The women in this daring collection of poems, stories, and hand-drawn illustrations are anything but your delicate damsel-in-distress. Fierce Fiarytales offers even more stories of empowerment that have flipped once-upon-a-time upside down. “Does the night ever tire of the darkness? Does the sea ever tire of her own depths? Do the trees ever tire of their roots?” If you enjoy Rupi Kauryou will enjoy Nikita Gill. If you like myths and feminism, you will like Great Goddesses. featuring hand-drawn illustrations by the author. I really enjoyed the short versions of these myths retold, and I loved how the book was structured―the poems were organized like the gods’ genealogy tree, which I thought was really cohesive and gave a good sense of chronology. Considering that all of the OG myth-tellers were male (Homer, Hesoid, Ovid, Virgil, Herodotus…) this book brings a breath of fresh air to the readings. It was very empowering to see some new interpretations of the stories, all told from the female perspective. I am a huge lover of Greek myths so I had a good basic understanding of the tales themselves.

I chose this for #magicalreadathon a few months back (and paired it with her other book of poems, Fierce Fairytales, another really great read!) This one really stuck out to me between the pair of books, and I have to admit I liked it much better.

“I will take her to the library, and introduce her to every librarian because they are where Athena lives now.”

Nikita gill fierce fairytales