YA Classic Retellings

YA adaptations or stories inspired from classic tales including fairy tales, fables, and classical literature. Not a complete or exhaustive list. *The Young Adult Collection is made up of books for a wide age range (12-18 years old) and includes a variety of different topics and interests. Not all titles will be appropriate for all readers.*

Showing 1 - 20 of 80  There are a total of 198 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Alice in zombieland"
Star rating for Alice in zombieland
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
After everything she knows and loves is taken from her, Alice Bell must avenge her family by learning to fight the undead and to trust bad boy Cole Holland.
Book cover for "Antigoddess"
Star rating for Antigoddess
Series:
Goddess war volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
Athena and Hermes' search for the cause of their unexpected, life-threatening illnesses leads them to Cassandra, a former prophetess, who may be key to a war started by Hera and other Olympians who have become corrupt anti-gods determined to destroy their rivals.
Book cover for "Beasts of prey"
Star rating for Beasts of prey
Author:
Series:
Beasts of prey volume 1.
Average Rating:
2.5 stars
Description:
Sixteen-year-old indentured beastkeeper Koffi and seventeen-year-old warrior candidate Ekon forge an unusual alliance and venture into the Greater Jungle to hunt down a monster that has been menacing their city for a century. Includes author's note.
Book cover for "A blade so black"
Star rating for A blade so black
Series:
Nightmare-verse volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
An ... urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland... The first time the nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew. Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the...
Book cover for "Blanca & Roja"
Star rating for Blanca & Roja
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
The del Cisne girls have never just been sisters; they're also rivals, Blanca as obedient and graceful as Roja is vicious and manipulative. They know that, because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. They know that, one day, the swans will pull them into a dangerous game that will leave one of them a girl, and trap the other in the body of a swan. But when two local boys become drawn into the game,...
Book cover for "The blood spell"
Star rating for The blood spell
Series:
Ravenspire volume 4.
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
A dark romantic fantasy inspired by "Cinderella" finds Blue de la Cour, a girl hiding the magic in her blood from a cruel custodian, teaming up with a bride-seeking prince, Prince Kellan who she despises in order to stop a series of disappearances throughout the kingdom.
Book cover for "The bone spindle"
Star rating for The bone spindle
Series:
Description:
When she pricks her finger on a bone spindle, treasure hunter Fi is stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose, a prince under a sleeping curse, and must team up with a tough-as-dirt girl warrior to free the prince--and herself.
Book cover for "The Boneless Mercies"
Star rating for The Boneless Mercies
Description:
Four female mercenaries known as Boneless Mercies, weary of roaming Vorseland, ignored and forgotten until they are needed for mercy killings, decide to seek glory by going after a legendary monster in this reimagining of Beowulf.
Book cover for "Briar girls"
Star rating for Briar girls
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Lena has a secret: the touch of her skin can kill...But after a devastating mistake, she and her father are forced to flee to a village near the Silence, a mysterious forest with a reputation for luring people into the trees, never to be seen again...Until the night an enigmatic girl stumbles out of the Silence...Miranda...is on a quest to wake a sleeping princess believed to hold the key to liberating the Gather from its tyrannical ruler and she...
Book cover for "Bright ruined things"
Star rating for Bright ruined things
Description:
Growing up on a island where the powerful Prosper family controls both the magic and the spirits who inhibit it, eighteen-year-old Mae longs for magic of her own to impress her best friend Coco and her crush Miles, but when the spirits start inexplicably dying, Mae and her friends start to the unravel the mysteries of the island and a secret from Mae's past. Loosely based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and set in the 1920s.
Book cover for "Bright smoke, cold fire"
Star rating for Bright smoke, cold fire
Series:
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Bound by her family's magical heritage to punish their enemies, Juliet nearly loses her life trying to execute her beloved Romeo for killing her cousin, a situation that compels her guardian, Paris, to uncover dark secrets about their walled city.
Book cover for "Cinderella is dead"
Star rating for Cinderella is dead
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:
"Queer black girls team up to overthrow the patriarchy in the former kingdom of Cinderella"--
Book cover for "The Circus Rose"
Star rating for The Circus Rose
Description:
A retelling of Snow White and Rose Red in which teenage twins Ivory and Rosie battle evil religious extremists to save their loves and their circus family.
Book cover for "Crimson bound"
Star rating for Crimson bound
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Rachelle must protect the king's bastard son while searching for the weapons that will save her world from endless night"--
Book cover for "Cruel beauty"
Star rating for Cruel beauty
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Betrothed to the demon who rules her country and trained all her life to kill him, seventeen-year-old Nyx Triskelion must now fulfill her destiny and move to the castle to be his wife.
Book cover for "A curse so dark and lonely"
Star rating for A curse so dark and lonely
Series:
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Eighteen for the three hundred twenty-seventh time, Prince Rhen despairs of breaking the curse that turns him into a beast at the end of each day until feisty Harper enters his life.

17. Cursed

Book cover for "Cursed"
Star rating for Cursed
Series:
Gilded duology volume 2.
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"Adalheid Castle is in chaos. Following a shocking turn of events, Serilda finds herself ensnared in a deadly game of make-believe with the Erlking, who is determined to propel her deeper into the castle's lies. Meanwhile, Serilda is determined to work with Gild to help him solve the mystery of his forgotten name and past. But soon it becomes clear that the Erlking doesn't only want to use Serilda to bring back his one true love. He also seeks vengeance...

18. Cursed

Book cover for "Cursed"
Star rating for Cursed
Average Rating:
2 stars
Description:
Nimue grew up an outcast. Her connection to dark magic made her something to be feared in her Druid village, and that made her desperate to leave...That is, until Red Paladins slaughter her entire village, and Nimue's fate is forever altered. Charged by her dying mother to reunite an ancient sword with a legendary sorcerer, Nimue is now her people's only hope.
Book cover for "The cursed carnival and other calamities"
Star rating for The cursed carnival and other calamities
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
A collection of ten stories by authors from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint that remix myths for modern readers.

20. Damsel

Book cover for "Damsel"
Star rating for Damsel
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
Waking up in the arms of Prince Emory, Ama has no memory of him rescuing her from a dragon's lair, but she soon discovers there is more to the legend of dragons and damsels than anyone knows and she is still in great danger.