Out of 25 stories and poems, I think only 5 of them really worked for me (The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountain, An Invocation of Incuriosity, And Weep Like Alexander, Nothing O'Clock, The Return of the Thin White Duke). The rest was relatively "meh", leading me to wonder if this collection has gotten such high praise simply because Neil Gaiman wrote it, and not because it is particularly good. I love American Gods, but the short story about Shadow, written particularly for this collection, didn't invoke even a tenth of the mystery, charm and suspense found in AG.
It's not enough for a shorty story to be short, or just have an abrupt ending, it also has to have meaning. Each word has to be carefully chosen and put together, so that they tell more than one story. The majority of Gaiman's stories seemed to lack "something". There were lots of wonderful ideas, but the execution was for the most part only so-so.
I love Gaiman's novels, but find myself left disappointed by his short stories.
