Hi, everyone, it's Jananie, and welcome to a another episode of #EpicBookRecs.
So, this is a monthly series that I do here on the Epic Reads channel
where I recommend a bunch of YA books based on a certain theme.
So we've done a ton of fun and exciting themes before, so
go check out the links in the description to see the previous videos.
But today's theme is one that I'm very excited about,
because I've read a bunch of books recently that have fit this theme, and
I'm just really excited about that.
But, the theme for this month is retellings.
So, traditionally when we think of retellings, we think of fairy tale
retellings, which are some of the books that I wanna talk about today.
But I also wanted to include retellings of other stories, not just fairy tales.
So this is gonna be a recommendation video of books that take one previous story and
kind of remake it.
I have a bunch of favorites on this list, so let's just jump right in.
So the first book that I want to talk about today is the one that I've read
the most recently, and that is Thorn, by Intisar Khanani.
And this is one that I was really excited about when I started reading it,
because I just love the writing style, and I just kinda fell into this fantasy world.
It really does feel like a fairy tale from the get go.
And this is actually a retelling of The Goose Girl,
which is a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.
So I've actually never read or heard
the story of The Goose Girl before reading this, but I really, really enjoyed this.
I think it took the concept of The Goose Girl and
the story, and just made some thing really fun and new with it.
This book is very magical, but really does feel like a fairy tale, and
I love the main character, Alyrra.
The book starts off with her kinda being neglected and unloved by her family,
mostly her mother and her brother, and they really don't treat her very well, and
it's kinda that classic fairy tale opening.
But the book, and the fairy tale kind of take an interesting turn.
So her mother sets her up to be betrothed with a prince from a faraway land,
his name is Kestrin in the book.
And that is kind of going on when our main character, Alyrra,
is cursed by an evil sorceress.
So the sorceress kind of robs Alyrra of her identity and
her physical appearance, but Alyrra kind of jumps on this opportunity, and
takes it to kind of run away and become a goose girl.
And so she runs away from all these responsibilities that have been clutching
at her, and
the fact that she was supposed to marry this man that she doesn't even know.
But as she gets to learn more about his kingdom, and about him, and
just all the things going on, her mind starts to change a bit.
And she has to step up in a way that she never thought she would want to, or
needed to.
I really enjoyed this book,
I just loved the atmosphere of it, the main character was really great.
And it's also just a really mysterious kind of read.
And it really gave me vibes of Gail Carson Levine
stories from when I was was younger, so that was a really great aspect.
All right, the next book that I wanna recommend, or
series that I wanna recommend, is a YA classic, and that is Cinder,
by Marissa Meyer, or The Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer.
This is a whole series of fairy tale retellings,
ones that are set in a sci-fi future.
So this is set very far in the future, and our main character, Cinder, and
this is a retelling of Cinderella, if you could not tell.
Our main character, Cinder, is a 16 year old girl, and
she also happens to be a cyborg.
She has a stepmother and stepsisters, she's never really been loved, and
she lives in a futuristic version of China, so in New Beijing.
And in this future, cyborgs are kinda considered subclass humans, and so
she's always kind of been treated in that way.
And then, amidst all of this, there is a prince named Prince Kai,
who comes to her market booth, where she does repairs on androids, and
asks her to repair his longtime android, that carries a very top
secret message that may be of national importance and security.
There's also a whole aspect of evil queens on the moon, and just a bunch of fairy
tale characters kind of coming together in this new and fresh, interesting way.
So, highly, highly recommend this one, it is so much fun.
The cast of characters is just so endearing, and
each of the books kinda follows a different fairy tale main character.
But the stories connect over each book, so
you're getting one full conclusion at the end.
This is one of my favorites from when I was younger, so I highly,
highly recommend.
All right, the next book that I wanna recommend today is The Wrath and the Dawn,
by Renée Ahdieh, this is a longtime favorite of mine, and
this is a retelling of One Thousand and One Nights, or Arabian Nights,
the Persian epic full of fairy tales and stories.
And this book takes the frame narrative of One Thousand and
One Nights as its kind of basis for the story.
So, in One Thousand and One Nights, it follows this princess who is taken by this
king, he takes a different bride every night, and kills them in the morning.
And so in order to save herself when she's taken as his bride,
she starts telling him a story the night of their wedding.
And as soon as she finishes one story, she'll quickly begin another before
the night ends, but doesn't finish that story, so the king is forced to keep her
alive another night, so that he can hear the rest of the story.
But this one is kind of a little bit different, it takes that concept.
There is an 18 year old boy-king, the Caliph of Khorasan, and
he is taking a bride every night, and kinda killing her off the next morning.
And so our main character, Shahrzad,
has had one of her dearest friends fall victim to this bride killing, and
so she volunteered herself to become the next bride.
She's determined to keep herself alive, and she kind of does this similar kind of
gimmick with stories, but, things get a little bit different.
And this book does make its own take on the stories, so
that was really interesting.
And overall this is just a really lushly, beautifully written book.
The romance was just so great, and the descriptions of food are just to die for,
and there are just some really great side characters as well,
that I just found absolutely endearing.
So, highly recommend if you wanted a lush fantasy
with a really great slow burn romance.
All right, the next book that I wanna recommend is a very new favorite of mine,
and that is Anna K, by Jenny Lee.
So this isn't strictly a fairy tale retelling, this is a retelling, or
a re-rendering of Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, so
that is a kind of classic Russian novel.
