Hunted by Meagan Spooner
Published by: Harper Teen
Pub Date: March 14, 2007
Pages: 374
Format: ebook | Source: library
Genres: young adult, fantasy, retelling
Rating:

Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them.

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance.

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

What a magically written fairy tale! Hunted was one of those books you want to savor, the very atmosphere seeping into your bones. You could feel the deep cold of the forest and the mystery of the castle as you read. I think my favorite part of the changes to the traditional Beauty and the Beast tale was the close relationship Yeva had with her sisters coupled with the Russian firebird folklore woven into the story. I very much loved how Beast was written (it’s a tricky balance for the character), and I loved Yeva’s emotional strength, along with the spin on the Gaston character and the historical feel of the story. I’m not doing the book justice but it was SUCH a satisfying, gorgeous retelling.

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine
Series: Ravenspire #1
Published by: Balzer + Bray
Pub Date: February 16, 2016
Pages: 405
Format: ebook | Source: library
Genres: young adult, fantasy, retelling
Rating:

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

I’m glad I went back to read this after DNFing a few years ago because I enjoyed a lot of it! I liked the Draconians and Kol in particular, it was a super interesting twist on dragon lore. Lorelai was a good main character too, but kind of your standard “not like other girls” special princess. Unfortunately it does drag in a lot of places- the action gets monotonous and there is a lot of telling. I also thought Irina was a really cookie cutter villain. But I like this world a lot and I enjoyed how she twisted the Snow White fairy tale very much. I’m definitely interested in trying the companion novels.

Do you love fairy tale retellings? Have you read these yet? Let me know!