Other Fantasy Stories, Not Easily Categorized The Changeling by Victor LaValle I’m reading this Caribbean folktale middle grade fantasy novel right now and I LOVE IT.

The Bear and the Nightingale (series) by Katherine ArdenĪrden draws from Russian fairytales for this story, which I bought on Melissa Albert’s recommendation.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria MachadoĬonsidered by many to have joined The Bloody Chamber in the top ring of feminist retellings of classic fairytales. Fairy Tales The Bloody Chamber by Angela CarterĬonsidered by many to be the definitive feminist retellings of classic fairytales. Jae-JonesĪ sibling kidnapped by goblins is all it takes to convince me to read a book. The upcoming second book in the series, Bruja Born, is not a portal fantasy but also sounds amazing. In Labyrinth Lost, a young Bruja tries to rid herself of her powers but instead accidentally sends her family to Los Lagos and has to go rescue them. Labyrinth Lost and Bruja Born (July 5) by Zoraida Cordova This father-daughter Caribbean folktale portal fantasy sounds AMAZING. Six years after they return from their portal world, one sister desperately wants to go back, and when she disappears, the sister who wanted to live in the real world has to figure out whether she found her way back. (Jan.The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Valente, and Albert’s own work will thrill to this volume’s fairy tale cadences and inventive, deep-shadowed imagery, but the parade of voiceless, mutilated, broken women may leave readers wanting range and depth. Weaker entries, however, collapse into repetitive revenges or horror genre despair, and Albert’s allegories lose power as the dynamics and relationships they stand for fail to grow, broaden, or change.

Framed by Tierney’s intricately inked woodcut-style illustrations, the fictional Hinterlands and their fairy tale logic shine when illuminating aspects of troubled family dynamics: “Hansa the Traveler” sets its cloistered protagonist questing to save her star mother and confronts the cost of being a rescuer, while “The House Under the Stairwell” offers a somber, heartfelt reflection on the work of repair. Albert brings The Hazel Wood’s fictional fairy tale volume to life in 12 finely wrought but gruesome stories of captive wives, abused women, and their bloody revenge.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert