15 Fairy Tale Retellings
Rina Fontes Malka
A writer with too many ideas and not enough time.
$ Fairy tale retellings$ have been around for a while, but the book world is currently booming with these reimaginings of classic stories. If you're looking for your next fairy tale retelling rec, keep reading!
What are fairy tale retellings?
Fairy tale retellings are a style of story that take a folk tale that has fallen into $ the public domain$ and rewrites it with reimagined concepts and themes. Typically they put a spin on the story that brings it into the modern day for a contemporary moral.
This spin comes in many shapes and forms: modern Beauty and the Beast, futuristic The Little Mermaid, spooky Sleeping Beauty. The most common retold fairy tale is Cinderella.
Ella Enchanted, A Cinderalla Story, Another Cinderalla Story, Happily N'Ever After, The Glass Gate, The Golden Slipper, Cinder, Bound, Throne of Glass... That's not even a complete list! And these are just retellings of Cinderella!
As you can see, fairy tale retellings are kind of a big deal in the writing world right now.
What is the purpose of retelling a fairy tale?
Fairy tale retellings give a sense of familiarity and comfort to a lot of readers, as well as offering something new in return, such as more diversity, character depth, and perhaps updated values.
Often, fairy tale retellings only keep the most simplified structure of a story. This opens up a path to flesh out the story and explore avenues that the originals didn't — maybe even rectify opportunities the stories didn’t take. Some fairy tale retellings study a single character rather than the overall plot (for example, antagonist retellings, where the villain gets an in-depth character analysis).
A fairy tale retelling combines comfortable familiarity with modern ideals and exciting concepts.
15 fairy tale retellings
Here are fifteen spectacular fairy tale retellings to get you started in the genre.
1. $ Ella Enchanted$ by Gail Carson Levine
This is a middle-grade Cinderella retelling that can be enjoyed by any age group. Ella is cursed by a fairy when she’s born and must obey every command she gets. Her neglectful father sends her to a boarding school, but she escapes and sets off on an adventure, where she encounters ogres, elves, and the kind Prince Char, to find that fairy and convince her to reverse the curse. This is a clever retelling of a classic fairy tale.
2. $ The Lunar Chronicles$ by Marissa Meyer
Another Cinderella retelling, surprise! This time, our Cinderella is a mechanic and a cyborg in the futuristic city of New Beijing, where people with mechanical prosthetic limbs are treated like second class citizens. Earth has created an alliance against the wealthy Lunar people, who watch over as a plague is running rampant on earth. One day, Prince Kai from the Lunar people walks into her mechanic shop.
3. $ A Court of Thorns and Roses $ by Sarah J. Mass
This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, where the territory is split between humans and faeries, and there’s a no-kill treaty between them. However, when Feyre (our Belle) kills a wolf whilst trying to hunt to provide for her starving family, it sets off an entire domino effect that changes the course of her life forever.
4. $ Sea Witch$ by Sarah Henning
Here’s where it gets interesting: a villain origin story. This time, it’s Ursula (known as Evie), from The Little Mermaid. Evie, a lowly witch, has always been friends with the royal princes. Yet, ever since the death of her best friend Anna, Evie has been an outcast in the kingdom. One day, Evie sees a girl who looks eerily like Anna, and Evie uses her magic and sets on a quest to save her friend.
5. $ How To Be Eaten$ by Maria Adelmann
This book answers the question we’ve all asked at the end of fairy tales: What happens after the happily ever after? It interweaves many fairy tales, like Bluebeard, Little Red Riding Hood, and Hansel and Gretel. The victims of the stories attend group therapy in present-day New York together to work through their PTSD. Very dark, and very funny.
6. $ The Gilded Duology$ by Marissa Meyer
Time for a new fairy tale to add to the mix! Serilda, a poor miller’s daughter, was cursed by the god of lies, causing her to fabricate elaborate stories against her will. After one unfortunate incident with the fae, Serilda claims she can spin straw into gold. Trapped in a dungeon, she can either magically turn straw into gold, or be executed. That’s when a boy (our Rumpelstiltskin) appears and offers her exactly what she needs. But with a hefty price.
