Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales

Each of the tales in this book is a twist on the original, since it takes the villain's perspective. The stories range from humorous to bittersweet. I found that I liked this collection even better than A Wolf at the Door. My favorite story in this collection is "A Delicate Architecture" by Cathrynne M. Valente, which is a prequel to Hansel and Gretel, explaining where the witch with the gingerbread house came from and why she behaves as she does. There are several other stories in the book that I really enjoyed as well, and none that I actively disliked. Readers of fractured and twisted fairy tales should certainly look this one up!

Fairy tales were my first love when I was a child. My mother introduced me to the joys of stories with The Golden Book of Fairy Tales long before I learned how to read. My early reading included the first three volumes of The Junior Classics and Andrew Lang’s colorful fairy tale books. When Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling started editing anthologies of new takes on the old tales for adults with Snow White, Blood Red, I was delighted. And when Datlow and Windling started editing a series of original fiction for young adults based on fairy tales, I couldn’t resist them. Troll's Eye View is one of four in a series of books for ages 10 and up, which also includes A Wolf at the Door, Swan Sister and, just published, The Beastly Bride: show more Tales of the Animal People.

Troll's Eye View is subtitled “A Book of Villainous Tales,” but really, villains seem like an unfairly disparaged lot in most of these stories. In fact, it’s not unusual to find someone you thought was a heroine turn out to be a villain, as in Garth Nix’s “An Unwelcome Guest,” which portrays Rapunzel quite differently from the long-haired victim we’re used to. Sometimes the good guy is disguised as a villain, as in “Wizard’s Apprentice” by Delia Sherman, which is set in a store called “Evil Wizard Books,” a place I’m longing to visit. And the giant’s wife was apparently unfairly characterized by Jack – though not by much – as she reveals in “Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers.”

A few of the stories deal with the titular trolls. Midori Snyder’s “Molly” is about a troll named Dongoggle attempting to masquerade as human so that his wife and daughters can enjoy living in town, rather than in the wilds under a bridge. The titular Molly befriends the daughters, but has a motive for doing so, as the trolls discover when certain of their belongings go missing after a visit from the child. Dongoggle seeks revenge, which doesn’t work out quite the way he planned. Jane Yolen’s “Troll” is all about the hunger of a motherless child. Poor Troll isn’t “poor” for very long.

My favorite story is Catherynne M. Valente’s “A Delicate Architecture.” Valente has such a weird and wonderful imagination; she always takes me to places I’ve never been, never imagined, and never could imagine. Her story is about a girl made of sugar and spice and everything nice – literally. Who would make a girl out of sugar, and why? And what would happen to that girl? Valente answers all of those questions, and ties her tale back to a classic fairy tale in a way that one can just barely see coming, if she’s paying attention. Valente uses prose the way a pianist uses a piano; with it, she makes beautiful music. I cannot get enough of her work.

Readers will be familiar with many other names in this book: Nancy Farmer, Kelly Link and Holly Black, among others, contribute tales, and Neil Gaiman offers a poem. A few of the stories won’t get much of a grasp on your imagination, but they are only a few. This collection is one to read with your child; you can take turns reading stories out loud to one another, together figure out what classic tale is being retold, and bond over your mutual love for fairy tales in whatever form they take. show less

I have a weakness for retold fairy tales and for short stories, so this collection of fairy tales told from the villains' point of view was a must-read for me. Also, Datlow and Windling consistently helm the best anthologies out there, for kids and adults, and I read every one I can get my hands on. This collection has 15 stories by well-known fantasy authors for children and adults, almost all of which I've read at least something earlier, whether it be a short story or two or a novel or two, and it makes for quite the collection. Like all anthologies, there are a few weak stories, or maybe I should say a few stories I didn't enjoy as much as the others, and a few stories that really stood out.

