Completely captivating and almost completely cheerless, Building Stories is so uniquely and beautifully put together that it's hard to knock it too much for its hopelessness. I even almost want to add a fifth star.

I read from smallest to largest piece, went back and read the last page or few panels of each and feel like there really was no wrong way to go about tackling it. A couple of the pieces might be recommended as the anchor solely for their ability to leave you on a higher note, but just barely.

I'm eager to see this match up against any of the more traditional novels of the Tournament of Books in March. It's hard to predict.