I don’t want to use the term “dark fairy tale” because I feel like that always brings out the people who want to recommend me weird dark smutty romances with a vaguely medieval backdrop for some reason, but I like when old folk tales are full of people getting cursed forever for the crime of being a little rude one time, or perhaps wishes backfiring horribly, or maybe people being tricked into marriage, or even witches eating children, etc. I especially like the cadence that a lot of folk tales are told in where insane things happen and no one tries to overexplain the logistics of how.
I guess to clarify, I don’t want a “gritty retelling” of an existing fairy tale where we get too deep into logistics and we flesh things out that aren’t really interesting to flesh out. Like, I don’t want an old fairy tale remade to feel modern. I want a new fairytale written to feel old. I’m looking for something that reads a little disjointed in the way a fairy tale does!
Anyone have suggestions?
I’ve already read the Winternight books and also Naomi Novik’s fairytale stuff. Also Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower, which was excellent.
by IReadBooksSometimes
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The bible.