So, bit of a disclaimer here - despite being utterly in love with all things fairy tale retelling, when I sat down to acutally write this post ... I came to the realization that I actually haven't read that many retellings of that particular tale.
I get it - it's a hard tale to turn into a proper story. The plot is all whacky, and it's really hard to develop both the prince and princess properly. But I have found a few books that I rather like, though some aren't 100% focused on Sleeping Beauty. They're all great spins, though.
1. Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine.
As I'm pretty sure most of you know, Levine's Ella Enchanted is one of my favorite retellings of all time, so I was pretty delighted to discover that she had a Sleeping Beauty tale as well. This story was short and sweet, and I highly recommend it.
2. Midnight Captive by E.D. Phillips.
I read this book for review. It's actually a "sequel" to "The Pied Piper," where he blends the curses of Sleeping Beauty and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and generally makes things miserable for the two heroines of this tale. It's a bit rough around the edges, as it was a NaNo and a debut, but I still recommend it.
3. Little Daylight by George MacDonald.
This story is actually part of At the Back of the North Wind, but it stands on its own as a brilliant retelling of The Sleeping Beauty. Baaaaasically, instead of being cursed to sleep for a hundred years, Daylight is cursed to sleep all day and wake all night. Also, she waxes and wanes with the moon. It's a beautiful tale.
4. Twisted Dreams by Morgan Elizabeth Huneke.
Which happens to be one of the books that I'm releasing with. It's an awesome twist on the tale, and I'll be talking about it more later this week.
5. Waking Beauty by Prince Bertie.
For a story written by a frog (which, granted, is an enchanted prince, small detail that), this is a lovely story ... where Talia was cursed to sleep a thousand years, not a hundred and wakes in our modern day. And Morgan le Fay cursed her. That's right. Arthurian mythos here.
6. Heaven Cent by Piers Anthony
The eleventh Xanth novel, and the second to be a fairy tale retelling. A bit mixed around with some elements stolen from Snow White (basically, it was an apple that put her to sleep), and messed up because Murphy's curse made the princess's companion, Electra, be the one who went to sleep ... buuuut, Electra was the one they needed a thousand years later when Dolph awakened her.
7. Sew, It's a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek
My first published book, and as such, it shall ever hold a dear place in my heart. It was also a NaNo debut, and I'll never call it my best work, but it's a dear story to me and I love what I did with the fairy tale.
Check out the other stops on the tour:
Interviews:
Bookish Orchestrations - Rachel
Georgia Politics - Morgan
Books, Braids, and Born Again - Matthew (TD Character)
Reviews:
Shire Reviews - Rosette Thornbriar
Other:
Reality Reflected - Edmund(character)+Poison Kiss - Interview+Review
Giveaway Time!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
There will also be a prize for the person who leaves the most comments across all of the blog posts for this tour - whoever leaves the most comments gets to read The Seven Drawers, the retelling of Snow White that I just finished for the Rooglewood contest, and Cindy Ellen, the sequel to Rosette Thornbriar. Both stories are finished, so you don't have to worry about cliff hangers. Get commenting.
And, as a reminder, any comments that you leave on my blog this month and next will count towards a drawing for a full set of my books, with the all-new covers.
Oh, and free books!
Sew, It's a Quest (Permafree): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/731321
CinderEddy (Free August 7-11): https://www.amazon.com/CinderEddy-Kendra-E-Ardnek-ebook/dp/B00KZNW2TO/
Woodcutter Quince (Free August 8-12): https://www.amazon.
I want to read Waking Beauty so storming much but it's one of those books I've never been able to get my hands on. I should see if my new library has it. Great post!
ReplyDeleteOk, I stand corrected. Apparently the Waking Beauty I was thinking of is different than the Waking Beauty you have here. The Waking Beauty you have here, which appears to be a webcomic, has been bookmarked to my to-read list for next time I want to binge-read a webcomic.
DeleteNot a webcomic, but there's audio so you can listen to it.
DeleteAh. I'd rather just read it, but audio's cool if I have time.
DeleteI just read it myself, but 90% because it was Elizabeth reading it, and not Natasha, and Elizabeth's accent isn't as magical, and thus I was miffed.
DeleteI am very fond of the other Waking Beauty (Sarah E. Morin). I want to read this one too though. It sounds so fun.
Delete@Kendra: Non-magical accents are a good reason to be miffed. (Also, American accents on a story that obviously takes place in a Europe-esque country, but I digress.)
Delete@Brie: Ok, good to know that there are indeed two Waking Beauties and I'm not just imagining it.
Elizabeth's is a crisp British accent, not too bad ... unless you're comparing it to Natasha, whose accent is auditory magic.
DeleteStrange there aren't more Sleeping Beauty retellings, as it seems to be one of the most popular fairytales.
ReplyDeleteSew is the only one I've read thus far, but these all sound interesting! I'll see if my local library has them....
There ARE more, I just haven't read a huge number. Also, I decided to cap myself at seven.
DeletePrincess Sonora is my current favorite, but i really haven't read that many. Who knew that there are so many?!
ReplyDelete