And, this is a modern YA take on that book.
Anna Karenina has a huge cast of characters, and you're seeing all
the complexities of their lives, and this book is no different.
This is set in New York, in kind of high society.
The characters and their interactions definitely give off a Gossip Girl vibe.
But the book is a lot of fun, and it follows our main character,
Anna K, who returns to the city to be with her brother and
help him out with a bit of a problem that he's run into.
And ends up catching the eye of the city's heartthrob, who everyone calls
Count Vronsky, which is the name of one of the main characters in Anna Karenina.
And this book follows a really dramatic and intense love story, but
also each of the characters kind of going through their own
versions of a love story, and seeing how those kind of come together.
This is a really well done novel, and
it doesn't feel like a usual young adult book.
And overall just has a really interesting scope, and I absolutely loved it.
So highly recommend if you kind of wanted to dip into a classic, but
didn't wanna actually read a classic, this is a great one.
All right, the next book that I'm gonna recommend is a longtime favorite of mine,
and it's actually a retelling of a myth,
and that is The Star-Touched Queen, by Roshani Chokshi.
So this is actually a rendering of the Hades and Persephone myth
of Greek mythology, but with Hindu mythology kind of infused in there.
This takes places in an Indian-inspired fantasy world, and
it follows our main character, Maya, who was taken away to become the bride of this
far off kingdom that no one's really heard of, or really talks about.
But since she was young, she's been followed by this horoscope,
that she will bring the death and destruction upon her family, and
she's meant to kind of marry it down, and that ends up kind of being what happens.
She ends up marrying the Lord of Death, and there is a bit of a romance that kind
of goes around there in the similar fashion of Hades and Persephone.
But this story really dives deep into Maya's character and
her kind of taking control of her own destiny by the end.
And it does have hints of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, so
you can also kinda see that influence in the book as well.
But overall, this is just a really spellbinding,
beautiful book, super enchanting, and just really, really lush.
And the romance is just really nice and slow burny, and
just the perfect thing that I love.
So, highly recommend if you're looking for
a fantasy read with a strong self possessed main character, and
a really funny side character that comes in the middle of the book.
Now, I can't recommend a bunch of fairy tale retellings without
recommending a Beauty and The Beast retelling, because I feel like that's
one of the most popular fairy tales, and kind of stories that are retold.
So two for you today.
First is, Of Beast and Beauty, by Stacey Jay.
This is one that I read a really long time ago, and
it's sort of a sci-fi fantasy take on Beauty and the Beast.
It takes place in the domed city of Yuan, and our main character is
a blind princess who was raised to be a sacrifice for the city's vitality.
So she will one day be sacrificed to keep the city within the dome alive and
vibrant while everything outside the dome is kind of a desert and dying.
But, outside the dome there is this mutant monster-boy named Gem, who was
accidentally captured and brought inside the dome, and he's kept as a prisoner.
And so within this world there are people called monsters,
who are kind of considered second class citizens,
because they have these monstrous aspects, and Gem is one of these people.
So the princess wants to help this vanished class of humans.
And as she begins to kinda talk to Gem while he's imprisoned,
she starts to question everything that she's ever believed, and
the two of them end up trying to find the balance between their two worlds.
And it is such an interesting take on Beauty and the Beast, because the roles
are reversed in this version of the story, and it was just so magical, but also
really, really interesting, especially with the sci-fi and dystopian parts of it.
But it also has some really interesting discussions of beauty and what it
means to be human, and so I thought that that was really thought provoking.
So highly recommend if you kind of wanted a sci-fi dystopian version
of a fairy tale.
All right, and then the last book that I'm recommending is one that I read very
recently, and that is, Of Curses and Kisses, by Sandhya Menon.
This is another one that is kind of a Beauty and the Beast retelling.
But it's set in our modern day, but
in kind of an alternate history version of our modern day.
Where a princess in a kingdom in India, named Jaya Rao,
ends up going to this fancy elite academy in Aspen, Colorado,
to run away from this PR scandal that happened in her country.
And she takes her sister along with her, but they come face to face with this boy
named Lord Grey Emerson, who is of the Emerson clan.
And the Rao's and the Emerson's have a history that goes way back to when
the British had control of India, and there's a story of the Emerson's having
stolen a precious ruby gem from Jaya's grandmother or great grandmother.
And so that grandmother put a curse on the Emerson clan for the rest of their
generations, and a Grey and his father have kind of taken this curse to heart.
And so Grey has always lived with this curse over his head, and
has been cut off from his family because of that, and
has lived at this boarding school for most of his life.
And so when Jaya shows up at the academy, they come face to face,
and this curse comes to life, and things kind of spiral from there,
especially when they start falling for each other, as per a good fairy tale.
This is a lot of fun,
definitely more on the light hearted side if you wanted a fun fairy tale retelling.
And especially if you wanted one that's set in our modern day.
All right, but those are all the books that I wanted to recommend today.
I really hope you guys enjoyed this video.
I love so many of these books, and I personally just love retellings because I
think it's just a really interesting way of taking an old story and making it new.
But I would love it if you guys would let me know your favorite
fairy tale retellings or retellings of other stories in the comments down below.
I always love getting your recommendations.
But that's about all I got, so thank you so, so much for watching.
And I will see you in the next episode of #EpicBookRecs, bye.