Books like 'Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker'
Readers who enjoyed Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical fantasy action / adventure mystery retellings historical-fiction fairy-tale magical-realism season-winter magic
-
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsA publishing event: Bestselling author Ken Liu selects his award-winning science fiction and fantasy tales for a groundbreaking collection—including a brand-new piece exclusive to this volume.With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction literary-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings -
The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsLove speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns. Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price... -
Герой должен быть один by Henry Lion Oldie
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsМиф о подвигах Геракла известен всем с малолетства. Но не все знают, что на юном Геракле пересеклись интересы Олимпийской Семьи, свергнутых, в Тартар титанов, а также многих людей – в результате чего будущий герой и его брат Ификл с детства стали заложниками чужих интриг... -
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsJo, Bessie and Fanny take their cousin Rick on an adventure he'll never forget to the magic Faraway Tree, where he meets Moon-Face, Silky the fairy and Saucepan Man, and visits all the different lands at the top of the Faraway Tree...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
-
Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsFans of dark fairy-tales like The Hazel Wood and The Cruel Prince will relish this atmospheric and absorbing book based on Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed movie...Categorized as:
classics fairy-tale historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings -
The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsJo, Bessie and Fanny move to the country and find an Enchanted Wood right on their doorstep. In the magic Faraway Tree live the magical characters that soon become their new friends – Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, and Saucepan Man...Categorized as:
animals classics fairy-tale literary-fiction magic retellings 20th-century action-adventure -
Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOld Babushka, known throughout all of Moskva for her beautifully painted eggs, is preparing her eggs for the Easter Festival when she takes in an injured goose. She names the goose Rechenka, and they live happily together until one day when Rechenka accidentally overturns a basket, breaking all of Babushka's lovingly crafted eggs... -
The Dragon's Apprentice by James A. Owen
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSeven years after the events of The Shadow Dragons, John, Jack and Charles are finally able to return to their beloved Archipelago of Dreams. But even as their return is celebrated by old friends, new concerns shadow the reunion: the threat of Ecthroi, primordial Shadow. And perhaps even worse, the apparent splintering of Time itself...Categorized as:
animals classics historical-fiction magic myths retellings action-adventure alternate-history -
Blizzard of the Blue Moon by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsJack and Annie are off on another Merlin Mission. This time, Merlin has sent them to rescue a beautiful magical creature—the unicorn. But when they land in New York City during the Depression of the 1930s, Jack and Annie are confused. Where will they find a unicorn in a big city?From the Hardcover edition...Categorized as:
animals historical-fiction magic myths retellings season-winter action-adventure audiobook -
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsChava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic, created to be the wife of a man who dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899...Categorized as:
fairy-tale historical-fiction literary-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths 21st-century -
The Girl with No Face by M.H. Boroson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe adventures of Li-lin, a Daoist priestess with the unique ability to see the spirit world, continue in the thrilling follow-up to the critically-acclaimed historical urban fantasy The Girl with Ghost Eyes.It’s the end of the Nineteenth Century. San Francisco’s cobblestone streets are haunted, but Chinatown has an unlikely protector in a young Daoist priestess named Li-lin...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure adult -
The Dragons of Winter by James A. Owen
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Archipelago of Dreams is no more…but the battle to save it has just begun in the penultimate book in the acclaimed Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series.The Caretakers are at war. The Archipelago of Dreams has fallen to the Echthroi, and the link to the Summer Country has been lost...Categorized as:
animals classics historical-fiction magic myths retellings action-adventure alternate-history -
How to Climb a Lady's Tower by Bree Wolf
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn untamed lady...A stranger in the night...And a match made in heaven. Nothing but a pawn in her uncle’s game for title and station, Miss Rebecca Hawkins is forced to spend her days in the company of the most boring lord to ever cross her path, dreading the day he will finally work up the courage to ask for her hand. Her dreams of adventure are crushed by the duty laid upon her shoulders...Categorized as:
classics fairy-tale historical-fiction literary-fiction retellings action-adventure adult book -
The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFrom the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and The Kingdoms, an epic Cold War novel set in a mysterious town in Soviet Russia...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction action-adventure adult book fiction historical -
-
Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsBefore Miss Peregrine gave them a home, the story of peculiars was written in the Tales. Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. The origins of the first ymbryne...Categorized as:
fairy-tale historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings 21st-century -
The Shadow Dragons by James A. Owen
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica are at war. The Imperial Cartological Society, led by Richard Burton, have collected all of the doors from the Keep of Time, and are building a new tower in our world at the request of an old enemy: The Winter King’s Shadow...Categorized as:
animals classics historical-fiction magic myths retellings action-adventure alternate-history -
Magic Tree House: #1-4 by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMagic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-4: Dinosaurs Before Dark, The Knight at Dawn, Mummies in the Morning, and Pirates Past... -
The Story of the Stone by Barry Hughart
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsIn the valley of Sorrows, a monk is brutally murdered for a worthless manuscript, and the abbot of the humble monastery calls upon Master Li and Number Ten Ox to investigate the seemingly senseless killing. The most likely suspect is the infamous Laughing Prince, founder of the valley, whose murderous frenzies have made him a legend...Categorized as:
