Now here is a curious thing about readers who love Shannon Hale. They are rather particular creatures, you see, and not just any fantasy will do. They require a certain something—a whisper of magic that tastes of starlight, heroines who are both brave and wonderfully clever, and prose that reads rather like a wise friend telling you secrets by candlelight.
If you have devoured The Goose Girl and Princess Academy and find yourself quite bereft without more such stories, do not despair. For there exist other books in this world—splendid books—that capture that very same enchantment. Adventures where young women refuse to be merely decorative, where magic crackles just beneath the surface of ordinary things, and where fairy tales are retold with fresh wit and unexpected depth.
What follows is a collection of such treasures, each one carefully chosen for readers who understand that the best stories are the ones that make you forget, entirely, that you are reading at all.
The Wendy by Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown
If ever there was a fairy tale retelling destined to delight Shannon Hale enthusiasts, it is this remarkable reimagining of Peter Pan. But do not expect the tale you think you know, for this Wendy Darling is something else altogether.
Set in 1780s England, The Wendy follows a young orphan who dreams not of marriage and motherhood (as society insists she should), but of captaining her own ship upon the open sea. When she finds herself recruited into England’s secret service to battle magical forces called the Everlost, Wendy must navigate a world of flying ships, shapeshifting fey creatures, and the eternally enigmatic Peter Pan himself.
What makes this book so perfectly suited to Shannon Hale readers is its narrative voice—a warm, witty, slightly conspiratorial narrator who speaks directly to you, much as J.M. Barrie himself once did, but with a decidedly modern sensibility. Wendy possesses what reviewers have called “an expressive eyebrow” and “a secret kiss” that appears or vanishes depending upon her mood. She is fierce without being harsh, clever without being cold, and determined to forge her own path no matter how many insufferable men (including the arrogant Captain Hook) attempt to stand in her way.
The magic tastes like pickles and smells of green things growing, which is precisely the sort of delightful oddity that makes fairy tales feel real. Readers consistently describe it as “charming,” “captivating,” and possessing “all the markings of a classic.” The complete trilogy—The Wendy, The Navigator, and The Captain—is now available, so you needn’t suffer the agony of waiting.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Here we have the tale of a young woman who was given, at birth, the rather unfortunate gift of obedience—which is to say, she must do whatever anyone tells her to do, whether that be hopping on one foot for a day and a half, or handing over her most precious possessions.
This Cinderella, you see, does not simply accept her circumstances. Ella is fierce-hearted and clever, and she sets off on a grand quest to break her curse, encountering ogres and giants and elves along the way. The prince she meets is not merely handsome (though he is that); he is kind and funny and treats her as an equal, which matters rather a great deal.
Newbery Honor-winning and beloved by readers for nearly three decades, Ella Enchanted answers the question that has always nagged at sensible people: why on earth would Cinderella obey her wicked stepfamily? At last, a reason that makes sense.
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Twelve princesses wake each morning with their dancing slippers worn to tatters, and no one can discover why. Princes who attempt to solve the mystery meet terrible ends, and the king grows ever more desperate.
Enter Galen, a young soldier returning from war who takes work in the palace gardens. Armed with an invisibility cloak and a pair of silver knitting needles (yes, truly), he follows the princesses into the underground kingdom where they are forced to dance each night for a dark and terrible king.
This retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” is set in a fictionalized nineteenth-century Europe and features Rose, the eldest princess, whose determination to save her sisters matches Galen’s determination to help her. It even includes knitting patterns, should you wish to create the magical items yourself.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
In a valley shadowed by a malevolent Wood, a wizard called the Dragon takes one young woman every ten years. Everyone expects him to choose beautiful, capable Kasia—but instead, he takes Agnieszka, a clumsy young woman who cannot seem to keep her dress clean for more than five minutes.
What follows is a tale of dark magic and unexpected power, of a friendship tested to its very limits, and of a young woman who discovers she possesses abilities she never dreamed of. The Wood itself is a character—ancient, terrifying, and hungry—and the magic that Agnieszka wields is strange and wild and utterly unlike anything the Dragon has seen.
Winner of the Nebula Award and drawing upon Polish folklore, Uprooted feels like a story your grandmother might have told you, if your grandmother knew rather a lot about enchantment and darkness.
