Here are 83 books that Echo North fans have personally recommended if you like
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I love fantasies that dream up totally new worlds! Some people condemn the fantasy genre as formulaic, and sometimes they’re right—but it shouldn’t be so! Fantasies can explore worlds as wide and wild and wonderful as the human imagination itself! Anything’s possible! But I also love a fantasy world that’s as real, coherent, and consistent as our own real world. I think that’s the ultimate challenge for any author: to create it all from the grassroots up. And for any reader, the trip of a lifetime! My personal preference is for worlds a bit on the dark side—just so long as they blow my mind!
Three worlds in one book! There’s the not-so-important world of the Ancelstierre, roughly Edwardian or early-20th-Century-ish, and there’s the Old Kingdom, basically medieval, where Charter Magic wars with Free Magic (and how well Nix thinks through the workings of his forms of magic).
But the third world is the one that takes the cake! An underworld of the dead, with its different levels, gates, and sills. Sabriel discovers her own special inheritance and powers—OK, that’s standard fantasy fare, except that Sabriel’s powers are those of an abhorsen. It’s the Abhorsen’s role to make sure that the dead stay dead, and journey on down into the deeper levels of death. Of course, the dead who keep coming back are the ones who drive the narrative!
A stunning anniversary gift edition of the second in the bestselling Old Kingdom fantasy series.
Sabriel has spent most of her young life far away from the magical realm of the Old Kingdom, and the Dead that roam it. But then a creature from across the Wall arrives at her all-girls boarding school with a message from her father, the Abhorsen - the magical protector of the realm whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those that won't stay Dead. Sabriel's father has been trapped in Death by a dangerous Free Magic creature.
I grew up on fairy tales and folklore in the Appalachian Mountains. Stories of adventure and dusty fairy tale books in my grandmother’s attic were my entertainment. The library trips we took “into town” added to my reading. I discovered that the step from fairy tales to classics wasn’t as wide as folks argue. Years later, when I went off to college, I became an English major, then a graduate student, and then started teaching literature at college. From childhood to adulthood, magic and fiction were my life... which led to selling a book of my own. Over the last 17 years, I’ve been writing fantasy.
I gave a quote for the cover of the first printing of it, in fact. Fifteen years later, it still remains a book that can carry me away to a world where magic is not a gift but a challenge to overcome.
Kristen had a fresh idea here, but it still folded into my love of adventure and magic and finding out who we are inside.
That’s a story that will always get my attention, and the writing in this one is also lush enough to make me want to pause and re-read lines.
Discover the Graceling Realm in this unforgettable, award-winning novel from bestselling author Kristin Cashore.
A New York Times bestseller ALA Best Book for Young Adults Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Winner Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal,Booklist, and BCCB Best Book of the Year
"Rageful, exhilarating, wistful in turns" (The New York Times Book Review) with "a knee weakening romance" (LA Times). Graceling is a thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure that will resonate deeply with anyone trying to find their way in the world.
Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable-yet-strong Katsa, who is smart and beautiful and lives in the…
Journey stories were what first drew me to fantasy as a reader. I grew up doing a lot of amateur camping and hiking with my family, and liked to pretend—whilst tramping along rocky, Oklahoma paths through the woods—that I was lost in an enchanted forest, or trekking bravely across perilous lands with the hopes of many on my shoulders. In college I even taught a summer camp class called Mountain Man, which took students through the woods, teaching them about various plants and roots. Tolkien was my first fantasy love, and I never feel more at home than when I’m on a fictional journey to save the world.
The Naming, which is the first in The Books of Pellinor quartet, was the first true YA quest novel I ever read. As a Tolkien nerd who was greatly inspired in high school by the Lord of the Rings—almost certainly the series which made me a fantasy writer myself—I had never encountered anything in YA that came close to the depth of landscape worldbuilding that Tolkien so masterfully executes in his books. And in The Naming I felt like I had finally entered a world as intricate and well-developed as Middle-earth—or as close as the faster pace of YA narrative would allow. What was more, our reluctant quester turned out to be a young woman, and I was both thrilled and relieved to see myself in Maerad as I joined her on her journey.
