This short story collection was my first venture into the Hainish universe and I have to say, boy oh boy, what a solid collection it is. While most short story collections usually only have a few stand out stories, I can only think of 1-2 stories in this one that I did not care for all too much. The longer stories and novellas were very strong (which mirrors my experience I had with Tales from Earthsea, where I loved the novella and longer stories much more than the shorter ones) and I also loved that some stories crossreferenced each other. I do wish there had been a short glossary of terms that seasoned Hainish readers may not need, but newbies such as me could have used for a better understanding.