Fairytale retellings I want to read!
Kiersten's Picks
The Shadow Queen has been on my radar since UtopYA when I heard C.J. Redwine talking about it on a panel about world building. This story sounds seriously AMAZING! The way C.J. Redwine built the world for this Snow White retelling sounds fascinating. Plus, I heard there are dragons.
Claire Legrand
Winterspell, #1
I'd heard of Winterspell a while back, but it came back on my radar when I saw Claire Legrand at a Geek Girl Brunch a few months ago. I've seen The Nutcracker before, but I'm not super familiar with the story in general. I've seen mixed reviews for this, but I'm willing to give it a shot!
I was trying to decide between Melt and Dorothy Must Die for this pick (I didn't want to include two Wizard of Oz retellings with just five picks), and I ultimately decided to chose this one because I think it's less well known. I got to meet Selene Castrovilla at BEA and again at UtopYA, and she's so sweet! I've heard really great things about this, and I can't wait to read it.
Tiffany Schmidt
Once Upon a Crime Family, #1
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
A Princess and the Pea retelling about competing crime families in the black market for organ transplants? Sounds great! Tiffany Schmidt is another one of the authors I met at the Geek Girl Brunch, and I'll be seeing her again at Bookitcon this weekend. This book sounds really gritty and intense, and I'm curious to see how the Princess and the Pea aspect ties in.
Sarah Ockler
The Summer of Chasing Mermaids came out recently and I've already heard a lot of great things about it! I have yet to read a contemporary fairy tale retelling or a Little Mermaid retelling, so this seems like it would be a good pick.
Noor's Picks
I just want to say that fairytale retellings are one of my absolutely favorite types of books and they make me very excited and choosing these was really difficult because I kept looking up more and more and then telling myself I didn't need to purchase them all online and I should wait until I had shelves and time.
I know Cinder is really popular now and everyone and their mothers has read it or heard of it but when I read it two years ago it didn't have quite as much traction so I really wanted to put it here because when I read it I immediately fell in love with how brilliant the story was and how well the Cinderella element fit in without being in your face. For more elaboration on my thoughts, check out my review!
I promise this is just a coincidence, but I ended up in the same situation as Kiersten when she picked Melt -- I was stuck between this and A Thousand Nights but I didn't want to include two 1001 Nights retellings on such a short list and ended up choosing this one because it seemed less popular and I think we've talked about A Thousand Nights on our blog before, too. Anyway, the book seems very interesting and the protagonist sounds strong-willed and amazing, and I'd really like to read it some time!
Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Another popular one, this one came out fairly recently so I'm not too late to the party for not having read it yet. Kiersten mentioned in her portion of our July Previously On WLABB post that she read it this past month so maybe if I catch up and read it soon I can double review it with her (or maybe I'll get caught up in all the other books I have and she'll review it without me it could go either way). I really love Beauty and the Beast and I'm really intrigued as to how those elements will come out in this book and how the original not-taken-from-fairytale plot will mix with that and it just looks like such a good book honestly.
This one was published a few years ago but the premise looks really interesting -- and I'm usually not the biggest fan of Sleeping Beauty -- so I wanted to include it. A girl in suspended animation sleep is woken up (by a kiss, of course) 62 years later. She finds herself an heir to an interplanetary empire -- although she's all alone because the "Dark Times," which she was asleep for, killed millions including her parents and her boyfriend and changed the world as she knew it. It sounds like a lot to take in, but it also sounds promising and like something I would like to read!
Neil Gaiman (author) and
Chris Riddell (illustrator)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Before you say anything judging by the title about how I have two Sleeping Beauty stories, this is "a sort-of Snow White and an almost Sleeping Beauty with a thread of dark magic" so Snow White is in there too and I haven't included her yet and if you read the blurb it seems to focus on her journey more anyway. I reaaaally wanted to include this book because it's written by Neil Gaiman (Chris Riddell did illustrations for it and apparently they're hauntingly brilliant and really bring the story to life). I say this a lot but if you're new or if you've missed it, Neil Gaiman is my favorite author -- I know I say "wow that's my favorite thing" a lot, but this is a constant claim of the #1 spot -- and of course I wanted to mention his book, but also as someone who has read a lot of his writing (unfortunately haven't had a chance to read this one yet), I know this type of story -- fairytale with a bit of creepy -- is exactly up his alley and something he would do really really well so I have no doubt in my mind that the story is wonderful and the illustrations are brilliant and adults and children alike will love it.
What fairytale retellings do you want to read?
Let us know in the comments!
Hold Me Like a Breath is a Princess and the Pea retelling?? I had no idea! I'm anxiously awaiting The Shadow Queen too!!
ReplyDeleteHold Me Like a Breath is a Princess and the Pea retelling?? I had no idea! I'm anxiously awaiting The Shadow Queen too!!
ReplyDelete