Books like 'Brand New Ancients'
Readers who enjoyed Brand New Ancients by Kae Tempest also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy myths retellings literary-fiction classics university family epic
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Iliad, Books 1–12 by Homer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHere is a new Loeb Classical Library edition of Homer's stirring heroic account of the Trojan war and its passions...Categorized as:
classics epic literary-fiction myths retellings adult ancient-civilization audiobook -
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsThe award-winning poet Anne Carson reinvents a genre in Autobiography of Red, a stunning work that is both a novel and a poem, both an unconventional re-creation of an ancient Greek myth and a wholly original coming-of-age story set in the present... -
Dueling Fates by Stephanie M. Allen
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the world of Erez, three kingdoms share a tentative peace. In the far west, Princess Isemay yearns for much more than frilly dresses and etiquette classes. While her twin sister, Alena, prepares for life as a monarch in a neighboring kingdom, Isemay roams the woods with her loyal cheetah, hunting dagger strapped to her belt... -
Interuptiing Chicken by David Ezra Stein, Andrew Watts
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAwarded a 2011 Caldecott Honor! A favorite joke inspires this charming tale, in which a little chicken's habit of interrupting bedtime stories is gleefully turned on its head. It's time for the little red chicken's bedtime story—and a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt... -
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There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAt bedtime a boy confronts the nightmare in his closet and finds him not so terrifying after all... -
Into the Woods (Vocal Score) by Stephen Sondheim
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTitles include: Opening (Part I, II, IIA, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII) * Cinderella at the Grave * Hello Little Girl * Hello Little Girl (Underscore) * I Guess This Is Goodbye * Maybe They're Magic * Rapunzel * Baker's Reprise * Cinderella Coming from the Ball (Underscore) * A Very Nice Prince * First Midnight * Giants in the Sky * Underscore 9A * Agony * Agony Playoff (Underscore) and more... -
The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsAmber, the one real world of which all others – including our own Earth – are but Shadows...For untold millennia, the cosmic Pattern sustained order in Amber and all the known worlds. But now the forces of Chaos have succeeded in disrupting the Pattern, unleashing destructive forces beyond measure... forces meant to reshape the universe... -
Iliad, Books 13–24 by Homer
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsHere is a new Loeb Classical Library edition of Homer's stirring heroic account of the Trojan war and its passions... -
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsOnce upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway.One day--for no particular reason--they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then--for no particular reason--they decided to go...someplace else... -
War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad by Christopher Logue
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA remarkable hybrid of translation, adaptation, and inventionPicture the east Aegean sea by night,And on a beach aslant its shimmering Upwards of 50,000 menAsleep like spoons beside their lethal Fleet. “Your life at every instant up for— / Gone. / And, candidly, who gives a toss? / Your heart beats strong... -
Silver Threads by Bette Lee Crosby
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsOn the day Jennifer Green was born a pile of stones was placed alongside her scale of life. A few were the dark gray of sorrow, but most were a pale blush color. The largest stone was the rose hue of a sunrise. That one would be placed on the scale the day she married Drew Bishop. Even more brilliant but a wee bit smaller was the pink stone glistening with specs of silver... -
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsSTORIES TO GO!Sylvester the donkey finds a magic pebble and unthinkingly wishes himself turned into a rock when he's frightened by a lion. How Sylvester is eventually reunited with his loving parents is a tender, magical tale of the transforming power of love. This Caldecott Medal-winning book is a modern classic beloved by children everywhere... -
Dialogues with Leucò by Cesare Pavese
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA series of dialogues between mythological figures, treating the question of human destiny as the personal content of myths. In his foreword, Pavese elaborates on his method in the Dialogues: "What is more acutely disturbing than to see familiar scenes troubled into new life? . . . A true revelation, I am convinced, can only emerge from stubborn concentration on a single problem... -
Malachite Casket: Tales from the Urals by Pavel Bazhov
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe "Malachite Casket" is a delightful series of interlinking stories written by Pavel Bazhov (1879-1950). These have served as the theme for cultural groups ?Sergei Prokofiev was inspired by these for his ballet "The Flower of Stone"? and the themes for operas, symphonies and films have originated here... -
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Ninja Red Riding Hood by Corey Rosen Schwartz, Dan Santat
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsCompanion to the hit The Three Ninja Pigs, this fractured fairy tale is a sure-fire storytime hit. Wolf just can’t catch a break! Ever since the three little pigs started teaching everyone Ninja skills, huffing and puffing just hasn’t been enough to scare up a good meal. His craving for meat sends Wolf to classes at the dojo, and soon he’s ready to try out his new moves... -
Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSarah Ruhl re-imagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story... -
The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAcross the worlds of Shadow, Corwin, prince of blood royal, heir to the throne of Amber, gathers his forces for an assault that will yield up to him the crown that is rightfully his. But, a growing darkness of his own doing threatens his plans, an evil that stretches to the heart of the perfect kingdom itself where the demonic forces of Chaos mass to annihilate Amber and all who would rule there... -
