells the story that comes after, of her happiness and heartbreak, victories and betrayals, and of her fierce, unyielding determination to protect her people and those she loves. 

Lavinia can certainly be enjoyed by those who haven't read The Aeneid---it's a great story, beautifully told, either way---but for those who have, it's simply stunning, a retelling of a classic tale that faithfully follows the threads and characters of the original while deftly smoothing out its inconsistencies, frustrations, and occasional illogicality. I felt as though I was not so much reading a new version of an ancient epic as experiencing Virgil's story through different, perhaps more thoughtful eyes, making it equal parts fascinating and delightful to follow Lavinia's classic tale: or, perhaps more accurately, to discover it. Given the casual misogyny of the original, it's immensely satisfying to read feminist Le Guin's take on The Aeneid, which, while faithful to the original, often approaches its content in a markedly different way. Lavinia is a compelling, independent character who never falls into the trap of some modern historical fiction which grafts modern opinions onto historical characters; even her cruel mother Amata, it is gently suggested, has suffered at the hands of patriarchy perhaps more than Virgil was willing to admit---or able to notice. 

Le Guin's mastery of building fantasy worlds is well-suited to evoking the still-rustic land of Latium before it was Rome, a place steeped in ancient tradition and folklore, guided by fate and strange omens as much as political strategy; she leaves the lines between history, ancient invention, and modern interpretation delightfully opaque. The final touch is the introduction of Virgil himself as a character, which, rather than detracting from the main story, enhances it with quiet questions of fate and perspective and who tells enduring tales, and gently reminds readers---and Lavinia herself---of the many layers of existence and opinion needed to tell a tale. Riveting and evocative, I would highly recommend Lavinia to readers ages fourteen and up. 

​By Ella

Everyone in the village is sure that Luka Lupu--clever, kind, and full of wisdom--will be a sorcerer one day, and help protect Illyria against the ferisome Dread. Even his sister, Marya, believes that, although no one would listen to her if she didn't. Stubborn, opinionated, and, worst of all, a girl, the Lupus have no expectations for Marya. Her parents only hope that when the sorcerers who test promising boys for magical potential find it in their Luka, Marya will not be too great of an embarrassment. 

But even these low expectations are dashed when the sorcerer's test goes horribly wrong, and Marya is sent off to Dragomir Academy--a place intended to instill good manners into troubled girls. 

At first, Marya finds herself at Dragomir as she always has been: incompetent and full of mistakes, somehow unable to heed the rules. Troubled. But as time passes and Marya learns more about Dragomir and her fellow students, she begins to wonder whether facts she's been taught all her life are true after all--and what Dragomir Academy is really intended for. 

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy is simultaneously an engrossing, nuanced story full of magic and mystery and a deep, thoughtful exploration of the stories our society tells us--and who, ultimately, they truly serve. Anne Ursu weaves a tale led by a strong, flawed protagonist who finds herself coming to terms with a world that would rather she stay silent, and a society designed to keep her that way. This reflective, almost philosophical undertone--perhaps best epitomized by the lingering question, 'who does the story serve?'--creates an undercurrent of questioning and cross-examining patriarchy and predominant narratives that both inspires and empowers, and never even considers veering into a preachy, overt, or otherwise contrived vein. Much like the slightly older Girls at the Edge of the World, it evolves and intertwines with the narrative, giving the story new resonance without ever stealing away its strong and resounding voice and plot. I also love the story and plot itself; its unexpected twists, straightforward yet evocative language, distinctive characters, and beautifully paced unfolding mystery kept me swept up in the story until long after the final page. I highly recommend The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy to readers ages ten and up.