Fairytale Retellings That Have Much Darker Twists

Cordelia’s mother can literally make her obedient, meaning she can’t move, talk, or even take a sip of water without her mother's permission. While Cordelia doesn’t know how to interact with others socially, she does know this isn't normal, no matter what her mother says.

The unfortunate truth is Cordelia’s mother, Evangeline, is a Sorceress, and she’s on a mission to find a new sponsor after using up the last one. Soon she finds herself at Hester’s doorstep, as Hester’s brother, the affable squire, is Evangeline’s newest target.

I’m never going to be a big fan of geese, but I definitely respect them more after reading A Sorceress Comes to Call. This is a wonderfully written Regency-era-esque fairy tale inspired by Grimm’s The Goose Girl. It's dark, twisty, and full of some delightful characters. I highly recommend it.

Sleep Like Death follows Princess Eve, who loves her mother (the queen) and has spent her whole life preparing to fight the trickster Knight, who terrorizes her town with his wicked magic.

Against better judgment, desperate villagers make deals with the Knight, thinking they can outsmart him. Yet time and time again, the Knight twists the deals, leaving the villagers worse off than before.
As Eve’s seventeenth birthday approaches, she runs out of time to save her kingdom, and her frustration rapidly builds as things spiral out of control.

This fresh take on Snow White captured my attention and kept me eagerly anticipating what would come next. I loved that the story had LGBTQIA+ characters, and I enjoyed the twists, morally grey MMC, unique magic, and all the fairytale elements.

This story is set in the small town of Grimm’s Hollow, located next to the deadly Forest Grimm. Clara’s grandmother can see people’s futures, and Clara’s has always been the same; she’ll die an early death in the forest.

While the town has usually gotten by, things take a turn for the worse after someone makes an evil wish on the town’s magical book. After that, the book goes missing, taking the village's prosperity with it. Crops are faltering, wells are drying up, and villagers are disappearing. One might even say the town is cursed.

Clara’s mother was one of the first to go missing, and she’ll do anything to get her back—even rush to meet her fate in the forest. But just what madness will Clara find there, and can the lost people ever be the same again?

This was a delightfully chaotic blend of Grimm’s fairy tales and European folklore, featuring characters you’re sure to love and recognize.

Surely you’ve heard the story of Hansel and Gretel. Poor, lost siblings, all alone in the forest, stumble upon a house made of gingerbread and candy and must fight for their lives against a witch who wants to eat them.

In most versions of the tale, the witch burns, and the children flee, but have you ever wondered what happened after? Did they feel sick at every mention of candy or gingerbread? Did they hear the witch scream every time they closed their eyes? Could they handle being anywhere near an oven? After the Forest gives you some answers to these questions.

The book follows Greta and her brother Hans, who are trying to get by twenty years after the events with the witch and the gingerbread house. Their village isn’t entirely convinced they’re fully innocent, and something is certainly not normal in the village, and it’s not just Greta’s magically addictive gingerbread.

With such an interesting take on the original fairytale, it's hard not to love everything about this book, from the familiar tropes to the German folklore and more.

The miller’s daughter, 18-year-old Serilda, is known for her outlandish tales. The townsfolk think she's a liar, but she prefers to be called a creative storyteller.

After one of her tales goes awry, she's taken to a new, dangerous world where she finds herself in a life-or-death situation involving the king of the world. As secrets within the castle unfold, will she make it out alive?

It’s hard to say much about this book without spoiling some of the twists, so I’ll just say there’s a haunted castle, legends, mysteries, ghosts, magical creatures, and dark secrets ready to come to life.

Serilda was such a fun, quirky character, and I enjoyed following her along on this adventure. I can’t recommend this duology enough, especially if you’re a fan of Rumpelstiltskin.

Vasya is a pure, wild child, full of magic and a love of stories, living in a winter wonderland in the Russian wilderness.

When her new stepmother bans worship of the old gods said to protect their home, Vasya must take matters into her own hands to save her family and village from the forest's evil creatures and the threats coming their way.

As dark magic in the woods stirs, who should the villagers turn to: the new gods or the old spirits?

Another debut on the list, this story blends Slavic and Russian folklore and fairy tales to present a wonderful trilogy full of myth, magic, and monsters.

Vasya is a strong FMC who won’t be cowed by society or religious norms, and the series explores the conflict between religion, folklore, and women’s place incredibly well. This is a must-read story you won’t want to miss.