Cover Before Striking
I recall a feeling of confusion after I finished this book; nagging doubts about whether I had properly parsed the meaning or intended effect of some of the stories, but most of all, confusion about my overall feeling about the collection. So I let it sit for a month, to see what would come back to me when I picked it up for review, allowing myself only a quick flip through the pages.What came back was an overwhelming sense of darkness, death, self-immolation and immolation of others. In this sense, the book no doubt suffers by direct and perhaps unfair comparison to the lightness and playfulness of the short story collection I read immediately before it, Daydreams of Angels. While I admired the originality and cleverness of the writing in both, I came away from "Angels" saying, "I'm glad I read that." This one - not so much.
Possibly just a bad intersection between the nature of the stories and my own state of mind, rather than being any particular reflection on the book or its author. I would not try to dissuade anybody else from reading it.
