It’s no great secret that Stil (Rumpelstiltskin) is in Reign of Magic, book #3 in Angelique’s series. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a look at some Rumpelstiltskin stories! As many of you have noticed my retelling has some pretty major differences to the original – most notably I made Rumpelstiltskin the hero. If you want to know more about why I made some of the other differences in my Rumpelstiltskin you can check out this old blog post. But enough about that, let’s get on with the list of retellings!
Sadly, there aren’t that many retellings of Rumpelstiltskin I can share. I think part of the reason for this is the story isn’t very romantic and it only has a happy ending if you don’t think too hard about the fact that she is now married to the king who previously threatened to kill her if she couldn’t perform a specific action with the sole purpose of making him rich. (That’s not a sore spot for me. Nooooo, not at all.) But let’s take a look at the books that are out there.
Rumpelstiltskin – by K.M. Shea – Yes, here’s my version! Gemma is a quiet seamstress who is imprisoned in the castle dungeons when her drunken father makes false claims about her ability to spin straw into gold. Luckily, there just happens to be a mage, Rumpelstiltskin, in town who can help her. (Stil would be proud to tell you that despite being book 4 in the series he consistently ranks as one of the highest characters in the annual hero poll.)
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem – by Vivian Vande Velde – I love this author so it’s no surprise she made this list! This book is actually a collection of 6 short stories all related to the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin. You might be tempted to skip this one since it’s short stories but it is really, really good! There is a bit of something for everyone in these stories and the way she describes the original story is what first inspired me to do my series of blog posts where I review the original fairy tale with my own humor inserted everywhere!
Here’s a few more Rumpelstiltskin retelling’s I’ve read:
A Curse Dark as Gold – by Elizabeth C. Bunce
Queen of Gold and Straw – by Shari L. Tapscott
That’s not the whole list! I took this problem to my Facebook Champions, and they came up with a bunch more! Obviously, I haven’t read all of them and I can’t certify they are all 100% clean, so I’d recommend you check out the reviews.
The Wish Granter – by C.J. Redwine
Hopefully that will bolster your “To Be Read” list while we wait for Reign of Magic‘s release! (And please allow me to again plug The Rumpelstiltskin Problem–it’s so, so, so good!) Thanks for reading, Champions, and remember voting closes for the 2019 Heroine Poll September 21st!