Tales from the Tower Books in Order

Tales from the Tower is a little different from the other series on this page because it is not one continuous story with recurring heroes and a single plotline. Instead, it is an anthology project, edited by Isobelle Carmody and Nan McNab, that brings together fairy-tale inspired stories by multiple writers. If you come in expecting a novel sequence, you will miss what makes it interesting.

The shared idea is simple and strong. Take the old tales people think they know, stories of beasts, queens, wolves, bargains, abandonment, longing, and danger, and let contemporary writers answer back to them. The result is darker, sharper, and more varied than a standard retelling collection. These stories are interested in what fairy tales can hold once you stop treating them as tidy moral lessons.

That is where the series gets its bite.

The first volume, The Wilful Eye, gathers writers who use classic stories such as Beauty and the Beast, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, and The Snow Queen as points of departure. Some stories stay closer to the traditional fairy-tale atmosphere, while others move into the present day, an altered present, or a more speculative future. The effect is deliberately mixed. The old shapes remain visible, but the emotional focus shifts.

The Wicked Wood works as a companion rather than a direct sequel. It brings together another group of writers and returns to recurring fairy-tale concerns like desire, entrapment, abandonment, and transformation. Because the contributors differ in style and emphasis, the pleasure here is partly in contrast. One story may be eerie and intimate, another cruelly clever, another almost tender until it turns. Together they build a conversation about why these old patterns still unsettle people.

What should you expect as a reader? Not comfort, exactly. These books are aimed at readers who like fairy tales with thorns still on them. They are psychologically aware, sometimes unsettling, and willing to let enchantment sit beside menace. The stories do not all speak in the same voice, which is part of the point. Instead of one worldview, you get a cluster of approaches to the same deep pool of material.

If you enjoy anthologies, retellings, or fantasy that tests the edges of folklore rather than polishing it into something neat, Tales from the Tower is well worth your time. It is less about one world to sink into and more about opening many doors, one unsettling story at a time.