Let's be clear here: China Mieville can write. He can certainly write. Very descriptive, amazingly creative, great worldbuilding, he's a 4 star writer, for sure, but I'm not sure he can really write a short story. Or rather, if he is willing to write one.

The pacing for nearly all the stories in this collection are much more novel paced. If we take the classic Nancy Kress method of judging pacing (P=E/W [pacing equal events divided by words]) then he's got way more words for each event, but I wouldn't say that his stories are slow, or meandering, instead they are drenched, wallowing in his words and description, so he makes it work for him. That being said, I don't know if he can't end a short story, or if he just won't end a short story. Pretty much none of his stories resolve the A story line (including: "Looking for Jake", "The Ball Room", "Different Skies", "Go Between", and "The Tain"), and only hint at the orbiting B story lines. I get it, this is supposed to be more organic, more "realistic" or, at least, more open ended how life really is. I get that, I'm fine with it, especially in novel form, but I'm not sure that it works time and time again in one volume. And frankly, I just keep asking myself: A- then why do I need to know this (in "The Tain", for instance, he could have cut the entirety of the human traitor/imago sympathizer and it would have had NO effect on the Sholl narrative)? B- is it just that he frankly can't end a story? Cause, let's face it, that's a very hard thing to do, and I felt a number of times that he had this great set up which he couldn't end, and then was like, "well, I'll just dress it up all literary style, and leave it open ended", which is what it felt like he did with "Go Between" and "The Ball Room" just totally bypassing the A story altogether, which as a reader I was wondering how he was going to end such a great set up. Part of me suspects that he learned of this problem early on and just incorporated it into his style and was just like, "you know what? Screw all you people that demand resolution and relevant structure, I'm writing these stories anyways, and look here's the end, I'm done!" At times I feel like he's playing with story elements and expectations, not as a master, but as a novice, out of an inability to master the short story. And with a few of his stories, he just made me feel stupid, cause I just had no idea what was going on, like with "On the Way to the Front". Anyone care to tell me what that was about? I mean, I'm not saying I'm an expert, at all, short stories are crazy hard, but still, sometimes I feel a lack with his stories, and it's much more evident in the short format. It's really no surprise he's a big Kelly Link fan.

All that being said, there are just some magical moments in this collection. "Details", which also dodged the A-story (what exactly was that lady doing with all those callers and questions?), gave me some chills. That's a story that ends. "Jack" was good, but frankly only cause I'm a Bas-Lag fan.

The book is worth a read, but I don't imagine holding onto it, or rereading those stories.

And there's no half-stars on good reads, but this collection was definitely 3.5 stars, not 3.