"An epic fantasy in the Tolkien tradition, with a strong girl hero. . . . I couldn’t put it down!" – Tamora Pierce
Maerad is a slave in a desperate and unforgiving settlement, taken there as a child when her family is destroyed in war. She doesn’t yet know she has inherited a powerful gift, one that marks her as a member of the noble School of Pellinor and enables her to see the world as no other can. It is only when she is discovered by Cadvan, one of the great Bards of Lirigon, that her true identity and…
I love being cozy more than just about anything – that’s why I keep writing books set in boarding schools in the fall! My books are best served with a cup of tea and a purring kitten to get you through the sad bits – which, as we all know, just make romantic endings even more satisfying.
Anna writes cozy romantic fantasies that feel like getting a hug from your best friend.
A Cinderella retelling (we love a retelling!) in which our main character, Selah, has to travel the world to find a husband to save her family’s legacy, this book will have you giggling and gasping all the way to the end. And don’t worry – there is a sequel, The Boundless, and it’s just as good.
"Sparkles with beauty, intrigue, and romance."-Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series
Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match.
But after an excruciatingly public rejection, Selah's stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic to visit a series of potential suitors-and if she doesn't come home engaged, she shouldn't come home at all.
From the gardens of England to the fjords of Norge, Selah's quest will be the…
One of my favorite sections in the library is the collections of folk and fairy tales. Especially the lesser-known tales. My novel, Vasilisa, is inspired by the Russian folktale Vasilisaand Staver, plus my question of “how did Vasilisa get so strong?” I love combining folk tales with extensive research of the culture and history of their settings, as well as delving into characters who have vastly different experiences than mine. And I love reading character and detail-rich novelizations of traditional tales. It was difficult to pick only five novels based on lesser-known fairy tales. Enjoy, then go find some others!
I have two favorite retellings of Goose Girl and it was difficult to pick one for my list (the other is by Shannon Hale). The lyrical language combined with a young woman who grows from passive acceptance to taking a stand is beautiful. I especially love the ending and her unique solution to saving the man she loves. It is a story of abuse and healing, learning to trust and to find family. It is also on justice and mercy, at many levels.
'A dark, Middle-Eastern influenced retelling [...] dangerous secrets, false identities, delicious court intrigue and justice.' Culture Fly
Between her family's cruelty and the court's contempt, Princess Alyrra has spent her life in the shadows. Forced to marry a powerful foreign prince, Alyrra embarks on a journey to meet her betrothed with little hope for a better future. But powerful men have powerful enemies - and now so does Alyrra.
When Alyrra is betrayed and her identity is switched with another woman's, Alyrra is faced with the first choice she's ever had: to start a new life for herself or fight…
One of my favorite sections in the library is the collections of folk and fairy tales. Especially the lesser-known tales. My novel, Vasilisa, is inspired by the Russian folktale Vasilisaand Staver, plus my question of “how did Vasilisa get so strong?” I love combining folk tales with extensive research of the culture and history of their settings, as well as delving into characters who have vastly different experiences than mine. And I love reading character and detail-rich novelizations of traditional tales. It was difficult to pick only five novels based on lesser-known fairy tales. Enjoy, then go find some others!
I literally guffawed as I read this—enough times that my kids begged me to read it to them (which I did). This retelling of Beowulf played with expectations, twisting and turning in unexpected ways. The characters were fully fleshed out, with plenty of faults and quirks. No one was who I thought they were. Intrigue, magic, and stubborn independence mixed to make this delightful tale.
Plagued by misfortune, Ingrid Norling treks into the woods to clear her head. She emerges a monster-slayer, the shaken executioner of a creature so ferocious that even the king's strongest warriors could not destroy it. In a land that reveres swords and worships strength, this accidental heroism earns Inge an audience at court and an ill-fated prize: King Halvard impulsively adopts her and names her as his heir.
Under constant guard to prevent her escape, Inge confronts the ignoble underbelly of the royal court: a despotic king, a clueless princess, a proud warrior, and a dangerous intrigue. As secrets unravel…
One of my favorite sections in the library is the collections of folk and fairy tales. Especially the lesser-known tales. My novel, Vasilisa, is inspired by the Russian folktale Vasilisaand Staver, plus my question of “how did Vasilisa get so strong?” I love combining folk tales with extensive research of the culture and history of their settings, as well as delving into characters who have vastly different experiences than mine. And I love reading character and detail-rich novelizations of traditional tales. It was difficult to pick only five novels based on lesser-known fairy tales. Enjoy, then go find some others!