7. $ The Charmed Wife$ by Olga Grushin
This book is another character study! Cinderella has been married for thirteen years to Prince Charming, except it's far from the happily ever after she expected. To deal with her unhappy marriage, she goes to the local witch for a love potion, but Cinderella decides there's only one thing that will solve her problems: Murder.
8. $ The Malice Duology$ by Heather Walter
In this retelling, Alyce is a Dark Grace. She is treated like an outcast until she meets Aurora, who treats her with kindness. The problem is, Aurora is part of a long line of princesses who have been cursed to die by 21 years old (by Alyce’s kind, no less), unless they have their true love’s kiss beforehand. Aurora has less than a year until her 21st birthday and Alyce tries to stop it, however she can. A clever, sapphic retelling of a classic fairy tale.
9. $ Geekerella$ by Ashley Poston
You guessed it! Another Cinderella retelling. A fangirl, Elle, enters a cosplay contest of her favorite show, Starfield. The prize is tickets to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, a meet-and-greet with the handsome actor of the Starfield movie reboot. Darien is struggling to be taken seriously, only known as a heartthrob and paraded around for his looks. When Darien and Elle meet, things get complicated.
10. $ Lost Boy$ by Christina Henry
A deep dive into Captain Hook and his feud with Peter Pan and their long, complicated history. In this retelling, Peter isn’t as sweet as he seems in the original. Hook knows the truth. Because he was once a Lost Boy too, the very first, and he stayed by Peter’s side for an immeasurable amount of time. Hook, then known as Jamie, and Peter go to the Other Place to stock up on boys to play with in Neverland, Slowly, but surely, Jamie uncovers sides to Peter he never saw before.
11. $ Reflection$ by Elizabeth Lim
The epic retelling of Mulan, disguised as the soldier, Ping, where she travels to the Underworld to save Captain Shang from a mortal wound. But things aren’t so easy when the ruler of the Underworld, King Yama, won’t hand over Shang. This turns into a quest through treacherous trials after Shang’s soul. If she doesn’t leave by sunrise, she will become Yama’s servant for eternity.
12.$ The Girl in Red$ by Christina Henry
A dark, twisted horror version of Little Red Riding Hood, where Red, stuck in a dystopian world where millions have been eradicated by an airborne virus, and the government calls for a quarantine (... huh…). However, Red’s family refuses, instead deciding to go into hiding to Red’s grandma’s house. But Red ends up traveling to Grandma's house...alone.
13. $ The Book of Gothel$ by Mary McMyne
Another antagonist retelling! The backdrop is 1156 Germany—Haelewise is a girl shunned for her black eyes and wicked fainting spells. Her mother attempts to heal her with magical remedies, but she dies, and Haelewise is exiled from her village. Alone, she ventures to the legendary Tower her mother told her of to connect with the power within her.
14. $ Wendy, Darling$ by A.C. Wise
Years after leaving Neverland, Wendy is a grown-up, married with a daughter, Jane. She has anormal life in London. But one night, Peter returns, looking for a new mother for his Lost Boys. However, this time, he takes Jane with him. Wendy sets off after them, returning to Neverland after so long to rescue her daughter. But things from all those years ago come biting back.
15. $ A Curse So Dark and Lonely$ by Brigid Kemmerer
Prince Rhen of Emberfall was cursed by a powerful enchantress to relive the season of fall to winter on a loop until someone falls for him, suffering transformations to different beasts. On a deadline, he seeks a girl from the real world. In Washington DC, Harper, a girl with cerebral palsy, is constantly underestimated by her family. When she tries to save a stranger on the street, she’s pulled into Emberfall, and nothing is the same.
More fairy tale retellings
If you're ready for more fairy tale reads, check out these $ 10 dark fairy tale retellings$ , or these $ spicy Disney retellings$ .