Daughter of the Forest
by Juliet Marillier
As the only daughter and youngest child of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters, Sorcha grows up protected and pampered by her six older brothers. When a sorceress's evil magic ensorcels Colum's sons, transforming them into swans, only Sorcha's efforts can break the curse. Marillier's first novel uses a familiar Celtic legend to tell the story of a young woman's sacrifice for the sake of those she loves and her own discovery of unexpected joy in the midst of sorrow.

Firebird
by Mercedes Lackey
Tsar Ivan has eight sons; all are brutes like himself except for happy-go-lucky, least-favored Ilya. Cast out through the machinations of his jealous, competitive brothers, Ilya stumbles onto an enchanted castle, distressed damsels, a garden of questing princes turned to stone, and the secret of the shapeshifting woman called the Firebird. In love with a captive princess, Ilya enlists the Firebird and a charming, crafty vixen to help him battle the sorcerer. But is settling down with a princess what "happily ever after" really means?

Fudoki
by Kij Johnson
As the half-sister, aunt and great-grandaunt of the last three Japanese emperors, respectively, the princess Harueme has lived a long life of privilege at court, but now she is dying and must go to a convent. When a fire raging through the city destroys the estate, the cat is the only survivor; her aunts and cousins having been killed. Homeless and nameless, she sets out on a journey that will take her to humanity and back, and earn her a name both as the Cat Who Survived and as Kagaya-hime, woman warrior.

Kissing Frogs
by Laura Marie Altom
Shunned by the scientific world because of her erroneous reporting of the discovery of a new breed of frogs, biologist Lucy Gordon is reduced to teaching science in a British boarding school. Then one day a frog the likes of which she's never seen appears. Excited because this time she's really found a new amphibian, Lucy kisses it and immediately finds herself with a man claiming to be a medieval prince. If only Prince Wolfe Graye had married the sorceress' daughter! Now that he's been kissed, Wolfe must convince this modern woman to declare her love for him before the next full moon in order to break the spell. Otherwise, it's back to frogdom.

Prince of Ayodhya
by Ashok K. Banker
The Ramayana is full of sweeping adventure, gods and monsters, and a questing prince. Now, author Ashok K. Banker adapts The Ramayana into an impressive epic fantasy. The hero of the first book is young Rama, heir to the throne of Ayodhya. When two powerful rakshasa--demons who have raised a formidable army of anti-gods--plan to take over the land of humans as well, the legendary seer-mage Vishwamitra is forced out of a 240-year-long retreat to call upon Rama for his help in the eternal battle of Good against Evil.

The Outlaws of Sherwood
by Robin McKinley
McKinley brings to the Robin Hood legend a robustly romantic view. She renders it anew by fully developing the background and motive of each member of the merry band, from Robin's "crime" that sends him into the woods, to Marian's subterfuge as she straddles the worlds of the nobility and of the outlaws. Their habitations, foresting and thieving is explained, and McKinley, in a thoughtful afterword, reveals both her debt to and her differences with previous versions of the story.

Zel
by Donna Napoli
Zel, on the threshold of adolescence, accompanies her mother on a rare trip from their remote cottage to the village. By chance she meets a youth named Konrad, and he is charmed by her apparent simplicity and forthright manner. Zel's mother,has sacrificed everything, even her soul, for the witchcraft that enables her to have a daughter; a desperate fear of Konrad's attentions drives her to imprison Zel in the famous tower. Isolated, Zel wavers between recognition of her mother's sacrifices and her own fury, and wanders into madness. Konrad, meanwhile, must discover the difference between love and obsession.