Retellings I Love

When it comes to retellings, I do get a little bit nervous especially if they are based off of books I love. However, it appears that I love more of those than I think. Now, what were the ones that I actually fell in love?

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

I really don’t think that these books are retellings, but I recently learned that they are. It just never occurred to me especially because I fell in love with the series in middle school. Even when I reread them in June, it still didn’t hit me. Yes, they still may have Greek Gods/Godesses, Beasts/Creatures, Demigods, and some of the same worlds like the Underworld and Olympus.

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Song of Achilles

I actually described this book as “The Illiad”, but from Patroclus’ POV. The book starts when Achilles and Patroclus first meet. So, it starts before The Trojan War. If you are even interested in the story of The Illiad and want to start easier, maybe start on Song of Achilles.

Circe

I read BOTH Song of Achilles and Circe this year. Hard to believe that Circe became who she is by just one mistake. Both of those books were in first person. Circe’s downfall started with an unrequited love and deciding between her love for mortals or her love for her own kind.

Spinning Silver

Now, here’s an example of a Fairy Tale retelling. SS is a Rumplestilskin retelling, and what convinced me to read it was the fact that I previously read Naomi Novik’s, Uprooted. Once a year, Park Road Books brings a speaker to church to recommend books, and one year SS was an option.

SS was very original- yes, you saw moments of the original in the book. But for the most part, it felt like a very different story. The main character was changed to female. There are about three POVs. Miyrem was still our main character, who was the one would turn things to gold.

Conclusion

To be honest, I didn’t know ALL of them were retellings. Has that ever happened to you- as in not being aware you were reading a retelling?