Unfortunately, after playing the games and watching the series, I find this short story collection quite... mediocre. The stories don't stand by themselves very well, and I feel that somehow, of the previous mediums I encountered these stories in, the book is the poorest.

The stories are shallow and weak, there's little to no atmosphere, the characters are bland and the actions, well, underwhelming. I wonder how this would've felt like if I didn't play the games first, or if I didn't see the series. I hope that the books proper are better, or at least show some character, other than mediocre dialogue-driven story-telling.

Although many suggest that this should be the first book to read, I have my doubts. I think that it's impossible to actually enjoy the experience of reading these short-stories without previous knowledge of the lore and the universe. But, as I said, I haven't read the books yet, and maybe just reading this before reading other books from the series is what makes it mediocre. Who knows? Future me, do let me know.