Fiction

Classic Characters Reimagined: A Reading List

Cassandra Neace

Staff Writer

Cassandra Neace is a high school English teacher in Houston. When she's not in the classroom, she reads books and writes about them. She prides herself on her ability to recommend a book for most any occasion. She can be found on Instagram @read_write_make

merlin prophecy seriesThis week’s Riot Recommendation is sponsored by the Merlin Prophecy series by M.K. Hume.

In the final book in a captivating trilogy, the legendary Merlin  faces a moral dilemma when the powerful Uther Pendragon demands that he use his talents for evil.

A talented healer, Merlin has traveled extensively, becoming a trusted advisor to rulers and kings the world over. But when Merlin finds his way back to Britain, he comes under the attention of the brutal war leader Uther Pendragon. Uther wants Merlin to use his powers for evil to help him conquer women and kingdoms alike, but when Merlin protests, the insatiable Uther threatens to eliminate anyone close to him, and thousands of lives are at risk.

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There are some literary characters we just can’t get enough of–Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Darcy, for instance, or Odysseus, or Cinderella–and whom we see turn up time and again in new stories. These characters are beloved. They are classics. And they, almost magically, lend themselves to endless new imaginings. We asked you share your favorite stories in which classic characters take on a new life.  Here’s what you came up with:

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

The Liar’s Gospel by Naomi Alderman

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Kaytek the Wizard by Janusz Korczak

The Five Hundred Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Nursery Crime series by Jasper Fforde

March by Geraldine Brooks

Blood of the Fey by Alessa Ellefson

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Pendragon’s Banner trilogy by Helen Hollick

Shiva trilogy by Amish Tripathi

Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

Guenevere by Rosalind Miles

Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

Silver: Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion

Havisham by Ronald Frame (US Release – November 5, 2013)

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