18 mythology and folklore retellings that aren’t Greek

Wait, there’s mythology and folklore that isn’t Greek?!

I know, it’s a bit of a shock, but there is, and there are books that retell those myths and tales too! They seem to fade into the background a bit at the moment with the onslaught of Greek mythology retellings - and’s there’s no shade against Greek myth because I adore it, it’s just good to get a bit of variety sometimes.

There are so many to choose from that I made them into a handy dandy graphic for you, and broke them down into a list according to their origins. You’re welcome.

The titles broken down by country/culture are:

Britain

‘Sistersong’ by Lucy Holland

China

‘Daughter of the Moon Goddess’ by Sue Lynn Tan

‘Song of Silver, Flame Like Night’ by Amélie Wen Zhao

Egypt

‘The Kane Chronicles’ by Rick Riordan

Germany

‘Six Crimson Cranes’ by Elizabeth Lim

India

‘Kaikeyi’ by Vaishnavi Patel

Mexico

‘Gods of Jade and Shadow’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Pan-African

‘Beasts of Prey’ by Ayana Grey

Russia

‘The Witch and the Tsar’ by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

‘The Winternight trilogy’ by Katherine Arden

Scandinavia (Norse)

‘Loki’ by Melvin Burgess

‘Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to being Good’ by Louie Stowell

‘The Valkyrie’ by Kate Heartfield

‘The Witch’s Heart’ by Genevieve Gornichec

Scotland (Celtic)

‘Dream Angus’ by Alexander McCall Smith

West Africa

‘Children of Blood and Bone’ by Tomi Adeyemi

‘Skin of the Sea’ by Natasha Bowen

Collected myths

‘Love in Colour’ by Bolu Bablola

(All of these classifications have come from the summaries and marketing materials of these novels available online.)

Are you a retelling lover? Do you have a favourite origin culture or country?

Written by Sophie