Fairy tales are often the first stories kids learn from picture books, and the works of Hanna Diyab, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen can help inspire a lifelong passion for reading. But just because you grow up, doesn’t mean you have to abandon the genre. Modern fantasy books often strive for epic scale and complex political scheming, but it can be just as satisfying to explore a wondrous world where brave heroes fall in love and find the courage to do what’s right.
If you want to bring some more magic to your reading list, check out these five fairy tale novels for adults. Fairy tales often feature kids who find themselves in magical realms with their own rules, and Erin Morgenstern’s debut novel pulls her protagonists into a wondrous circus that serves as a battlefront for dueling mages. Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair have been trained from childhood to battle each other by creating the most captivating exhibits in the Circus of Dreams.
While they spend years honing their skills without even knowing who their rival is, they eventually fall in love with each other. The competition threatens to destroy them and everyone else working in the circus, whose magic keeps them both eternally young and bound to the traveling show. The young mages have to figure out a way to safely end the twisted game.
It’s a heartbreakingly sweet story filled with awe-inspiring descriptions of the dazzling attractions. Helene Wecker’s debut novel combines Jewish and Arabic mythologies for a beautiful romance set in 19th-century New York. Chava, a golem whose would-be master died on the voyage to America, and Ahmad, a jinni freshly released from a flask and trapped in human form, explore their new home, finding kindness from other immigrants.
But the strongest bond they form is with each other. The two immortals with very different views on humanity become unlikely companions on long strolls through the city. While the book does come to a tense climax, Wecker takes her time detailing the way Chava and Ahmad search for purpose and comfort in things as simple as baking bread and finding a way to warm up during the winter.
The book kicks off a trilogy following the golem and jinni through the decades, which concluded in September with the release of The Gates of Midnight. The Brothers Grimm’s tale of Rumpelstiltskin serves as the basis of Naomi Novik’s Locus Award-winning novel set in the fictional Eastern European kingdom of Lithvas. When Miryem Mandelstam takes over her father’s moneylending business, she’s so effective at collecting on debts that she boasts she can “turn silver into gold.” A fae king makes her prove the claim, pulling her into a conflict between his realm and the demon Chernobog.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
