I’m looking for stories that give the same feeling as a fairy tale, which for me is relatively low stakes, straightforward story, but not necessarily cozy fantasy (I find many of the often-recommended cozy fantasy stories too saccharine). Books I loved that fall into this category for me are Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson, or Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley. Retellings and original stories would both be appreciated!
by thegoldwillstay
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There are two series by Mercedes Lackey you might enjoy.
The 500 Kingdoms, starting with The Fairy Godmother – Mostly retellings of western European fairy tales
The Elemental Masters – Set in the late 1800’s into the first few decades of the 20th century. Folktales more than fairy tales.
I liked Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin
The rest of Robin McKinley’s stuff is also like this. Love her
Literally anything by Patrica McKillip. A few possibilities: Ombria in Shadow, In The Forrests of Serre, The Sorceress and the Cygnet. She’s great.
A lot of Diana Wynne Jones’s stuff has a fairy tale feel if you are ok with excellent kid’s literature.
T. Kingfisher’s fantasies are often based on fairy tales. They are a little bit and miss for me, but generally quite enjoyable.
The Emily Wilde books are based around scary faery. Which should be a genre. Cosy-ish, funny, but ominous. really liked these.
Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Paolo Coelho’s *The Alchemist* would absolutely fit this!
There are also loads of sci-fi short stories that read like fairy tales (there’s a sense of wonder and travel/adventure, but within a short story you’re not going too deep!), and you can always get a collection and pick and choose which stories you read. In *The Starry Rift,* which is an anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan (and one of my most recommended books, because there’s SO MUCH good stuff in it!), there’s a story called “The Dismantled Invention of Fate,” by Jeffrey Ford; it’s a relatively calm story, but it lingers after reading, lol.
Amen to needing something for middle of the night pumping! That’s such a slog!
Spinning Silver- winter forest fairy tale inspired;
Mists of Avalon – Arthurian legend inspired;
The Fox Wife – Chinese Fox fable inspired;
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell- historical fiction + fantasy in England
Seconding the T. Kingfisher rec and you also might enjoy Patricia McKillip. Her stories are lovely and heartfelt and have a sort of classic fantasy vibe to them.
Also maybe the Prydain Chronicles, if you haven’t read those. I especially loved them in audio form but they’re nice either way—a kids’ story that holds up well enough to be interesting for adults and it never gets too convoluted.
Also The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. I had a battered copy of that one growing up and read it so many times!
Tress was written as a reaction to Princess Bride by William Goldman, which is also an excellent example of fairy tale fantasy
Definitely [The Girl Who Drank the Moon](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b8b6a493-2301-493a-bc3e-d4e79c04f4a3) by Kelly Barnhill
Just read Lady Tremaine and loved it!
Curses by Lish McBride is a reverse gender story of Beauty and the Beast. I really enjoyed it.