Many fantasies expand on familiar fairy tales, myths or legends. Here are some favorite fairy tales with a twist, and lore about King Arthur and his court you've never heard before!
Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl
Rather than marry a cruel king or a seemingly dim-witted prince, an enchanted goose girl endures imprisonment, capture by several ogresses, and other dangers, before learning exactly who she is
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
A talking cat, intelligent rats, and a strange boy cooperate in a Pied Piper scam until they try to con the wrong town and are confronted by a deadly evil rat king.
Straw Into Gold by Gary Schmidt
Pursued by greedy villains, two boys on a quest to save innocent lives meet the banished queen whose son was stolen by Rumpelstiltskin eleven years earlier, and she provides much more than the answer they seek.
After Hamelin by Bill Richardson
Penelope awakens on her eleventh birthday to discover she can no longer hear, but her unexplained deafness is the only thing that saves her when the Pied Piper returns to Hamelin to claim the town's children with his magical music, leaving her free to try and rescue them.
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde
A collection of variations on the familiar story of a boastful miller and the daughter he claims can spin straw into gold.
The Legend of Lady Ilena by Patricia Malone
In sixth-century Great Britain, a fifteen-year-old girl seeking knowledge of her lineage is drawn into battle to defend the homeland she never knew, aided by one of King Arthur's knights.
The Wings of Merlin by T.A. Barron
Merlin's fragile home on the isle of Fincayra is threatened by the attack of a mysterious warrior with swords for arms and by the escape of Stangmar from his imprisonment, as Merlin continues to move toward his ultimate destiny.
From the Lost Years of Merlin series: The Lost Years of Merlin (1996), The Seven Songs of Merlin (1997), The Fires of Merlin (1998), The Mirror of Merlin (1999), The Wings of Merlin (2000)
I Am Morgan le Fay: A Tale from Camelot by Nancy Springer
In a war-torn England where her half-brother Arthur will eventually become king, the young Morgan le Fay comes to realize that she has magic powers and links to the faerie world.
The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf by Gerald Morris
Lynet, a feisty young woman, journeys to King Arthur's court in order to find a champion to rescue her beautiful older sister, and she is joined in her quest by a clever dwarf and a bold kitchen knave, neither of whom are not what they seem.
Quiver by Stephanie Spinner
Sixteen-year-old Atalanta, abandoned as an infant, has grown to become a renowned archer and swiftest mortal alive due to the intervention of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, so when the father who forsook her so many years before issues an ultimatum that Atalanta marry and produce an heir, she counters with the condition that the man she weds must be able to best her in a footrace or die.