Reading Recommendations: Folktales & Legends
A new month means another batch of reading recommendations! This month’s theme is Folktales & Legends so I’m chatting about books centered around these themes. Hope you enjoy these picks!
When misfortune befalls Tanith, she goes to live with her aunt and uncle, far from everything she knows.
Suffocated by the restrictions of her new life, Tanith plans a tomb robbery to finance her escape.
But when Tanith enters the crypt, she awakens a beast of a man. Tales call him the piper. An immortal with no heart, driven by vengeance.
As punishment for her crime, he demands her hand in marriage.
Aware he’s using her as leverage, Tanith plots to secure her freedom once and for all. Even though she’s inexplicably attracted to her dangerous, devilish husband.
Just as they grow close, Tanith uncovers the truth about the piper’s past and an unsettling agenda that will shatter their future.
When he goes too far, she’ll have to make an impossible choice. But no matter what she does, someone will pay the price with death.
I grew up reading stories about the Pied Piper and this novel is a spin on that legendary folktale. It’s a darker fantasy romance that transports us to a magical world full of creepy castles, magical beings, and a heightened sense of suspense in its narrative. You get to solve the mystery among the sizzling romance that develops between Tanith and the piper. A recommended read for fantasy romance readers!
Here you’ll find the Lady of the Lake reimagined as an albino Ugandan sorceress and the Lady of Shalott as a wealthy, isolated woman in futuristic Mexico City; you’ll see Excalibur rediscovered as a baseball bat that grants a washed-up minor leaguer a fresh shot at glory and as a lost ceremonial drum that returns to a young First Nations boy the power and the dignity of his people. There are stories set in Gilded Age Chicago, ’80s New York, twenty-first century Singapore, and space; there are lesbian lady knights, Arthur and Merlin reborn in the modern era for a second chance at saving the world and falling in love—even a coffee shop AU.
Brave, bold, and groundbreaking, the stories in Sword Stone Table will bring fresh life to beloved myths and give long-time fans a chance to finally see themselves in their favorite legends.
A great read for those that love an anthology of stories. There’s something for every reader in Sword Stone Table. I definitely learned more about the legend of King Arthur and his knights. I love the unique spins that each author puts on these tales, giving the folklore a fresh perspective. Plus the fantasy elements were so entertaining.
It’s not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn’t look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.
There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.
Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods….
The Girl in Red follows the story of a girl named Delia otherwise known by her nickname “Red” who mirrors the style and characteristics of Little Red Riding Hood. The story follows Red as she tries to survive in a a post-apocalyptic world. Everyone has been infected with the disease or infection of some sort and it has spread throughout the entire country. Watching the world through Red’s is very intriguing. Will she made the right decision, will she get to her grandmother’s house, will she solve the mystery behind the virus?
One thousand years ago, the great Kami Dragon was summoned to grant a single terrible wish—and the land of Iwagoto was plunged into an age of darkness and chaos.
Now, for whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, a new wish will be granted. A new age is about to dawn.
Raised by monks in the isolated Silent Winds temple, Yumeko has trained all her life to hide her yokai nature. Half kitsune, half human, her skill with illusion is matched only by her penchant for mischief. Until the day her home is burned to the ground, her adoptive family is brutally slain and she is forced to flee for her life with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll.
There are many who would claim the dragon’s wish for their own. Kage Tatsumi, a mysterious samurai of the Shadow Clan, is one such hunter, under orders to retrieve the scroll…at any cost. Fate brings Kage and Yumeko together. With a promise to lead him to the scroll, an uneasy alliance is formed, offering Yumeko her best hope for survival. But he seeks what she has hidden away, and her deception could ultimately tear them both apart.
With an army of demons at her heels and the unlikeliest of allies at her side, Yumeko’s secrets are more than a matter of life or death. They are the key to the fate of the world itself.
What drew me to this novel is the folklore aspect. I enjoy reading tales of faraway lands and magic. This story has so many good fantasy aspects: a cursed sword, demon slayers, monsters, mystic shrines, and more. Kagawa’s descriptive writing throws the reader into the story and readers will feel as if they are experiencing the character’s journey as their own. I enjoyed the rag-tag adventure aspect of the novel and how the quests pull people from all different walks of life.
From favorites like “Puss in Boots” and “Goldilocks” to obscure gems like “The Boy Who Drew Cats,” Fairy Tale Comics has something to offer every reader. Seventeen fairy tales are wonderfully adapted and illustrated in comics format by seventeen different cartoonists, including Raina Telgemeier, Brett Helquist, Cherise Harper, and more.
Fairy Tale Comics is a really cool collection of fairy tales that are well known from around the world. It was interesting to see each artists take on these classic tales and some authors even added their own unique flair. For example, Red Riding Hood has a female lumberjack and in Snow White and the prince wait till they come of age to get married. This is a good book for readers of all ages, especially if you like reading folktales.
When Soah’s impoverished, desperate village decides to sacrifice her to the Water God Habaek to end a long drought, they believe that drowning one beautiful girl will save their entire community and bring much-needed rain. Not only is Soah surprised to be rescued by the Water God — instead of killed — she never imagined she’d be a welcomed guest in Habaek’s magical kingdom, where an exciting new life awaits her! Most surprising, however, is the Water God himself… and how very different he is from the monster Soah imagined.
A young woman is sacrificed to the water god as a bride in order to help her village flourish. At first, she is fascinated by the wonderful things the magical kingdom has to offer, but homesickness sets in. On top of everything, she is still resentful of the village’s and her family’s choice to sacrifice her. The attention to detail of the landscapes makes you really feel like you’re in the story.
Most children think twice before braving a haunted wood filled with terrifying beasties to match wits with a witch, but not Masha. Her beloved grandma taught her many things: that stories are useful, that magic is fickle, and that nothing is too difficult or too dirty to clean. The fearsome witch of folklore needs an assistant, and Masha needs an adventure. She may be clever enough to enter Baba Yaga’s house on chicken legs, but within its walls, deceit is the rule. To earn her place, Masha must pass a series of tests, outfox a territorial bear, and make dinner for her host. No easy task, with children on the menu!
I love fairy tales stories and retellings which made me seek out this book! On top of that, the artwork is done by Emily Carroll who I love (highly recommend her Through The Woods book). Though the narrative is short it manages to tell the tale of a girl who seeks adventure while also trying to heal from grief and adapt to new changes (the addition of a stepmother and new sister). The author makes the story fun and engrossing for all ages as the reader will be entertained by Masha’s journey to outsmart the Baba Yaga.
That concludes my reading recommendations for themed books about folktales and legends! What books do you recommend or what are your favorites? Comment below!
Baba Yaga’s Assistant was fun and I’d love to try one of Christina Henry’s books.
I love that graphic novel. I would also like to read more of Christina Henry’s books too.