Synopsis:
What if Rapunzel was trapped in a dangerous cult, and Flynn Ryder was trapped in the foster care system? How would they still find their way to each other and to the lives they dream of?
Zella has been faithful to the Program her entire life, never doubting Mother’s choice to keep her in isolation since birth. As the first “Child of the Lighthouse,” she’s always had a responsibility to be an example to the others—be grateful, be obedient. But after seventeen long years up in her lighthouse all alone, it’s getting a lot harder to push down her secret—and forbidden—dreams of living a normal life, no matter the risks she’s heard of. She secretly dreams of freedom.
Ryder can’t count the amount of “families” he’s had over the years. He’s been bounced around from home to home for as long as he can remember. That’s why he’s not exactly impressed by this new family’s fancy house, or the fancy new school they’ve enrolled him in. They’re putting on a friendly face, but they’ll show their true colours eventually. They always do. Luckily, he only has to make it a little while longer because soon he’ll be eighteen, and he’ll finally be free.
One whirlwind night changes everything for Zella and Ryder, as the two dreamers cross paths and open each other’s eyes to what true freedom could really look like.
Review:
I’m genuinely not sure what I thought of Lightkeepers. The concept sounded completely wild so I had to check it out and what a ride it was. If you want to check this out please read the content warnings first, there are a lot of heavy topics covered.
I love the story of Rapunzel, it’s been one of my favourites ever since I was a child, and Tangled made me love it even more. I’d say Lightkeepers is more of a Tangled retelling rather than the original story. It’s very dark like the original though.
The concept of the cult was wild. It was a clever way of incorporating the tower and ‘Rapunzel’ being held captive. There were a lot of similarities with Tangled such as Zella enjoys arts and crafts, the Mothers and Paxton the cat rather than Pascal the chameleon.
There are many rules ‘children of the Lighthouse’ must follow and this includes a list of authors they are allowed to read at certain ages. Calling JK Rowling an “approved author” in 2022 is gross. Any time a book from the last 6 or so years mentions her it gets at least half a star deducted from its rating. This book is about a cult so I suppose it makes sense.
The pacing was definitely a little off but I do feel like Lightkeepers was the perfect length. The conflict and scenes of action could have been a little more fleshed out though, I found the final conflict hard to follow as it was a ‘this happened, now this happened and oh this is now happening’ situation but I didn’t pick this up because I thought it would have great action. I wanted a Rapunzel retelling and that’s what I got.
The friendship between Zella and Ryder was very sweet and it mirrored the film’s characters very well. Zella was a little less sunshine personified but Ryder had the exact obnoxious yet charming vibe of Flynn Ryder that we all know and love. It was nice to see him finally get a happy ending (book Ryder).
I honestly don’t know if I would recommend Lightkeepers. It was an interesting read but it does have a lot of heavy topics. I think if you check out the warnings and they don’t put you off, and you want to read a unique Rapunzel retelling, check this out.
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