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. ( )

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."

Usually thematic collections are a mixed bag, but I have to admit that none of these stories & poems for tweens disappointed me.  None were too terribly gruesome, none were too clever for their own good, all had heart, all were smart.  Highly recommended to all fans of rewritten fairy 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! ( )

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 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. ( )