TTT: Fairy Tale Retellings

Fairy tale retellings! For me, these books never get old. I mean, obviously I’m not going to go out of my way and read every single fractured fairy tale novel out there, and I certainly don’t want to over-read a certain fairy tale to extinction (I mean, how many Cinderella retellings are out there these days?!). However, I’ve been reading this fantasy genre for years and it’s still one of my favorite subject of fantasy literature, period.

I did a version of this TTT months back, only that topic focused on fairy tale retellings I’ve already read. So this time, I’ll do books I’m interested in reading in the near future!

Ten Fairy Tale Retellings I Want To Read

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah Maas (“Beauty and the Beast”) – This was a hotly anticipated release, owing to the fact that Maas’ previous works, Throne of Glass, was also based loosely on another well-known fairy tale. I enjoyed the first book of Throne of Glass, and yes, yes, I’ve got the other books of this series stacked up in my room, to be hopefully read, um, soon.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George (“Twelve Dancing Princesses”) – I’ve actually only read one retelling of this story, Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing, and I loved it. I’m curious to see if all twelve princesses will make their appearances, or if George is going to lessen the amount of characters she’ll have to write up.

Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley (“Sleeping Beauty”) – Lord, I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to pick this book up. It’s on my TBR challenge lists for goodness’ sake! Another honorary “Sleeping Beauty” retelling that I might pick up and read this year is Gaiman’s “The Sleeper and the Spindle.”

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge (“Little Red Riding Hood”) – Admittedly, I put this on my list because that beautiful cover. I am intrigued by how authors depict the “Little Red Riding Hood” story, because there could be any number of twists made to make it interesting.

Bound by Donna Jo Napoli (“Cinderella”) – I was honestly not sure whether I want to read any more “Cinderella” retellings. I feel there’s an overglut of that everywhere, in every sense of the word. Still, most of the books I have picked up that are based on Cinderella were books I enjoyed, and Napoli seems to be retelling the tale using the more arcane, Chinese source material.

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce (“Hansel and Gretel”) – I could have also easily added Fathomless as well, which is Pearce’s retelling of “The Little Mermaid.” But I’m going with Sweetly for now because it was the second book in her series of fairy tale retellings (the first being Sisters Red). Also, a YA Hansel and Gretel story? Ooooh.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (“Maid Maleen”) – Hale’s The Goose Girl was a particular favorite retelling of mine, and I love that the author goes for more unknown fairy tales. “Maid Maleen” is one of the more obscure Grimm stories, so this may certainly be an interesting story.

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell (“Aladdin”) – So I have this e-ARC on my Kindle waiting to be read. It doesn’t follow the more traditional tale of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp, because this book is based on a darker version of Disney’s Aladdin (which isn’t surprising, considering the book is being published by Disney Press). I am both apprehensive and intrigued by this.

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente (“Koschei the Deathless”) – Russian-inspired tale! I need to delve into more of those. I’ve not heard of the tale of Koschei, but then again, my Slavic fairy tale knowledge is severely limited to Baba Yaga and the Slavic fae. So this book is definitely on my list to read on that note.

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce (“Rumpelstiltskin”) – I confess I’m not a big fan of Rumpelstiltskin retellings, as I’m not so big on the tale myself. I always found sympathy for Rumpelstiltskin and never enough for a woman who goes back on her promises when it suits her. But anyway, Bunce’s story does a different take on the story, and hopefully I’ll like the main character more than the villain. Or maybe the end will be different, who knows.

Honorary Mention

The rest of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. Yes. Scarlet and Cress and Winter are things on my list that need to be read soon before I get stampeded on by a horde of cyborgs.