I really struggled with this book first, but in the end, it kind of opened itself up a little. This is one work that I think one has to read more than once just to start to appreciate it. First - just get through it. Read the "Atrophied Preface" and the editors' note in this edition - things start to make sense. Re-read - time for revelation.

This of course means that it is proper hard work to get to the core of things. The books style doesn't make things easy either, things are fragmented on all different levels. On the highest level, there's no single plot or story, just a collection of stories with different places and characters, that in the end paints a more or less comprehensive picture of a certain world. Then within stories, sometimes there are sub-stories. Then even paragraphs can be very loosely connected. Then there are sentences that just stand side by side for a certain effect. Finally, even a single sentence can be near incomprehensible collection of words. Once I stopped forcing it to make sense, it was all alright, but that needs a certain mindset and mood.

All in all I really liked it. Many stories seem to have great insight into human nature - just brought it to the very extreme before being written down. Reading about such twisted fantasy world like the Interzone can feel strangely dirty but exhilarating and liberating. Wouldn't recommend this book to everyone, but if someone can set aside their prejudices, it will be a rewarding experience - but keep off the junk.