Curated by Jen Moyers  (@jen.loves.books)
The Unabridged 2025 Reading Challenge is under way! On Wednesday, I shared some recommendations for books that will meet the category "Retelling from a secondary character's perspective." To provide some additional recommendations, I'm highlighting a few more book reviews of novels that would work for this category. (There's one repeat, but I couldn't resist!)
Here’s a closer look at these five amazing retellings. Be sure to click the titles to read the full review!
Annie Sullivan's TIGER QUEEN (Jen's review)
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review: “Annie Sullivan acknowledges the roots of her novel Tiger Queen in the book’s epigraph in which she thanks her 'middle school English teacher, Mrs. Desautels, for first asking the question, "The lady or the tiger?"' As a fan of retellings of classic literature, I was hooked. I’ve always loved the complexity of the original story, which offers up a princess who’s barbaric enough that she may just send her lover to his death by tiger rather than see him in the arms of another woman.
"Sullivan’s young adult novel uses this story, Frank R. Stockton’s 'The Lady, or the Tiger?,' as a springboard for a story about class division, corruption, and power. At the novel’s heart is Kateri, the daughter of the powerful king who rules a small kingdom built on a formerly lush oasis. Now, the kingdom suffers because of a murderous drought that requires strict rationing of water for its citizens."
Pat Barker's THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS - The Cost of War (Ashley's Review)
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review:
"The Silence of the Girls is a retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of Briseis, a queen of a kingdom near Troy who, after the sacking of her kingdom and murder of her brothers and husband, became enslaved as Achilles's war prize. When King Agamemnon takes Briseis as his own and insults Achilles, that brings about Achilles's decision to refuse to fight in the war, resulting in a mounting death toll and impending failure for the Greeks. It's only after Patroclus's brutal death and Achilles's resulting despair that Achilles at last decides to fight, which turns the tide of the war for the Greeks but costs Achilles his life."
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review:Â
“Through three parallel stories, Solomon explores the ways that women can fight to define their identities, even in situations when they seem to be powerless.
"At the heart of the book is the biblical story of Esther, the second wife of the king. Solomon uses this story as the core of her book, telling it on page 1 and retelling it with different details and at different depths, until we come to consider both the truth of the story and the nature of storytelling in general. In the story of Esther, the king’s first wife, Vashti, descended from royalty (and, therefore, outranking her husband) disappeared under strange circumstances–the king had tested her by asking her to strip naked in front of a crowd of advisors. When she refused . . . well, no one knows because no one has seen her since her refusal."
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review:Â
“Friends, this one, Jennifer Saint's Ariadne, was another five-star read for me, and it's one I absolutely wanted to share on here. I think what I found so captivating about this one is the way that through exploration of several of the Greek myths, Jennifer Saint highlights the way that women in the stories pay for the faults of men, be they mortals or gods. Although this one does not spare the reader heartbreak, as the stories largely follow the inevitable outcomes of the original myths, there is solace in the sisterhood of women and the ways that they can carry on because of each other woven throughout the story centering on Ariadne's life."
(Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)
From the review:Â
“Samantha Cohoe’s Bright Ruined Things is a YA retelling of The Tempest (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) set in the 1920s, but you definitely don’t need to have read the play to enjoy this fabulous novel. (I read the play last in college, a looong time ago, and I actually think trying to remember the connections did more harm than good to my impressions of this novel.)
"In the book, the main character Mae lives on an island ruled by the Prosper family. The patriarch Lord Prosper found the island with her father and discovered the magic that has made the Prospers wealthy beyond imagining. Ever since, Lord Prosper and his descendants have ruled the island, compounding their wealth with the aid of the spirits who serve them."
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