SJPL Picks: YA Mythological & Folklore-inspired FictionLike this list

50 items

• On the Wings of La Noche

  Torres, Vanessa L.,

  Add On the Wings of La Noche to your for later shelf

  Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance. A young woman with a mythic duty struggles to let go in the wake of her girlfriend’s death. Estrella “Noche” Villanueva is a Lechuza: She’s a 17-year-old girl by day and a legendary black owl at night, responsible…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dragonfruit

  Lucier, Makiia,

  Add Dragonfruit to your for later shelf

  Historical fantasy. Forced into a life of exile, Hanalei of Tamarind is reunited with her childhood best friend Sam to find a rare dragonfruit whose magic can save his mother, the princess — offering Hanalei the chance to return home and right a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Lost Souls of Benzaiten

  Murashige, Kelly,

  Add The Lost Souls of Benzaiten to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. After a particularly brutal friendship breakup, Machi stopped speaking, and she’s struggled with her mental health ever since. Now on her seventh therapist and with her parents out of town for weeks, she impulsively stops in an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We Shall Be Monsters

  Sim, Tara,

  Add We Shall Be Monsters to your for later shelf

  Horror. A deeply atmospheric Frankenstein retelling rooted in Indian mythology. Sentenced to death for her undead sister's bloody rampage, Kajal resurrects the kingdom's fallen prince, or so she thinks, and must quickly fix her mistake, discovering…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Where the Dark Stands Still

  Poranek, A. B.,

  Add Where the Dark Stands Still to your for later shelf

  Dark fantasy. A Polish folklore and culture–influenced fantasy. Making a bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous powers, Liska, who has been forced to live in the demon's crumbling manor, soon discovers something far worse than her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Of Blood and Lightning

  a Novel

  Janae, Micki,

  Add Of Blood and Lightning to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. In a small, idyllic town in North Dakota, 17-year-old Ophelia Johnson and five other teens inherit the powers of the ancient gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Artemis, Apollo, and Ares—and embark on a mission from the Vessel of Destiny to find…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Smoke That Thunders

  Kome, Erhu,

  Add The Smoke That Thunders to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. In this mesmerizing fantasy rooted in Urhobo and West African folklore, sixteen-year-old Naborhi longs for a life away from her small, traditional clan in Kokori. Then Naborhi becomes bonded to a mysterious animal and begins having…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Forbidden Book

  Lamb, Sacha

  Add The Forbidden Book to your for later shelf

  Historical fantasy. Lamb packs their swift sophomore effort with adventure, folklore, and Jewish mysticism. On the night before her wedding, 17-year-old Sorel leaps from a window and runs away from her life. To keep from being discovered, she takes…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Legend of the White Snake

  Lee, Sher,

  Add Legend of the White Snake to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. Blending historical fantasy, romance, and Chinese folklore, Lee offers a beautifully written novel about Prince Xian, who’s on a mission to find a cure for his mother’s fatal illness after she’s bitten by a venomous white snake. When he…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Dark Becomes Her

  Lin, Judy I.,

  Add The Dark Becomes Her to your for later shelf

  Horror. When a ghost from the spirit world transforms her sister, Ruby Chen confronts the dark upheaval in Vancouver's Chinatown as she enters into an ancient battle over the gateway to the underworld as she attempts to save her sister and her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Inheritance of Scars

  Seitz, Crystal,

  Add Inheritance of Scars to your for later shelf

  Dark fantasy. A solid debut dark fantasy inspired by Norse myth and folklore sure to please the intricate romantasy reader. Astrid, a teen who suffers with Crohn's disease, accidentally awakens an imprisoned draugr and must follow him into the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• At the End of the River Styx

  Kulwicki, Michelle,

  Add At the End of the River Styx to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. Before he can be reborn, Zan has spent 499 years bound in a 500-year curse to process souls for the monstrous Ferryman―and if he fails he dies. In Portland, Bastian is grieving. He survived a car accident that took his mother and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Night Owls

  Vishny, A. R.,

  Add Night Owls to your for later shelf

  Urban fantasy. Sisters Clara and Molly are estries—­creatures from Jewish folklore who shape-shift into owls and thirst for blood. They comanage the Grand Dame, a wonderfully old Yiddish theater in New York City that provides the perfect cover for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Rise

  Finch, Freya,

  Add Rise to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. Bryn is the youngest of three sisters in the “Martels Who Live in a Theme Park” family. They live in a Renaissance fair outside Chicago, which already weirds people out. She’s also the youngest of the modern Valkyries, used by Odin to bring…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Immortal Games

  Avery, Annaliese,

  Add The Immortal Games to your for later shelf

  Historical fantasy. Every Lunar Eclipse signifies the beginning of the Immortal Games: An epic set of games played by the Gods of Olympus, with randomly-selected humans as their Tokens.

• A Drop of Venom

  Patel, Sajni, 1981-

  Add A Drop of Venom to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. Indian folklore is woven into the Greek Medusa myth in a colorfully descriptive world where monsters have been nearly hunted to extinction and temples float in the sky. Years after Manisha’s family makes the agonizing decision to have her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Catfish Rolling

  Kumagai, Clara,

  Add Catfish Rolling to your for later shelf

  Magical realism. Legend says that a giant catfish lives under the islands of Japan, causing earthquakes whenever it twists and turns. Sora Campbell hates that catfish. Seven years earlier, a massive quake altered time, resulting in the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Wrath Becomes Her

  Polydoros, Aden,

  Add Wrath Becomes Her to your for later shelf

  Historical horror. Vera is a golem, made from mud and water and the hair, teeth, and eyes of her maker's daughter. That maker is a man whose daughter, Chaya, was killed by the Nazis, and he used forbidden magic to create Vera with one purpose: to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Godly Heathens

  a Novel

  Edgmon, H. E.,

  Add Godly Heathens to your for later shelf

  Fantasy. Seventeen-year-old Gem Echols hides their mental health challenges and mysterious dreams in the small town of Gracie, Georgia, but when a newcomer reveals a shocking claim of being reincarnated gods together, Gem's life takes a perilous…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Threads That Bind

  Hatzopoulou, Kika,

  Add Threads That Bind to your for later shelf

  Fantasy, Mystery. In a world where the children of the gods inherit their powers, Io, a descendant of the Greek Fates, must solve a series of impossible murders to save her sisters, her soulmate, and her city.