While there are some brilliant pieces in here, i was really disappointed by this collection. Mieville normally gets four or five stars from me, but this really felt like reading scraps from a writers' notebook, or reading a series of drafts. Perhaps short stories are not his forte?

The ideas are often great, it's the stories themselves felt a bit rushed and unpolished. i find Mieville's one weakness is how to end a story, and i guess this becomes more of a problem in a short story collection. That said (despite the weak ending), if you can, sit down for fifteen minutes in a bookstore and read An End to Hunger. Definitely the standout in this uneven collection, and despite the lack of a punchy ending, a story that for its politics alone would get four stars from me.