The Overcoat, and Other Tales of Good and Evil by Nikolai Gogol
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsWith the publication of "The Overcoat" in 1842, Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) inaugurated a new chapter in Russian literature, in which the underdog and social misfit is treated not as a figure of fun or an object of charity, but as a human being with as much right to happiness as anybody else...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction university action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary fiction -
Shadow by Adrienne Woods
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsChastity Blake discovered the hard way what she was. A modern day Sandman. But things aren't looking up for Chastity. She is guarding a secret deep within her, her dark sand, or what Reverans would call, her Shadow. Shadow Casters are known for their dark dreams, the nightmares they create, and for Chastity landing up in the Oblivian with all the other Shadow Casters is so not on her list... -
O Sítio do Picapau Amarelo by Monteiro Lobato
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNo Sítio do Picapau Amarelo as crianças descobrem um ninho de João-de-Barro na paineira grande. Durante vários dias os meninos se divertem, acompanhando de longe o trabalho dos passarinhos... -
The Clean House and Other Plays by Sarah Ruhl
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThis volume is the first publication of Sarah Ruhl, “a playwright with a unique comic voice, perspective, and sense of theater” (Variety), who is fast leaving her mark on the American stage...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction myths retellings 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary -
Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsOne of the New York Times’s Ten Best Books of the Year: These traditional stories of Italy, retold by a literary master, are “a treasure” (Los Angeles Times)...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction myths retellings 20th-century action-adventure anthologies audiobook -
The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsA rich odyssey of transformation in the tradition of "The Inferno" In "The Descent of Alette," Alice Notley presents a feminist epic, a bold journey into the deeper realms. Alette, the narrator, finds herself underground, deep beneath the city, where spirits and people ride endlessly on subways, not allowed to live in the world above... -
The First Four Books Of Poems by Louise Glück
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe fierce, austerely beautiful voice that has become Glück's trademark speaks in these poems of a life lived in unflinching awareness. Includes "Firstborn", "The House on Marshland", "Descending Figure", and "The Triumph of Achilles"... -
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Red Doc> by Anne Carson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSome years ago I wrote a book about a boy named Geryon who was red and had wings and fell in love with Herakles. Recently I began to wonder what happened to them in later life. Red Doc> continues their adventures in a very different style and with changed names. To live past the end of your myth is a perilous thing...Categorized as:
classics epic literary-fiction myths retellings 21st-century adult ancient-civilization -
Don't Speak by Katy Regnery
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFrom New York Times bestseller Katy Regnery comes a new twist on a beloved fairytale.A fisherman’s daughter.The governor’s son.Two very different worlds.In this modern retelling of The Little Mermaid, a fisherman’s daughter from an Outer Banks island untouched by time, meets the son of North Carolina’s governor at a fancy party where she’s working... -
The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsBe terrified. It's you I love, perfect man, Greek God, my own; but I know you'll go, betray me, stray from home. So better by far for me if you were stone. from "Medusa"Stunningly original and haunting, the voices of Mrs... -
Nine Fairy Tales and One More Thrown in for Good Measure by Karel Čapek
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsKarel Čapek, author of the acclaimed War with the Newts, is one of the great Czechoslovak writers of the twentieth century. These fairy tales bear Čapek's combination of the fantastic and the satirical, offering fairies, elves, and talking animals alongside references to detectives, secret police agents, luxury automobiles, and Hollywood starlets...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction myths retellings anthologies children children-books contemporary -
Bloodhoof by Gerður Kristný
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBloodhoof is the re-casting into compulsively spare modern verse of an ancient Eddic poem - but this only begins to hint at its attractions. It is a minimalist epic telling of the abduction of Gerdur Gymisdottir from the land of giants to the court of Freyr of the 'wolf-grey eyes', and the subsequent events culminating in the birth of her son and her hopes of being saved by her own kin... -
The Immortal by Jorge Luis Borges, George Guidall
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Selection from The Collected Fictions of Jorge Luis... -
The Rise of Nazil by Aaron-Michael Hall
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt was the 75th year of Alberoth when the AsZar summoned the Guardians. There was an imbalance in the lands of Faélondul. The Zaxson, Draizeyn Vereux covered the lands in a pall of darkness. There was a plan to exterminate the infestation in Nazil and beyond, a plan to eradicate the humans... -
The Closed Doors by Pauline Albanese
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsUPDATE: considering this is a youthful work and a very short one at that, I've decided to pull it from Createspace and make it available for free in PDF. You can download it here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ww9m...This is a coming of age story. This is about closing your eyes, shedding your skin, finding yourself, and touching your soul... -
Beastly Tales from Here and There by Vikram Seth
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTen witty and enchanting animal fables in verse which, like a modern Aesop's Fables, can be enjoyed by young and old... -
The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Book of Joby is an epic fantasy complete in one volume. Lucifer and the Creator have entered, yet again, into a wager they've made many times before, but this time, the existence of creation itself is balanced on the outcome... -
