To be honest, I am woefully behind on my classic sci-fi and hadn't heard of Gene Wolfe before--just the marketing email proclaiming him "one of the most important sci-fi and fantasy writers of our time." When I started reading the collection, I wasn't very impressed. He writes with an understated and unfinished quality that, especially in short story format, can feel rather underwhelming. What was interesting, was that I kept finding that even when I hadn't particularly enjoyed the story... I didn't think it was a bad story. There was always something that I kept turning over in my mind in fascination.

In doing research on why he's regarded as "one of the most important," I found a Wired article that described a first experience reading Wolfe as "I think this Wolfe guy is a so-so writer, but he's an amazing creator of worlds." And I think that was the aspect that really shined in this collection. Each time I reached a new story, I found myself anticipating the ways in which the world was going to start out relatively normal and become something new and exciting (or terrifying). All of them were completely satisfying world building, despite the word constraints of short stories.

As to the editing and ordering, I really enjoyed the structure of the stories. Reading it cover to cover, the stories flowed well and built on themes in ways that helped build my understanding of Wolfe and his work. It was very well done. And in terms of favorites, I am lingering on the stories: "Bea and Her Bird Brother," "The Old Woman in the Young Woman," "Volksweapon," "Thou Spark of Blood," "Frostfree," and "The Magic Animal." The Final section (Through the Mists and Out into the Void" was, in my opinion, the strongest and most interesting stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.