Hello! It’s Friday again, and once again, it’s time to Fangirl with #Fangirling on Friday hosted by Books in the Skye!. Today we’re going to talk about retellings. I know some people absolutely adore fairy tale retellings, and usually it doesn’t matter to me one way or another. There are some retellings that I like quite a bit though.
As I was reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, there was something that seemed a little familiar with it. Why? I found out it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. It’s not predictable though. I haven’t read any of the follow-on books, even though I plan to at some point. These books are really popular at my library and there are so many other books I want to read. Someday.
Ms. Maas tends to get a lot of her inspiration from history. As I was reading Tower of Dawn, I noticed that the people of the Southern Continent were a lot like the khans of history. As a writer, I also get inspired from different real things. Sometimes I’m inspired by history, other times I’m inspired by our daily headlines.
I’ve actually never read Les Misérables, but I know I really should at some point. I really enjoy the retellings and books inspired by this story, such as Sky Without Stars and Legend. Plus, historical France in this time period was fascinating.
With really old books like this that are in the public domain, sometimes it’s difficult to find a translation/edition that is good. If you’re okay with an abridged version, there are plenty of editions out there, but if you’re looking for a good unabridged version, that can sometimes be a little difficult. I downloaded a few copies of Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire before I found an edition that worked for me.
One retelling that I still have to finish is Renée Ahdieh’s duology The Wrath & the Dawn. I read the first book in the series, and really liked it, but I haven’t gotten around to reading the second book in the series, The Rose & the Dagger. I would like to, but there are so many other books out there that I want to read that I haven’t really gotten around to the second one.
That’s all I have for this week. Next week we’re going to talk about Animal Sidekicks and Shapeshifters. I’m going to have to think about that one.
Les Mis is one of the the books that I have to read. I will do it one day!
It seems like every time I read posts talking about books, I say “ooh, I need to read this!” One day I’ll do it too!
I loved The Wrath and the Dawn and the sequel so much!! I can’t wait for you to read The Rose and the Dagger ahh, I hope you enjoy it. 💕 Retellings are so much fun to read!
I need to make plans to read it. I usually plan what books I want to read at the beginning of the month, and I keep forgetting this one!
I’m doing a retellings challenge this year, so I am so into them right now! I just added Sky Without Stars to my TBR.
I hope you like it! When I was looking on Goodreads to get ready to do this post, I was surprised at how many retellings there were. Although I haven’t read very many of them.