24 books like Witches of Eileanan

This novel begins in the fiery aftermath of a gruesome airship battle—and it only gets better from there. Our heroine, Josette, is a scrappy, hardworking airship captain who must contend with the undermining efforts of the fleet’s dubious general and his spies, all while fighting *actual* battles against an enemy that wants to blow her crew out of the sky. What really captured my attention about this book was the incredible descriptive voice displayed by the author: from the gory battle scenes to the complex inner workings of an airship, this is a truly immersive adventure. Josette is a smart, relatable heroine who pulls no punches and doesn’t let herself get sucked into the political minutiae, which keeps the story moving at a good clip. 

There are actually two undeniably kickass women in this book: one is the perfect hybrid of humanity and technology created to pilot gargantuan killing machines, while the other is a foul-mouthed outlaw who routinely climbs inside these machines and blows them the heck up. You can imagine the chaos that ensues when these women finally join forces and set their sights on destroying the oppressive supercity of Godolia—along with its vast army of terrifying mecha gods. I was delighted by this book for a number of reasons, not the least of which being its many bloody battle scenes and its cast of endearing characters. The tenuous relationship between Sona the Pilot and Eris the Gearbreaker kept me on edge until the very end. This is an impressive debut novel from a talented young writer, and I am looking forward to the next installment.  

This book is unhinged in the best way. I love Gideon’s unique voice. Around her is a deadly-serious necromancer murder mystery with interplanetary stakes, and she cares more about cracking dirty jokes and finally eating some warm food. Her relationship with her arch-nemesis/only friend Harrow leaps off the page.

I love the scene where they get into a pool so Harrow can finally confess to Gideon her darkest secret—so hot and so disturbing all at the same time. While this book isn’t technically a romance and the genre feels more like a horror fantasy set in space, I couldn’t resist putting it on the list. As Gideon says to Harrow, “One flesh, one end, bitch.”

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!

As a Yorkshire lass, how could I not love a book of tales from my native soil and stones? I actually helped crowdfund this book, so was one of the first to read it.

I love that many of the tales are associated with real local places. I get very excited when it mentions somewhere I know well. I was especially happy to find a gender-reversed Rapunzel (or "Man In A Tower") story in here. You don’t normally get many of those.

I remember the excitement when the news broke in 2009 that five hundred previously unknown German fairy tales had been discovered in an archive in Bavaria.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. And I still love it now. As an amateur folklorist, I like the unembellished rawness of the tales. It can be weird at times, but it brings me closer to the original tellers all those years ago.

And the little commentaries and notes on each tale, comparing them with similar tales and giving each their Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification number. Super helpful, both for studying and retelling the tales.

I was recommended this book at a local festival of African and Caribbean culture, by a storyteller who performed two of the tales from it - with music!

I love it that the tales come from many countries in the Caribbean, and reflect the many cultures that have gone into its melting pot, including West African, Indian and Indigenous peoples.

Even better, I don’t just get the tales, I get to hear about the tellers. Between the stories are recollections of the Windrush Generation, who emigrated from the Caribbean to Britain in the 1950s and 60s. As a British reader, I really appreciate that.

I’ve been a fan of Jen Campbell since first watching her YouTube channel.

She is very knowledgeable about fairy tales, and as a queer, disabled person, keen to challenge some of the genre’s othering tropes. (I’ve met her, too!). I especially like how Jen makes the Irish merman tale “The Souls Trapped Under the Sea” more obviously gay, but in a child-friendly way, and has the merman communicate underwater using sign language.

The book has a good selection of tales from across the continents, and the illustrations are just the right mix of creepy and cosy.

I adore this book!

It reminds me of the classic Joan Aiken/Jan Pienkowski fairy tale books of my childhood, such as The Kingdom Under the Sea. The amazing silhouette illustrations by Lorena Carrington just make it. Apparently, the girls in the images are Kate and Lorena’s daughters! 

I love how this book brings to light the many fairy tales from our past in which female characters are brave and resourceful. The stories don’t have to be changed; they already exist. Each tale comes with an introduction stating its source, and a little afterword from both Kate and Lorena, which feels cosy.

I adored this book. I loved its clever fairy tale reimagining of Beauty and Beast set in 1940s Germany under the Third Reich. I enjoyed the transformation of this classic fairy tale into a historical novel that was rich in detail and unique characters and revealed much of the hidden voices of resistance within Germany during this time.

Forsyth is a fellow Australian fairytale, fantasy, and historical author who writes fantasy, history, fairy tale, and myth retellings reimagined into new settings that I find inspiring and the power of the fairy tale to be retold and made new and to endure.