I am such a sucker for a good retelling. Whether its a fairy tale, fable or just based around folklore/mythology, some of my all time favourite reads have fallen into this category. From A Curse so Dark and Lonely to The Wrath and the Dawn i have loved delving into other cultures and having beloved fairy tales brought to life. I’ve decided to focus this weeks prompt on books that are on my TBR. These have been recommended to me by bloggers and they all sound so amazing! Hopefully I will be able to get to most, if not all of these this year.
Thanks to Mandy over at Devouring books for creating these amazing prompts! You should definitely go check her blog out because she posts some great content.
East
Rose has always been different.
Since the day she was born, it was clear she had a special fate. Her superstitious mother keeps the unusual circumstances of Rose’s birth a secret, hoping to prevent her adventurous daughter from leaving home… but she can’t suppress Rose’s true nature forever.
So when an enormous white bear shows up one cold autumn evening and asks teenage Rose to come away with it–in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family–she readily agrees.
Rose travels on the bear’s broad back to a distant and empty castle, where she is nightly joined by a mysterious stranger. In discovering his identity, she loses her heart– and finds her purpose–and realizes her journey has only just begun.
Circe
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.
To Kill a Kingdom
Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?
The Silence of the Girls
The ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade under siege of the powerful Greek army, which continues to wage bloody war over a stolen woman: Helen. In the Greek camp, another woman watches and waits for the war’s outcome: Briseis. She was queen of one of Troy’s neighboring kingdoms until Achilles, Greece’s greatest warrior, sacked her city and murdered her husband and brothers. Briseis becomes Achilles’s concubine, a prize of battle, and must adjust quickly in order to survive a radically different life, as one of the many conquered women who serve the Greek army.
When Agamemnon, the brutal political leader of the Greek forces, demands Briseis for himself, she finds herself caught between the two most powerful of the Greeks. Achilles refuses to fight in protest, and the Greeks begin to lose ground to their Trojan opponents. Keenly observant and coolly unflinching about the daily horrors of war, Briseis finds herself in an unprecedented position to observe the two men driving the Greek forces in what will become their final confrontation, deciding the fate, not only of Briseis’s people, but also of the ancient world at large.
Briseis is just one among thousands of women living behind the scenes in this war–the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead–all of them erased by history. With breathtaking historical detail and luminous prose, Pat Barker brings the teeming world of the Greek camp to vivid life. She offers nuanced, complex portraits of characters and stories familiar from mythology, which, seen from Briseis’s perspective, are rife with newfound revelations. Barker’s latest builds on her decades-long study of war and its impact on individual lives–and it is nothing short of magnificent.
Once and Future
I’ve been chased my whole life. As a fugitive refugee in the territory controlled by the tyrannical Mercer corporation, I’ve always had to hide who I am. Until I found Excalibur.
Now I’m done hiding.
My name is Ari Helix. I have a magic sword, a cranky wizard, and a revolution to start.
When Ari crash-lands on Old Earth and pulls a magic sword from its ancient resting place, she is revealed to be the newest reincarnation of King Arthur. Then she meets Merlin, who has aged backward over the centuries into a teenager, and together they must break the curse that keeps Arthur coming back. Their quest? Defeat the cruel, oppressive government and bring peace and equality to all humankind.
No pressure.

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East was good!
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I’ve heard good things about it, really should pick it up soon 😊
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Echo North is also a retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
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Oooh great! I’ll check that one out 😊
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I also still need to read Circe! I really enjoyed To kill a kingdom, I hope you will as well!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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I’ve heard a lot of good things about both of them so I’m looking forward to picking them up soon 😊
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Becky, this is an amazing list! I’ve read all of these except Once and Future, and they were all wonderful reads! To Kill a Kingdom is literally one of my all-time favorites! It’s actually the inspiration behind my blog name, haha! And East is such an enchanting read! Hope you enjoy all of these retellings ❤
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I’m glad you enjoyed them all! They’re all ones I’ve been meaning to pick up for ages so hopefully I will get to them soon 😊
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We love anything to do with mythology, but still need to get around to reading Circe! It sounds so good!
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It really does! I hope you enjoy it 😊
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I hope you enjoy Circe! It’s beautifully written 😊 I haven’t tried To Kill a Kingdom yet but it’s on my TBR. Fab posy Becky!!
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Great list! I still need to read To Kill a Kingdom.
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Thanks! I’m looking forward to picking that one up 😊
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Awesome list! I also wanted to read Once and Future but haven’t gotten to it. I liked Into the Crooked Place but heard there was much romance in To Kill a Kingdom so I scrapped that
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Haha I love Arthurian Legend so excited to pick up Once and Future.
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Same. Cursed wasn’t as good as I hoped last year.
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Circe is great! And Since of the Girls was great too. I also liked TKAK – it was awesomely dark.
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Ooh I’m all for a bit of dark. I really liked the authors other book as well
So I have high hopes 😊
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I’ve heard good things about all of these! I have really wanted to read To Kill A Kingdom the most though!!
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Yep that definitely does seem to be the favourite! 😊
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I have a King Arthur retelling on my list. I feel like I know very little about that take so I’m excited to learn. But honestly there are several retellings on my list which will be New to me stories. When I read a fairy tale retelling I always read the fairy tale after so I will have to figure out what these stories are all about too!
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To Kill a Kingdom is so good! I remember really enjoying it. I want more Arthurian retellings. I absolutely love the story of Merlin and King Arthur. I would die to watch the TV show for the first time again.
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Yes! I love Arthurian legend & the TV show was awesome. I’ve heard lots of good things about to kill a kingdom so hopefully it will live up
To them 😊
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