It's not gloriously bad, nor incredibly good. It's... acceptable. I still think that the stories require a proper character introduction, and I expect that this should happen in the books proper. And yes, it's still a collection of short stories, and yes, it's still adding pieces to a story that I haven't read yet, because I followed the recommendations to read this as the second book.

Not much to say about each story in particular. They are... ok. I guess most of the content of these stories I encountered in the games or in the Tv series, and perhaps it would've made a different impression if I read this collection before any of that. We'll see how the novels actually work.