This was one of my first introductions to novel-length fairy tales. Shadow Spinner influenced the first stories I made up as bedtime tales for my little sisters. Like Marjan, I love playing with the many threads of traditional tales, weaving them together with my own threads of imagination. I still have folders with my first attempts at writing the thousand-and-second tale of Arabian Nights.
Every night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live another day -- providing the story is interesting enough to capture his attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales. And that is how Marjan's story begins.... It falls to Marjan to help Shahrazad find new stories -- ones the Sultan has never heard before. To do that, the girl is forced to undertake a dangerous and forbidden mission: sneak from the harem and travel the city, pulling tales from strangers and bringing them back to Shahrazad. But as she searches the…
One of my favorite sections in the library is the collections of folk and fairy tales. Especially the lesser-known tales. My novel, Vasilisa, is inspired by the Russian folktale Vasilisaand Staver, plus my question of “how did Vasilisa get so strong?” I love combining folk tales with extensive research of the culture and history of their settings, as well as delving into characters who have vastly different experiences than mine. And I love reading character and detail-rich novelizations of traditional tales. It was difficult to pick only five novels based on lesser-known fairy tales. Enjoy, then go find some others!
This book blended fantasy and science fiction in a way that caught me and didn’t let go. I appreciate the moral dilemma of: is it better to interfere and stop a wrong if the interference might cause an even greater wrong? I like to make decisions based on facts rather than emotion, but this book shows how both are needed in balance. And how even doing good comes at a cost—are we willing to pay the cost?
Rediscover this beloved Newbery Honor-winning classic, Featuring a brand-new cover and a foreword by Lois Lowry!
Elana, a member of an interstellar civilization on a mission to a medieval planet, becomes the key to a dangerous plan to turn back an invasion. How can she help the Andrecians, who still believe in magic and superstition, without revealing her own alien powers? At the same time, Georyn, the son of an Andrecian woodcutter, knows only that there is a dragon in the enchanted forest, and he must defeat it. He sees Elana as the Enchantress from the Stars who has come…
I’ve been captivated by wonder for four years now, but it’s my family’s experience of grief that convinced me that wonder is essential. On a dark December day, my grandpa, John, passed away. There was an emptiness that would not go away, until God broke through the darkness that was suffocating our hearts and home. I was reminded that wonder is a gift from a loving, intentional Father and a sword that cuts through the lies that tell us faith is pointless, childish, and weak. I hope that my own story, as well as the others I’ve shared here, helps reignite your own desire to fight for wonder.
This is a retelling of the classic fairy tale, and it’s a world that I love to disappear into year after year. Eastchallenged me to see beyond the surface of my circumstances and gave a glimpse of the treasure that was only waiting for me to have the eyes to see it. It’s the book that convinced me that the reality of grief wasn’t the end of my family’s story.
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What is this book about?
Full of fear and excitement, Rose, a young woman, journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear, only to find that her journey has just begun, in a retelling of the classic tale, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." Jr. Lib Guild. An ALA Notable Book & Top Ten Best Books for Young Readers. Reprint.
I'm a Polish, London-based writer of Slavic-folklore-inspired fantasy novels for adults (The Second Bell, out from Angry Robot Books) and children (The Wind Child, published by Uclan). I write stories of families, grief, motherhood, and communities, steeped in the Ancient Slavic lore and set against the beauty and danger of the natural (and supernatural) world.
Stunningly illustrated by Morris, this retelling of the Scandinavian folktale incorporates the stories of refugees and the search for love, and freedom. The bravery of the main character, the force of her determination, and the courage to challenge the expectations of the story’s narrative make for a fascinating read.
From the moment she saw him, the girl knew the bear had come for her. How many times had she dreamed of him? Now, here he was, as if spelled from her dreams.
This encounter marks the beginning of a long and extraordinary journey. At the bear's secret palace in faraway mountains she is treated so courteously, though troubled by the bear's unfathomable sadness. As the bear's secret unravels, another adventure unfolds, which takes her to the homes of the four winds and beyond, to the castle east of the sun, west of the moon.
