Troll's-Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales
Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling "Troll's-Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales"
Firebird | English | August 5, 2010 | ISBN: 0142416738 | 208 pages | azw, epub, lrf, mobi | 3,2 mb
Firebird | English | August 5, 2010 | ISBN: 0142416738 | 208 pages | azw, epub, lrf, mobi | 3,2 mb
The duo again amass an anthology of fairy-tale retellings, only this time they keep focus upon the backstories of well-known villains. As always with such endeavors, it’s a mixed bag of funny, quirky, and downright creepy entries. A standout on the humorous side is Peter S. Beagle’s “Up the Down Beanstalk: A Wife Remembers,” in which Mrs. Giant tells all to a newspaper reporter about that infamous rascal Jack, who scrambled up the beanstalk and ended up killing Mr. Giant. On the sinister side, Kelly Link finishes off the book with an absolutely bone-chilling offering called “The Cinderella Game,” in which Peter babysits his new stepsister. The experience ends in blood, horror, and with the sense that there is no happily ever after left for anyone. Although some stories, like Neil Gaiman’s “Observing the Formalities,” require a good deal of familiarity with the original yarns, the collection is largely accessible and very enjoyable.