Red’s Tangled Tale (The Untold Stories) – Reviewed by Erin Clemence

Red’s Tangled Tale by Suzanna Lynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of retold and modern retellings of fairy tales, and I jumped at the chance to review Suzanna Lynn’s “Red’s Tangled Tale”. This is the second novel in “The Untold Stories” series, and it focuses on Red Riding Hood.

After the death of her father, Red is living in the cursed woods with her granny. When Captain Hook pays a visit to her town, Red agrees to help Hook and his band of pirates find magic ash that will help free Hook’s love, who has been captured by a cruel Sea Witch. Facing deadly and dangerous wolves is just the first challenge of her journey. On her return, Red meets a young woman trapped in a tower, and after befriending her, she agrees to help young Rapunzel retake her Crown and title- as Princess Ozma, Princess of Oz.

Lynn’s YA fairy tale retelling is really reminiscent of “Once Upon A Time”, the wonderful ABC television show from a few years back, where many fairy tale creatures come to life. I love knowing the back stories of beloved fairy tale creatures, and imagining what their lives would be like. Lynn helps me complete this task with her new series.

Although I did not read the first novel in the series, I was still able to follow along with the plot. As the characters are already acquainted with any of us who has read a Grimm’s fairy tale, or seen a Disney movie, there is not a lot of familiarization that needs to be done with any of the characters. In Lynn’s novel, Red is spunky, brave and confident and I rooted for her from page one. She is the ideal female heroine and protagonist.

As this is a series, obviously some pertinent plot points are left for future novels, but enough of the story was resolved that I felt satisfaction at the novel’s conclusion. I appreciate being given the oppourtunity to read this novel, and I look forward to reading more of Lynn’s past (and future) work.