Move aside Percy Jackson
I had someone ask me the other day for an author who wrote about Greek stories but wasn't Percy Jackson. Apparently they are not a fan of the series but love Greek myths. This made me think of all the great books out there that have a unique world based on old world myths. Warning these are more for adults than YA. Here is my list.
Sherrilyn Kenyon- Acheron
This is a unique origins story for vampires which is awesome. Apollo's people were the Atlanteans but they murdered his mistress so he curses his own people to die at the age his mistress was when she died and the only way to survive is to suck the life out of others. Because Apollo is the sun god so if his cursed children even show their faces to the sun he burns them to a crisp. Of course others gods have their own players on the board and you really get most of the back story if you read Acheron. There is at least three series written in this world and it is amazing. Yes they are romance but the world building is still very well done.
Cinder- Marissa Meyers
Cinder is based on fairy tales. In particular Cinder deals with the story of Cinderella. Our Cinderella is a cyborg and since cyborgs are literally considered only half human she hides this fact from people. It just happens that the prince visits her stall and falls for her and invites her to the ball. The other books in this series have Red Riding Hood, Repunzel and the Ice Queen. They all set in the future and done very well. Okay, they aren't based on really old myths but these retellings are done so well I couldn't leave it out.
The Unleashing- Shelly Laurenston
Shelly has always been good at world building so I wold highly recommend her other series which usually have funny arrogant shape-shifters. This one is not much different only it is based on Nordic mythology. With Thor and Loki being so prominent it is nice to see the lesser Gods getting a look see. In this book we have an ex-soldier woman dying and brought back to be a fighter for a Nordic God. Of course there is some romance and some silliness but we see some well researched history of Nordic Myths.
Morrigan's cross- Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts has a spectacular amount of books to her name and to her pen name. I particularly like when she mixes her romances with some magic. In this series we have old Celtic/Irish Gods and of course three women and three men to see them set up. We have an immortal evil and a lot of magic. Probably the most out of all of her books.
The Ancient future: dark age- Traci Harding
So, there are a few that deal with Atlantis and some very well so I'll give an honourable mention to Kerrelyn Sparks but Traci Harding has a very complex world and it spans several myths from Atlantis to King Arthur. In the Dark age we have a woman transported back in time. By the end we have her father actually being a reincarnation of Merlin or is that in the second book. I can't remember but pretty much all the gods we have ever heard of are aliens who have been manipulating human development since Adam and Eve. This series is massive and what I really like is how plausible it is. It is one of the books which influenced my Glyph Warrior series.
I'm sure there are other awesome books and series out there which deal with myths and legends. Be happy to help me add to my list and comment below.