classics fairy-tale historical-fiction magic myths retellings 20th-century action-adventure -
Eve of the Emperor Penguin by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsJACK AND ANNIE continue their quest for the secrets of happiness--secrets they need to save Merlin. This time, the Magic Tree House takes them to the one continent they haven't visited before: Antarctica! What can they hope to learn about happiness in such a barren place? Only the penguins know for sure . .Categorized as:
animals historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism action-adventure audiobook book -
Night of the New Magicians by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsMerlin sends Jack and Annie on a mysterious mission to Paris, France, over a 100 years ago. There they must find four magicians and give them an urgent message from Merlin himself. When Jack and Annie land in Paris, they make their way to the 1889 World’s Fair. Below the Eiffel Tower, built especially for the fair, there are thousands of exhibits from all over the world... -
Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe moon is missing from the remote Village of Clear Sky, but only a young boy named Rendi seems to notice! Rendi has run away from home and is now working as a chore boy at the village inn...Categorized as:
animals fairy-tale historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings -
The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsrelates the adventures of Satan, the sinless nephew of the biblical Satan, in Eseldorf, an Austrian village in the year 1702. Twain wrote this version between November 1897 and September 1900. "Eseldorf" is German for "Assville" or "Donkeytown"... -
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn 1558, while exiled by Queen Mary Tudor to a remote castle known as Perilous Gard, young Kate Sutton becomes involved in a series of mysterious events that lead her to an underground world peopled by Fairy Folk—whose customs are even older than the Druids’ and include human sacrifice...Categorized as:
classics fairy-tale historical-fiction magic magical-realism myths retellings 20th-century -
Tower of Thorns by Juliet Marillier
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAward-winning author Juliet Marillier’s “lavishly detailed”* Blackthorn & Grim series continues as a mysterious creature holds an enchanted and imperiled ancient Ireland in thrall. Disillusioned healer Blackthorn and her companion, Grim, have settled in Dalriada to wait out the seven years of Blackthorn’s bond to her fey mentor, hoping to avoid any dire challenges... -
-
The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsThey are each other's fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope. Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost -- one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumoured to grant its possessor the power of God...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths season-winter action-adventure -
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 69 ratingsIn a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.Then she finds a strange book... -
A Wolf for a Spell by Karah Sutton
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Girl Who Drank the Moon meets Pax in this fantastical tale of a wolf who forms an unlikely alliance with Baba Yaga to save the forest from a wicked tsar.Since she was a pup, Zima has been taught to fear humans—especially witches—but when her family is threatened, she has no choice but to seek help from the witch Baba Yaga...Categorized as:
animals fairy-tale historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings -
Satyayoddha Kalki: Eye of Brahma by Kevin Missal
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAbout the BookAfter a defeat at the hands of Lord Kali, Kalki Hari must journey towards the Mahendragiri mountains with his companions to finally become the avatar he is destined to be.But the road ahead is not without peril . . .Not only is he trapped by the cannibalistic armies of the Pisach, he is also embroiled in the civil war of the Vanars...Categorized as:
historical-fiction myths retellings action-adventure book fiction historical mystery -
The Prairie Thief by Melissa Wiley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this “delightful mash-up of Little House on the Prairie and The Spiderwick Chronicles” (SLJ), experience life on the prairie—with one fantastical twist!Louisa Brody’s life on the Colorado prairie is not at all what she expected. Her dear Pa, accused of thievery, is locked thirty miles away in jail...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure book -
Traitor's Masque by Kenley Davidson, Esther Wane
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhat would you be willing to betray in exchange for your freedom?Trystan was once the pampered daughter of a wealthy aristocrat, but since his death, she’s considered a social pariah. Trapped by her stepmother’s malicious web of lies, Trystan is willing to do just about anything to escape—even play a part in a devious plot to disinherit the kingdom’s incompetent heir, Prince Ramsey...Categorized as:
fairy-tale historical-fiction myths retellings action-adventure adaptations audiobook book -
Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsDreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica.Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word “boudeg”). She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome -- and triumph...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq magic magical-realism myths retellings 21st-century action-adventure -
Vacation Under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsJack and Annie are ready for their next fantasy adventure in the bestselling middle-grade series—the Magic Tree House! Who wants to vacation next to a volcano?Jack and Annie are about to find out when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to the days of the Roman Empire. They arrive in Pompeii and soon discover that it is the very day the city will be destroyed... -
Billy the Kid and the Vampyres of Vegas by Michael Scott
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsYears before Sophie and Josh Newman met Nicholas Flamel, two legendary warriors fought together for the first time. Billy the Kid and Scathach the Shadow. Now that lost story can be told . . . Billy the Kid is immortal. And being immortal means following unpredictable paths...Categorized as:
historical-fiction low-fantasy magic myths retellings action-adventure book children -
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAt the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was captured in New York with the help of Newt Scamander. But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escapes custody and sets about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings...Categorized as:
animals classics historical-fiction magic magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure book -
-
The Blue Fairy Book (Illustrated) by Andrew Lang
