8 Enchanting YA Fairy Tales to Feast on This Fall

Thank you for signing up! Keep an oculus connected your inbox.

By signing up you hold to our terms of use

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Simidele is Mami Wata, a mermaid. She’s besides struggling with memories of her beingness arsenic a human, earlier she swam the water depths successful hunt of souls to usher to safety. Given that Bowen’s caller blends Yoruba cosmologies, mermaid lore, and histories of the transatlantic enslaved trade, these souls beryllium to those who’ve mislaid their lives aboard enslavers’ ships crossing the Atlantic. And erstwhile Simidele breaks each the rules and saves a surviving boy, determination indispensable beryllium consequences. This engrossing communicative volition person you dreaming of mermaids…and luckily for you, the sequel Soul of the Deep was released successful September.

Blanca and Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore

“Everyone has their ain mode of telling our story.” Thus begins the communicative of Blanca and Roja, sisters whose fates are bound up successful a hopeless privation made agelong agone by a pistillate who wanted a daughter. After conscionable a fewer abbreviated paragraphs, McLemore’s penning volition person you perfectly captivated successful this enchanting retelling of Swan Lake (with traces of Snow White). As with each bully fairy tales, this communicative of household and emotion takes a crook erstwhile the magical destiny awaiting 1 of the sisters ensnares others and grows much unsafe arsenic it changes.

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Cinderella’s bequest is nary happily-ever-after successful Kalynn Bayron’s almighty retelling. Instead, 2 centuries later, an oppressively heteropatriarchal monarchy mandates that each teenage girls be the Annual Ball truthful they tin beryllium joined off. In a realm wherever home unit is rampant, this is atrocious enough. What’s worse is that Sophia’s attraction to women is simply a unsafe benignant of tendency successful her world. When she flees the shot without her champion person and emotion interest, Erin, she finds herself astatine Cinderella’s tomb successful the woods, wherever she meets Constance. As their emotion communicative burgeons, their crippled to instrumentality down the monarchy comes with higher and higher stakes.

Lost successful the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

Wendy Darling (yup, that Wendy Darling) lives successful Oregon, and each is not good successful her tiny community. When respective kids spell missing connected Wendy’s 18th birthday, it dredges up the trauma of her ain brothers’ disappearances conscionable a fewer years earlier. So erstwhile a mysterious lad named (you guessed it) Peter Pan turns up asking her to assistance him find his shadiness to forestall much disappearances, Wendy decides to spot if she tin find immoderate answers for herself. Lost successful the Never Woods is decidedly 1 of the darker tales connected this database due to the fact that of its exploration of trauma and intelligence wellness — ironic that the inclusion of real-world challenges makes it much frightening than if it stayed solely successful the realm of the fantastic.

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

A mysterious prophecy, an exigency ball, and a kingdom connected the brink of acheronian prevarication astatine the bosom of Gina Chen’s caller novel. Violet is simply a Seer tasked with faking a prophecy astir Prince Cyrus’ aboriginal bride. As if this wasn’t hard enough, the prince’s prime of mate was the taxable of an unfinished prophecy uttered by different Seer connected her deathbed — 1 that indicated the kingdom’s destiny rested connected his choice. It’s up to Violet to fig retired however to prevention the kingdom, the prince, and herself successful this fantastical fairy communicative that volition person you speechmaking until the wee hours of the morning.

Hunted by Meagan Spooner

This Beauty and the Beast retelling centers connected Yeva, a beardown young pistillate who would alternatively instrumentality purpose astatine her prey than speech pleasantries with the ladies astatine court. Because of this, she’s not terribly breached up astir it erstwhile her household is forced to relocate connected the borderline of town, nevertheless unfortunate the circumstances. However, his abrupt disappearance leads Yeva to way the Beast, tracing her father’s footsteps to the mysterious kingdom that readers volition find simultaneously acquainted and freshly rendered.

A Darkness astatine the Door by Intisar Khanani

The Dauntless Path trilogy began arsenic a retelling of The Goose Girl. Interestingly, publication 3, A Darkness astatine the Door (released this past summer) is acceptable successful the aforesaid storyworld but functions arsenic a sequel to Book 2, The Theft of Sunlight. It reunites readers with Rae, who recovered self-acceptance successful the erstwhile volume, successful spite of ableist mistreatment, successful her quest for her champion friend’s small sister who was taken by snatchers. Having been held captive connected a snatcher’s ship, she ends up entangled with a unsafe Fae and joining forces with a thief to effort to prevention the different stolen children. It’s a analyzable installment successful Khanani’s almighty series.

Ash by Malinda Lo

No database of fairy communicative retellings would beryllium implicit without Malinda Lo’s Ash connected it. Even though this publication was archetypal published successful 2009, it’s a classical queer retelling of Cinderella. The caller follows the eponymous Ash arsenic she attends the royal hunts (thanks to her somewhat terrifying and creepily almighty fairy godparent, Sidhean) down her atrocious stepmother’s back. It doesn’t instrumentality agelong for her to autumn for the king’s huntress, Kaisa — a bold pistillate who’s dissimilar anyone other Ash has ever known. As their narration develops, Ash has to reckon with her past successful bid to proceed with her future.