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Miryem, the daughter of a moneylender too kind to collect his debts, must harden her heart and take over the family business. She becomes so skilled at turning silver into gold that she attracts the attention of the Staryk king—a creature of ice and winter who demands she perform this feat for him, or face terrible consequences.
This retelling of Rumpelstiltskin weaves together the stories of three young women, each facing impossible choices, each discovering strength she did not know she possessed. Set against the backdrop of a Russian winter and suffused with Eastern European folklore, it is the sort of book one wishes to curl up with when the snow falls outside.
The New York Times called it a novel with “the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy of Le Guin,” which is rather high praise indeed.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
In the wild forests of medieval Russia, young Vasya can see the spirits that protect her family’s home—the domovoi in the hearth, the rusalka in the streams. But when a new stepmother arrives, determined to stamp out such pagan beliefs, the household spirits begin to fade, and something dark stirs in the Wood.
This is a tale told in the cadence of old Russian fairy tales, full of frost-demons and winter kings and a young woman who refuses to choose between the convent and marriage. Vasya is brave and stubborn and wild, and she must use her strange gifts to protect everyone she loves from an ancient evil.
NPR praised Arden’s “beautiful and deft” weaving of folklore with historical Russia, and readers consistently describe the prose as haunting, atmospheric, and absolutely transporting.
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Five sisters live in a castle high in the Transylvanian woods, keeping a precious secret: each full moon, they slip through a hidden portal into the Other Kingdom, where they dance all night with the fey folk who dwell there.
When their father falls ill and must leave for the winter, the second eldest sister, Jena, must protect both her home and their magical secret from a conniving cousin who wants to take control of everything. Meanwhile, her eldest sister falls deeply in love with a creature from the fairy realm, and war brews between the human world and the fae.
This retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” and “The Frog Prince” is atmospheric and romantic, full of that peculiar melancholy that makes the best fairy tales feel so very real.
East by Edith Pattou
Rose was born facing north, which her superstitious mother considers a terrible omen. And indeed, Rose grows up with an insatiable wanderlust that leads her, eventually, to agree to leave with a great white bear who appears at her family’s door.
The bear takes her to live in a magnificent castle, where a mysterious stranger visits her room each night. When Rose breaks the one rule she was given, she must journey across frozen wastelands to a land that lies east of the sun and west of the moon, to save her true love from a terrible enchantment.
Based on the Norwegian folk tale of the same name, East is told from multiple perspectives, spans hundreds of pages, and takes its heroine on a journey that requires her to learn mapmaking, sailing, and survival in the frozen north. It is epic in scope and tender at heart.
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
What if Cinderella were a cyborg mechanic in a futuristic Beijing? What if the glass slipper were actually a foot? And what if the prince needed her help to save the world from a plague and an evil lunar queen?
This is science fiction and fairy tale woven together in the most delightful way. Cinder is resourceful and clever, dismissed by society because of what she is, yet possessed of secrets that could change everything. The world-building is intricate, the mystery compelling, and the romance—when it comes—absolutely satisfying.
Cinder is the first in The Lunar Chronicles, which continues with retellings of Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White, all interconnected and all equally clever.
The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
Princess Addie has always been the timid one, content to let her brave sister Meryl dream of slaying dragons and going on quests. But when Meryl falls ill with the Gray Death, Addie must become the hero she never believed she could be.
Armed with magical gifts including a tablecloth that produces food, boots that carry her seven leagues at a step, and a cloak that makes her invisible, Addie sets out to find the cure. Along the way, she encounters dragons, specters, and a sorcerer whose help comes at a terrible price.
This is a story about discovering courage you did not know you had, which is precisely the sort of story that Shannon Hale readers adore.
Finding Your Next Fairy Tale Adventure
The books gathered here share something essential with Shannon Hale’s beloved novels: they trust their readers. They do not condescend or simplify. They offer heroines who think and feel and make difficult choices, who fail sometimes and succeed gloriously at others, who understand that growing up is both wonderful and terrifying.
Whether you choose the witty adventure of The Wendy, the dark enchantment of Uprooted, or the clever worldbuilding of Cinder, you will find stories that understand what makes fairy tales endure—not the happily ever afters, but the journeys that make those endings feel earned.
Now, which adventure shall you choose first?