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsThe first volume of the famous 12-book series of fairy tales compiled by Andrew Lang that spans all continents and includes 444 tales in total. The first part of the series, The Blue Fairy Book, includes such tales as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Blue Beard and Rumpelstiltskin; as well as excerpts from Jonathan Swift and One Thousand and One Nights...Categorized as:
classics fairy-tale literary-fiction magic myths retellings action-adventure anthologies -
The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman by Robin Gregory
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA disabled orphan discovers he has miraculous abilities linked to the Light-Eaters, a primordial race that warns intolerant, early-1900s villagers of an upcoming natural disaster. Having won a number of awards, Robin Gregory's The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman is being lauded as a classic... -
The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA young woman is both a bard--and a warrior--in this thrilling historical fantasy from the author of the Sevenwaters novels.Eighteen-year-old Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Her brother has a voice to melt the hardest heart, and a rare talent on the harp. But Liobhan's burning ambition is to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island...Categorized as:
fairy-tale historical-fiction magic magical-realism myths action-adventure audiobook book -
Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsMerlin's Missions are more detailed than regular Magic Tree House, fast-paced, detailed, easy to read. Jack and Annie quest to save Camelot. Beleaguered King Arthur learns that children and imagination really can make a difference...Categorized as:
animals historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings season-winter -
The Arabian Nights by Anonymous
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsThis volume reproduces the 1932 Modern Library edition, for which Bennett A. Cerf chose the most famous and representative stories from Sir Richard F. Burton's multivolume translation, and includes Burton's extensive and acclaimed explanatory notes...Categorized as:
classics fairy-tale historical-fiction literary-fiction magic myths retellings action-adventure -
Summer of the Sea Serpent by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsJack and Annie are off on another mythical mission at the request of Merlin the magician. Luckily, they have a young sorcerer, Teddy, to help them. From underwater caves to a Spider Queen, from mystical selkies to a magical sword, this is a Magic Tree House adventure kids won't want to miss...Categorized as:
animals historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure -
Night of the Ninjas by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsJack and Annie are ready for their next fantasy adventure in the bestselling middle-grade series?the Magic Tree House! Have you ever met a real live ninja? Jack and Annie do when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to ancient Japan, where they find themselves in the cave of a ninja master...Categorized as:
animals classics historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism action-adventure audiobook -
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming, John Burningham
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen an inventor brings home an old racing car and rebuilds it, the family gets more than they counted on--because the car has some hidden talents of her own. The family's jaunt to France gets the children kidnapped and involved in a counterfeiting plot.. -
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsL. M. Boston's thrilling and chilling tales of Green Knowe, a haunted manor deep in an overgrown garden in the English countryside, have been entertaining readers for half a century.There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe..Categorized as:
animals classics historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism season-winter 20th-century -
Dragon of the Red Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsMerlin the magician will not eat or sleep or speak to anyone in Camelot. What can be done? The enchantress Morgan knows who to ask for help: young Jack and Annie of Frog Creek, Pennsylvania! The brother-and-sister team quickly head off in the magic tree house on another magical and historical adventure. Their mission: discover one of the four secrets of happiness...Categorized as:
animals historical-fiction low-fantasy magic magical-realism myths retellings action-adventure -
-
The Witch’s Lens by Luanne G. Smith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsAs World War I rages, there are evils—both living and dead—that only a witch can see in a spellbinding novel by the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of The Raven Spell.With her husband off fighting at World War I’s eastern front, Petra Kurková embraces her fleeting freedom, roaming the city at night with her camera...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic magical-realism myths low-fantasy retellings fantasy paranormal -
Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA mermaid haunts Adrianne's dreams . . . is she coming to warn her, save her, or drag her down into the depths of the briny sea forever?When Adrianne comes face-to-face with the mermaid of Windwaithe Island, of whom she has heard terrible stories all her life, she is convinced the mermaid means to take her younger sister... -
Lost Acre by Andrew Caldecott
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWynter is here . . .Geryon Wynter has returned to Rotherweird and has not only taken over the town but is busy destroying the countrysiders' life too. Can our small band of heroes find a way to outwit a genius whose master plan is five centuries in the making? Watch this space . . -
The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA intoxicating and darkly immersive story of obsession, illusion and the price of freedom, from the award-winning author of The UnseeingParis, 1750. In the midst of winter, as birds fall frozen from the sky, a new maid arrives at the home of a celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magical-realism season-winter magic literary-fiction historical mystery gothic -
The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsOrphan Seren Rhys is on her way to a new life at the remote country mansion of Plas-y Fran when she is given a package by a stranger late at night in an empty train station. The package contains a crotchety, mechanical talking crow, which Seren reluctantly brings to her new home...Categorized as:
animals historical-fiction magic myths retellings season-winter action-adventure audiobook -
Le notti del califfo by Renée Ahdieh
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsÈ iniziato tutto come un gioco. Ma il capitano delle guardie Jalal al-Khoury, noto a tutti come un libertino, potrebbe avere finalmente trovato la sua anima gemella nell’affascinante Despina, l’altezzosa ancella del palazzo. Anche lei sembra avere un debole per Jalal e quella che è iniziata come una battaglia di orgoglio si trasforma presto in una tormentata passione...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.