20+ of Your Favorite Shifted Perspective Novels
This Riot Recommendation is sponsored by Arrndgros by Pyotr Andreyev.
Every fantasy reader thinks they know orcs. Savage and brutal. Ferocious in battle. Mindless monsters to be feared—or better yet, obliterated—by those who encounter them.
However, the truth, in both fantasy and reality, is more complex than first impressions suggest. Violent though they may be, orcs have their own rich cultures, spiritual lives, and traditions. Societies where strength, bravery, and skill in battle are prized.
Join the orcs of Arrndgros as they explore, reclaim lost lands, and march to war. Discover orcs as you’ve never seen them—proud, passionate, courageous, and, yes, brutal. Discover the warrior’s emotion. Discover Arrndgros.
____________________
A good shifted perspective novel lets you relive some of your favorite stories in a new, fresh, interesting way. These are reimagined versions of our favorite stories, told from the point of view of an under-appreciated side character, or even the villain. From the stepmother in the updated Snow White retelling Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi, to Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, which tells the story of the mad wife in the attic from Jane Eyre, readers can’t get enough of these novels.
We asked you to share your favorite shifted perspective novels, and you answered. Here are 20+ of your favorites:
Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen
Barabbas by Par Lagerkvist
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman
Falstaff by Robert Nye
Foe by J.M. Coetzee
Grendel by John Gardner
Grunts by Mary Gentle
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Longbourne by Jo Baker
March by Geraldine Brooks
Medea by Christa Wolf
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Nelly Dean by Alison Case
Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Stepmother by Robert Coover
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Wicked by Gregory Maguire (…most of Maguire’s books fit!)