Very 'ok' world-building dark fantasy. Though the stories share the common setting, and sometimes refer to the same characters, they feel very uneven, disconnected. The more violent passages I felt were somewhat overdone, bland, and the 'what a twist!' endings just a little too obvious. The appendix is all over the place, 'King Squid, 'The Cage', and 'Learning to Leave the Flesh' the most worthwhile (be sure to check out the Torture Squid entries in the King Squid biblio). I gave this three stars based on the strength of the first two tales 'Dradin, In Love' and '...the Early History of Ambergris', not to mention 'King Squid' in the appendix, but that's just because I'm big into those cephalopods. All said, looking forward to more from this author.
