I gave this book three stars because at times it was plodding and I had to slog through it, occasionally skipping parts (I'm looking at you weirdly long squid bibliography). But at other times it was brilliant. Even in the shortest stories, I was hooked by the characters and the world. If the book had ended after the story of X, it would have gotten the full five stars, but it did not, and I had a hard time getting through the rest.