I've already written a post about some of my favourite retellings, as well as some of my favourite fairytales. I think I could spend hours and hours talking about my favourites, so what I'm going to do is talk about five of my favourite fairytales, and then five of my favourite retellings.
It's no secret that I'm Sarah J Maas' biggest fangirl, and ACOTAR is exactly why. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Tam Lin and East o the Sun, West o' the Moon all tied up with a fantasy ribbon. Even better, the sequel is a nod to the Hades and Persephone legend (which I love so, so much). ACOTAR is more of an original fantasy than a direct retelling, but the whole book feels like an epic fairytale. It's also the most swoon worthy book I've read in a long while *fans self*.
Cinder is a YA retelling of, you guessed it, Cinderella. It's the first book in a sci-fi series of fairytale retellings and I absolutely love it. This series is just so fun and although the retellings are loose, it's so wonderful to see the nods to the original fairytales here and there. It seems like everyone has either read this or at least heard of it, and all for a good reason. I saw this on tumblr and it summarises the series perfectly:
This book isn't a retelling per se, but it has elements of Scheherazade and Beauty and the Beast. More importantly, the book itself is essentially a two hundred page long fairytale and I found it absolutely lovely. The writing itself was absolutely gorgeous, and I'd definitely recommend it. I don't know many people who have read this, but that needs to change!
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East o' the Sun, West o' the Moon is a Norwegian fairytale that is basically a more badass version of Beauty and the Beast (they're too similar to put both on my list). It also bears a lot of similarities to the Psyche and Eros story in Greek mythology (my second favourite legend in Greek mythology after Hades and Persephone). I love this fairytale because it involves the girl saving the prince, not the other way around. Not enough people know about this one (opposed to Beauty and the Beast) and I think that's such a shame, considering how awesome it is.
The reason that I love The Valiant Little Tailor is that it's essentially about an everyman becoming a hero, starting with one small victory and using his intelligence to work his way up. It's definitely one of the most under appreciated Grimm fairytales.
This is my favourite Hans Christian Andersen tale. It's nothing like Frozen (which is very loosely based off of it) and is about Gerda saving her friend because of loyalty, courage and love. It's such a sweet story and yet again, it's so nice to read a fairytale which has a heroine taking charge.
I'm a huge believer of the power of stories and this tale is about exactly that. Scheherazade marries a king who kills his new bride every morning, yet she manages to stay alive by telling him tales (more specifically, the Arabian nights) and withholding the ending, promising to complete it the next day. Scheherazade is a girl that speaks to my heart--using her wit and imagination not just to save a life but to make a wretched king fall in love with her.
I know it's ridiculous, but I kind of have a soft spot for the antagonist of this story, the real Goose Girl. I know she's kind of a bitch, but villains always were my favourite. Still, I really like this fairytale. I haven't read the retelling of it--The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale--but it's in my TBR. I'll get round to it some day.
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