For me, the stand-outs are almost always show more the dark stories, for I am a twisted soul, and they leave more of an impact on me. My other stand-out story type is superbly done comedies. (For example, in Deborah Noye's collection Gothic: Ten Original Dark Tales, my two favorite stories are MT Anderson's marvelously disturbing "Watch and Wake" and Neil Gaiman's hilarious parody of gothic conventions, "Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire".) So, of course, my favorite stories from this collection are Holly Black's "The Boy Who Cried Wolf' and Kelly Link's "The Cinderella Game", both very dark, creepy stories with endings that play with the "happily ever after" convention. In "the Boy Who Cried Wolf", the narrator learns about a mysterious flower that turns those who sniff its scent into wolves who then devour whoever is closest, and he has to make some tough choices when he and his family land their boat on an island that appears to be covered with the flowers. In "The Cinderella Game", Peter babysits his new, somewhat disturbed, step-sister (he appears somewhat disturbed as well) and things get weird when he agrees to play a game of Cinderella, in which the lines between the good Cinderella and the evil step-sister are blurred.

There are a lot of other great stories, including Peter Beagle's funny "Up the Down Beanstalk", which retells "Jack in the Beanstalk" from the point of view of the giant's wife (I love how matter-of-fact she is about their diet), Midori Snyder's rather haunting retelling of "Molly Whuppie", called "Molly", and Delia Sherman's "Wizard's Apprentice", which follows a much-abused boy on his path to becoming the apprentice to an Evil Wizard who turns out not to be so evil after all.

Overall, this is another excellent anthology for Datlow and Windling. show less

This book contained stories and poems by a dazzling set of authors such as Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Jane Yolen. However, most of the tales were not very well fleshed out, even for short stories, and some felt half-finished. I did enjoy "'Skin" and "A Delicate Architecture."

A collection of familiar fairy tales with an unusual twist: these stories are told from the point of view of the villains! As with any collection of short stories and poems, some are better than others, some stand out, some are less than stellar, but overall, it is a solid collection. The stories consist of:

"Wizard's Apprentice" by Delia Sherman
"An Unwelcome Guest" by Garth Nix
"Faery Tales" by Wendy Froud
"Rags and Riches" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
"Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers" by Peter S. Beagle
"The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces" by Ellen Kushner
"Puss in Boots, the Sequel" by Joseph Stanton
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" by Holly Black
"Troll" by Jane Yolen
"Castle Othello" by Nancy Farmer
"`Skin" by Michael Cadnum
"A Delicate show more Architecture" by Catherynne M. Valente
"Molly" by Midori Snyder
"Observing the Formalities" by Neil Gaiman
"The Cinderella Game" by Kelly Link

I could go into specifics with each story, but I think I'll pass on that. These are written by some of the finest fantasy authors around today, and even though I may not have enjoyed some of these tales as much as others in the collection, they are all still well written and worth reading. I will say, though, that my favorite was "A Delicate Architecture" by Catherynne M. Valente. This story, telling the history of the witch from Hansel & Gretel was so thought provoking and carried such a sense of melancholy that I couldn't help but understand why the witch became the way she is. It's a hauntingly beautiful story.

Recommended. show less

Featuring Peter Beagle (best title: Up the Down Beanstalk), Holly Black, Michael Cadnum, Nancy Farmer, Wendy Froud, Neil Gaiman (poem), Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Ellen Kushner, Kelly Link (less annoying than I usually find her), Garth Nix, Delia Sherman, Midori Snyder, Joseph Stanton, Catherynne Valente, and Jane Yolen. Fairy tales retold from the villain’s point of view, for author-defined values of villain which (plus, I think, the YA focus) means that the villains are generally rewritten as the heroes of their own stories, and the former heroes often revealed to be, in particular, unappealingly greedy—which may say something about current cultural values (among popular fantasy authors at least). Overall, quite enjoyable.

What a wonderful read. The villains, the evil-doers, the baddies get their moment in the spotlight. This collection from some of the world's renown fantasy writers is endlessly inventive and entertaining, and I dare say it will change the way you think about those nasty characters. A new take on such famous folks as the witch from Hansel & Gretel, Bluebeard (I quite liked him in the end), Mrs. Giant from Jack and. . . and a number of others. The tales are well written -- some are downright creepy and others thought-provoking. Certainly not just for the kids. Enjoy!