Scan barcode
maleficentknits's review against another edition
4.0
some of the tales are gems while others fall flat...
mikekaz's review against another edition
3.0
Oh, I didn't realize this was a Young Adult (YA) book. Totally my bad and something that I probably would not have bought if I had realized that. However, since I had and since it came up in my To Be Read stack, there was no reason not to read it. Unfortunately, I found the stories to only so-so. The concept is that most of the fairy tales are told from the perspective of the hero or the damsel, that the antagonist hasn't had a chance to tell their side of what happened. These stories reveal that truth behind their bad reputation. The problem that I had was that the bulk of the stories were not very interesting. Plus there were multiple stories where I had no idea to which fairy tale it was referring. Combine that with YA stories that, to me, are not as gritty and I was left disappointed. There were two stories that I found interesting but the rest would have been better to skip.
"'Skin" by Michael Cadnum - Rumplestiltskin tries to help a spoiled princess but is tricked.
"A Delicate Architecture" by Catherynne M. Valente - Hansel and Gretel's witch really had father issues.
"'Skin" by Michael Cadnum - Rumplestiltskin tries to help a spoiled princess but is tricked.
"A Delicate Architecture" by Catherynne M. Valente - Hansel and Gretel's witch really had father issues.
luann's review against another edition
3.0
This is a nice collection of retold fairy tales focusing on fairy tale villains. It features stories and a few poems written by many excellent fantasy authors such as Delia Sherman, Garth Nix, Peter S. Beagle, Holly Black, Jane Yolen, Nancy Farmer, Neil Gaiman, and a few others. As I expect with short story collections, there were some stories I enjoyed much more than others.
Probably my favorite story was "Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers" by Peter S. Beagle. It is a retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk story from the giant's wife's point of view. I was surprised that I enjoyed the story so much because I recently read Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" and didn't like it all that much.
Catherynne M. Valente's "A Delicate Architecture" is also very memorable and beautifully written. It's a bit dark and creepy, but I really like her idea of telling the back story of the witch from Hansel and Gretel. I would like to read something else by her sometime.
I found I enjoyed each story more if I read the note at the end of the story first - which gave a short blurb about each author and their work, and also why they chose their particular fairy tale.
Probably my favorite story was "Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers" by Peter S. Beagle. It is a retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk story from the giant's wife's point of view. I was surprised that I enjoyed the story so much because I recently read Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" and didn't like it all that much.
Catherynne M. Valente's "A Delicate Architecture" is also very memorable and beautifully written. It's a bit dark and creepy, but I really like her idea of telling the back story of the witch from Hansel and Gretel. I would like to read something else by her sometime.
I found I enjoyed each story more if I read the note at the end of the story first - which gave a short blurb about each author and their work, and also why they chose their particular fairy tale.
coffeeandink's review against another edition
3.0
The stories are mostly enjoyable but slight. The best is Kelly Link's disturbing and complex "The Cinderella Game"; I also liked Catherynne M. Valente's "A Delicate Architecture" and Holly Black's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
doughtah's review against another edition
4.0
Troll's-Eye View is a book of short stories and poems edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (who've worked together previously in collecting other anthologies). The collection of creepy and sympathy-garnering stories hosts stories for some of fairytales' most famous villains, from the Big Bad Wolf to Rumpelstiltskin.
The book includes works from the following authors: Delia Sherman, Garth Nix, Wendy Froud, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Peter S. Beagle, Ellen Kushner, Joseph Stanton, Holly Black, Jane Yolen, Nancy Farmer, Michael Cadnum, Catherynne M. Valente, Midori Snyder, Neil Gaiman, and Kelly Link.
Some of these entries took kinder views of the traditional villains, instead pointing a finger at the traditional hero and asking the question "What if they weren't perfect?" Others tell the story from the villains perspective and keep those "bad" qualities in the story, but also give the villain a voice.
In Valente's "A Delicate Architecture," the witch from "Hansel and Gretel" is given a history while events still bring her to the beginning of H&G's nightmare. The question you're left with is "how do you feel about the witch now?" Bluebeard is given a retelling, as is the servant from "The Goose Girl," and even the Giant's wife in "Jack and the Beanstalk."
The very first entry in the book really sets up the collection and the difficult thing here for me is to find a way to tell you about it without spoiling you. There is certainly an Evil Wizard in the story, but what makes him Evil? Who is truly Evil? And how do we determine it? How does the story differ when told from the villain's bias?
The whole collection was very fun to read and as someone who likes reading about stories from the "villains" perspective, it hit that sweet spot of: we still do questionable things, but how much do you truly dislike us?
A couple warnings: within the stories there are forms of abuse, gore, violence, body horror, and neglect, as there tend to be within fairy tales.
The book includes works from the following authors: Delia Sherman, Garth Nix, Wendy Froud, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Peter S. Beagle, Ellen Kushner, Joseph Stanton, Holly Black, Jane Yolen, Nancy Farmer, Michael Cadnum, Catherynne M. Valente, Midori Snyder, Neil Gaiman, and Kelly Link.
Some of these entries took kinder views of the traditional villains, instead pointing a finger at the traditional hero and asking the question "What if they weren't perfect?" Others tell the story from the villains perspective and keep those "bad" qualities in the story, but also give the villain a voice.
In Valente's "A Delicate Architecture," the witch from "Hansel and Gretel" is given a history while events still bring her to the beginning of H&G's nightmare. The question you're left with is "how do you feel about the witch now?" Bluebeard is given a retelling, as is the servant from "The Goose Girl," and even the Giant's wife in "Jack and the Beanstalk."
The very first entry in the book really sets up the collection and the difficult thing here for me is to find a way to tell you about it without spoiling you. There is certainly an Evil Wizard in the story, but what makes him Evil? Who is truly Evil? And how do we determine it? How does the story differ when told from the villain's bias?
The whole collection was very fun to read and as someone who likes reading about stories from the "villains" perspective, it hit that sweet spot of: we still do questionable things, but how much do you truly dislike us?
A couple warnings: within the stories there are forms of abuse, gore, violence, body horror, and neglect, as there tend to be within fairy tales.
greymalkin's review against another edition
5.0
Another high quality short-story collection. Some really great stories in there and even the ones that I didn't care for as much were still pretty good. Overall writing quality was excellent but I didn't expect any less from these talented authors. Many of my favorite authors contributed and it was great to read stuff out of their normal genre or style. I must highlight the story of the witch in Hansel and Gretel as being a really fascinating take on her background... one I could really buy into. Bittersweet describes it so well.
More...