Fairy tales are classic! They’ve become timeless, and timeless stories are retold and evolve in the retelling. So gather your wits, wish on a lucky star, and stay away from that ominous gingerbread house in the woods, because we’ve compiled a list of titles inspired by fairy tales. Actually, we put this list together last year, but we’re bringing it back now because In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune is available in paperback now!
Check it out!
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by T. Kingfisher
Kingfisher flips the fairy tale script in Nettle & Bone, where our main character Marra is the shy, convent-raised, third daughter of a royal family that has married off her older princess sister. After so much silence, Marra will no longer allow her sister to suffer abuse at the hands of a cruel and powerful prince. And what fairy tale would be complete without a band of bandy characters with which to share the journey? Marra’s group includes a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar. Time to topple a throne.
Now available in paperback!
In the Lives of Puppets opens in a new window
by TJ Klune
Is The Adventures of Pinocchio technically a fairy tale? The writer of this list honestly isn’t sure, but Pinocchio IS in Shrek, so by that metric: Yes.
In the Lives of Puppets is TJ Klune’s Pinocchio-inspired tale about sentient automata exploring what it means to live, love, and reckon with the past. It’s pretty cool.
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by Alix E. Harrow
Zinnia Gray finds herself falling through worlds. Wait, let’s backtrack. Zinnia Gray pricks her finger on a spinning wheel. No, no, a little more. Zinnia Gray has a rare condition that will see her dead before her twenty-second birthday, so her best friend Charm throws her an extra special Sleeping Beauty experience final twenty-first birthday party, where she pricks her finger and commences falling through worlds where she meets another sleeping beauty, also on the run from fate.
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Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden
This lyrical space opera takes the classic tale of The Little Mermaid, and asks the question: What if this story happened in far future space where humans have used gene-adaption to acclimate themselves to harsh desert and sea climes? It’s a really good question. Daughter of the Sea-Clan, Atuale sparked a war by choosing her land-dwelling love over her home. Now, with a virulent plague sweeping her adopted clan, Atuale can only turn to the infamous mercenary known as the World Witch who also happens to be her ex-lover.
You Let Me In opens in a new window
by Camilla Bruce
“I have always been interested in folklore, and fascinated by previous generations’ vague distinction between the faeries and the dead,” says Camilla Bruce. “One of my favourite things about faeries is their elusiveness; it is hard to get a firm grip on just what – or where– they are.”
She’s talking about her inspiration for You Let Me In, a mystery of otherworldly thrills situated within a sinister domestic atmosphere.
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