At the World Fantasy convention in Calgary I listened to Garth Nix read an awesome story telling the tale of Rapunzel from the witch’s point of view. I loved it, but I misheard him when he said what anthology it was going to be included in. I thought he said ‘A Child’s Eye View’ and when I got home, no matter how hard I searched I couldn’t find any reference to that book. When Ellen Datlow posted the table of contents for her newest anthology (with Terri Windling) on her livejournal I almost jumped in my seat for excitement. There was the story. How I misheard troll for child is beyond me, but apparently I had.

The table of contents for this book is amazing. Peter S. Beagle and Neil Gaiman. Garth Nix and Kelly Link. Jane Yolen and Holly Black. The list goes on and on. Plus it’s all about retold fairy tales, which I love. I had to have this book.

It arrived when I was in Winnipeg at the World Horror Convention and by the time I got home I’d already started reading One (by Conrad Williams) and wasn’t willing to stop. Plus, I had all that pesky schoolwork and stuff to do. Bleh. However, I finished One on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon I had to go pick my daughter up from choir and take her to salsa. I had another errand I needed to do which meant I was going to be sitting in her school hallway for at least half an hour waiting for her to get out of choir. There was no way I was going to bring my books and spread them all around me to work, so I grabbed my copy of Troll’s Eye View and away I went.

The cover is amazing. Kids walking down the hall would stop just to look at it and then scurry away (hopefully with the title embedded in their brains somewhere). The stories were fantastic too.

I finished the book Tuesday night. I know it’s a children’s book so this says nothing for my speed reading skills, but it should be noted that I passed up playing World of Warcraft in order to finish the book. That’s almost unheard of in my world LOL

I enjoyed all the stories, every single one. There wasn’t a weak link or a dud in the bunch as far as I’m concerned. Some of them were funny, some a little darker, all were unique and well worth reading. I think my favorite story of all of them was The Shoes That Were Danced To Pieces by Ellen Kushner. As an oldest child myself I could totally relate to the main character and I really felt for her (and myself). Sometimes being responsible is a terrible burden.

I also adored Kelly Link’s The Cinderella Game and of course Garth Nix’s An Unwelcome Guest. For very different reasons. Garth’s story made me laugh out loud more than once but Kelly’s was far darker. A Delicate Architecture by Catherynne M. Valente is another story I won’t soon forget. It’s beautiful and dark and sweet. Oh so sweet. 😉

Now that I”m done reading it, I will let Danica borrow Troll’s Eye View and see what she thinks of it. I suspect her favorite stories will be Garth Nix’s An Unwelcome Guest and Wizard’s Apprentice by Delia Sherman but there’s only one way to find out for sure.