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Meadowlands by Louise Glück
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLouise Glück sows the fertile subject ground of marital discord in harvesting this crop of gems. The poems zing back and forth as the verses alternate between man and woman. "Flaubert had more friends and Flaubert was a recluse" says he, followed by her response, "Flaubert was crazy; he lived with his mother," In one scene they argue over dead French writers; later they discuss football... -
Tree and Leaf: Includes Mythopoeia and The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth by J.R.R. Tolkien
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThis volume is a provocative and entertaining collection of works which reveals the diversity of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination and the breadth of his talent as a creator of fantastic fiction... -
Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsCalled by Time the "theater event of the year," Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses brings Ovid's tales to stunning visual life. Set in and around a large pool of water onstage, Metamorphoses juxtaposes the ancient and the contemporary in both language and image to reflect the variety and persistence of narrative in the face of inevitable change... -
The Dragons at War by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDragons, the true children of Krynn, are power incarnate, and they know it. They come in all guises and forms. Their personalities are as varied as thier colors. Their magical abilities are virtually unlimited. And nothing is so terrifying as dragons on the wing...Categorized as:
epic family literary-fiction action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary dragons -
The Threads of the Heart by Carole Martinez
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThey say Frasquita knows magic, that she is a healer with occult powers, that perhaps she is a sorcerer. She does indeed possess a remarkable gift, one that has been passed down to the women in her family for generations... -
Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this beautiful, grounded, and darkly magical modern-day reimagining of J. M. Barrie's classic, to save her daughter's life one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan--who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be . . . Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy--yes, that Wendy... -
The Half-God of Rainfall by Inua Ellams
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsFrom the award-winning poet and playwright behind Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall is an epic story and a lyrical exploration of pride, power and female revenge.There is something about the boy. When he is angry, clouds darken. When he cries, rivers burst their banks. And when he touches a basketball, deities want courtside seats... -
Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom Marlon James, author of the bestselling National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the second book in the Dark Star trilogy, his African Game of Thrones.In Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared... -
Darkthunder's Way by Tom Deitz
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFIRE IN THE OTHERWORLD There are circles within circles, lands of magic and wonder that touch upon our own. But now war is on the horizon in the mystical realm of the Sidhe-a brutal clash of Faery against Faery that threatens to cross secret boundaries into the unsuspecting world of mortal men... -
Higher Mythology by Jody Lynn Nye
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhile seeking sprites in a hot air balloon, Keith Doyle gets word that Holl's baby daughter and the young faery Dola have been kidnapped, and he sets off to track down the abductors... -
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The Monster Bed by Jeanne Willis, Susan Varley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA little monster is afraid to go to bed because he thinks humans will get him while he is asleep... -
Precious and the Boo Hag by Patricia C. McKissack, Onawumi Jean Moss
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Precious is left home alone with a stomachache, she's got nothing but a warning from Mama -- "Don't let nothing or nobody into this house" -- to keep her company. You see, "nothing or nobody" could turn out to be something awful: the Boo Hag! The Boo Hag's got a voice that rumbles like thunder and hair that shoots out like lightning. And she can disguise herself to look like anything... -
Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsElfindom is an aristocratic society, jealous of its privileges. The ruling classes engage in such pursuits as patronizing the arts or hunting with the Royal Pack of Werewolves, while the lower orders take pleasure in conducting brutal raiding parties into the world to torment mortals... -
The Giant Dark by Sarvat Hasin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAida is the defining rock star of her age; her every move observed, examined and owned by a devoted, cultish fanbase. When she disappears without a trace into a complicated love affair they are determined to find her, uncover her truths and own her once more.Aida and Ehsan reconnect after a decade apart, hoping to recapture the innocent, lost love of their youth...Categorized as:
classics literary-fiction myths retellings ancient-civilization book contemporary fiction -
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps by Peter Straub, Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsStraub, a contemporary master of literary horror and fantasy, offers an authoritative and diverse gathering of stories calculated to unsettle and delight. Ghostly narratives of the Edwardian era, lurid classics from the pulp heyday, and modern-day masterpieces are included in these collections... -
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsAlternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereDiscover Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie’s classic fantasy novel Set in an exotic Eastern landscape peopled by magicians and fantastic talking animals, Salman Rushdie's classic children's novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories inhabits the same imaginative space as The Lord of the Rings, The Alchemist, and The Wizard of Oz...
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