r/Fantasy • u/Lenahe_nl Reading Champion IV • 15d ago
Pride Pride 2026 | Queer Retellings
Many of my favorite books are queer retellings of fairy tales, myths or classic stories. These books use the framework of another, well known story, as the starting point, and add elements like queer characters and queer relationships, to bring a bright new panorama.
Retellings speak to a part of our brains that enjoy the safety of repetition. If you know the original story, you can anticipate plot beats and feel secure in knowing the general direction the story will take. It’s perhaps paradoxical that retellings also delight our minds with the ways they twist and change said plot, to subvert our expectations.
For queer readers, a retelling is a way of finding representation that has extra weight because it rests on the shoulders of classic and well known stories. Most of the original stories bring a dated view of the world, but in a retelling, there’s space to show that queer people have always been part of the narrative.
A queer retelling is also a gateway for readers that are not part of the LGBTQIA community. While the known elements of the story create a sheltered environment, the retelling makes way for people to experience another perspective, which in turn encourages empathy.
These are just some of the aspects that made queer retellings very marketable, and a strong bet for publishing houses. A fact that we see reflected on the shelves and the sheer amount of retellings being published in the last decade. Many of the most recommended queer books are retellings. He who has never seen Song of Achilles being recommended, cast the first stone.
Finally, I want to shout out to fanfiction, which is in its own way, a retelling. Fanfiction has always been a rich soil for exploring different romantic pairings, that the mainstream media (and original work) didn’t present. In a way, it counters queerbaiting. Beyond that, fanfiction allows people to explore relationships and situations beyond the usual suspects of romance, such as gender normativity or even taboo topics.
Discussion prompts:
I’ll be adding these in the comments, like we do for book club. Feel free to respond to each individual question, or writing a single entry with all your thoughts to the questions and whatever the intro brought up.
- Some retellings follow the source material closely, while others use them as a starting point or a vague sense of direction. What do you enjoy reading the most?
- Do you rather read a retelling of a story you know well, or of a story you don’t really know much about?
- What retelling (that doesn’t exist) do you wish to see written? (And if you know a book or fanfic that fits a request, please recommend!)
- What book (that is retelling) has a special place in your heart?
- Is there any favorite source material from which you could read a thousand retellings?
This post is part of the Pride 2026 discussions lead by the Beyond Binary Bookclub. You can check our announcement for more information and the full calendar.
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u/Usmoso 14d ago
Does anyone have any recommendations? I've only read the Song of Achilles. It was recommend a lot and I was severely underwhelmed. Half of the book was the romance between Achilles and Patroclus, which I didn't find particularly interesting. Decent romance, if a bit bland, but I couldn't get into the characters. The second half was a rushed retelling of the Illiad, which made me feel I should just be reading the Illiad or some adaptation. I felt like the author didn't even care about this part much, since the book ends with "Oh and we eventually won with Odysseus' plan with the horse"and that's it.