Into the Forest discussion

Here is the place to discuss retellings, traditional tales, or books that contain Creatures from religious mythology.
Examples: Angels, Demons, Gods, Demi-Gods and more.

I just finished The Beetle by Richard Marsh, a Victorian Gothic horror book that features a supernatural creature that is worshipped by people who call themselves the Children of Isis. It's freely available online, in places such as the Gutenberg Project. Apparently the book was published in the same year that Dracula was, and it outsold Stoker's novel quite a bit.

Anyone with other ideas?

A lot of mythology retellings would work, these are some I enjoyed a lot:
Circe
Stone Blind
The Witch's Heart

I also recommend:
Divine Rivals and its sequel Ruthless Vows

I might also read:
Godkiller

And Daughter of Smoke & Bone might also qualify

Between Two Fires - Demons. Historical fiction. Hallucinogenic.

The Ghost Bride - All kinds of supernatural creatures.

My Best Friend's Exorcism - Demon - Horror. 1980's teen girls.

Angelfall - Angels - YA - post-apocalyptic.

Penric’s Demon - Highly recommend this whole series.

Camp Damascus - Religious themes.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse: Indigenous epic fantasy about a reborn Crow god.

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint: Greek myth retelling.

Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology by Jess Zimmerman: Nonfiction about Greek mythology and feminism.

Fit for the Gods edited by Jenn Northington: short stories retelling Greek myths.

Enlighten Me by Minh Lê: Slim MG graphic novel with stories about Buddha.

Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea: MG Hawaiian mythology, would work for fire too.

Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse: Historical fantasy novella set in the American west with angels and demons.

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel: Historical fiction Indian myth retelling.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan: Chinese myth retelling

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar: YA Hindu myth retelling

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison: Horror, Satanic cult.

I'm sure I could give more! Let me know if there's a specific kind of book you like.

Uh, also Gods of Jade and Shadow (southamerican folklore / mythology), which I really liked! :)

Gods of Jade and Shadow definitely fits the theme creature from religious mythology as does Daughter of Smoke & Bone and the 2 other books in the trilogy. They are great books! I also loved Black Sun, The Ghost Bride and Daughter of the Moon Goddess.
I haven’t read the others mentioned here, but I would also like to recommend Inanna which is based on Mesopotamian mythology

Thanks for the ideas! Half of these are a no go because I read them already. But the other are good ideas.

Andy wrote: "Uh, also Gods of Jade and Shadow (southamerican folklore / mythology), which I really liked! :)"

How did I forget that one, ha!

Margaret wrote: "Andy wrote: "Uh, also Gods of Jade and Shadow (southamerican folklore / mythology), which I really liked! :)"

How did I forget that one, ha!"

Me too! It literally had Gods in the title! :)

Oh! I've had Gods of Jade and Shadow in my ebook TBR collection forever! Thanks for the reminder.

Susan wrote: "Oh! I've had Gods of Jade and Shadow in my ebook TBR collection forever! Thanks for the reminder."

Me too! I have a copy here at home somewhere.

American Gods and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Also Norse Mythology by the same author has gripping retellings of some Nordic myths.
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett is one of my favorites. The god is trapped in the body of a tortoise.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (trilogy) has angels.

My Darling Girl was really good! there may or may not be a demon in it.

I read Lunar New Year Love Story for this and loved it! Saint Valentine plays an important role. It could also be used for Unalive Creatures because there are ghosts.

I just read This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron which involves Greek gods and other aspects of Greek mythology. There are some mythological creatures in this book but I think my best bet is to count it as a book about gods, since the creatures are likely to show up in other books I read later in the year.

I read Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic for this prompt.
If you have never read the Gilgamesh epic, I would recommend starting with Gilgamesh translated by StephenMitchell instead. It is much more readable and reads like a story. If you find yourself fascinated by the Gilgamesh epic afterwards then by all means read the first one I mentioned, by Sophus Helle. It’s more academic with far more information and includes multiple different translations and essays.

For novels I recommend Gilgamesh of Uruk by our member Tamara Agha-Jaffar is an accurate retelling. A novel based on Mesopotamian mythology would be Inanna, Gilgamesh is in it but it is more centred around the Goddess Inanna

I read Strange Practice and found it to be a fun modern, urban paranormal mystery, although it did seem to be missing a little oomph. 3.5 stars