Stellar #3 Book

Summary: A very good collection from Gene Wolfe. I loved 16 of the 24 stories, 5 were good and the other 3 I didn't like - this is a great ratio for a collection and I can highly recommend it. It's not as brilliant and memorable as The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories but if you like Gene Wolfe then you will have a wonderful time.

Review
I started to read the stories in 2009 and for some reason I stopped after finishing 17 of them. I read the remaining stories in 2013 and the first thing that surprised me a bit was how little I remembered. I had a lot of fun with most of the stories but there was none in the league of, let's say, The Fifth Head of Cerberus. This is something to keep in mind and it doesn't mean that the collection is bad. Au contraire! Gene Wolfe is a remarkable story teller and I love the way how he creates his characters and drops them into fantastic situations. The reader must always look out for hidden clues but sometimes it was too much for me and I didn't enjoy a story as much as I could have (e.g. "Game in the Pope's Head").

Although the subtitle is "new Science Fiction stories" we actually get a wide variety of stories, from horror to SF to variations of old myths, from funny to creepy. Don't be surprised if a dog starts talking or doing crazy things!

Using my usual rating for stories (A = great, B = okay, C = didn't like it) here is the list with my opinion. I might add more comments later but feel free to ask me questions or leave a comment yourself if you want to know more!


(B) Viewpoint
(C) Rattler
(A) In Glory like Their Star
(A) Calamity Warps
(A) Graylord Man's Last Words
(A) Shields of Mars
(A) From the Cradle
(A) Black Shoes
(A) Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?
(A) Pulp Cover
(A) Of Soil and Climate
(-) The Dog of the Drops (Note: I had to skip this one, I wasn't ready for the dialect.)
(B) Mute
(A) Petting Zoo
(A) Castaway
(A) The Fat Magician
(A) The Boy Who Hooked the Sun
(C) Try and Kill It (Note: well written but is it more than a hunting story?)
(B) Game in the Pope's Head
(A+) Empires of Foliage and Flower
(B) The Arimaspian Legacy
(B) The Seraph from Its Sepulcher
(A) Lord of the Land
(A) Golden City Far