Individual story ratings:
Quartered: 3/5
Bone Garden: 5/5
The Sergeant and the General: 3/5
Rat-Catcher: 3/5 ( )

A lovely story about Tybalt, King of Cats, before he was King, and all the loves that shaped him. ( )

I was only familiar with the world of McGuire's story, but all four stories were engaging and interesting.

Quartered by Tanya Huff
While I found this story interesting, it's missing some bits of backstory or worldbuilding that would make it much more understandable to someone unfamiliar to Huff's Quarters series.

Bone Garden by Amanda Downum
Creepy and atmospheric, this is the one story that may entice me to delve into the rest of its series.

The Sargent and the General by Jasper Kent
Didn't particularly care for this one. Trigger warning for animal harm.

Rat-Catcher by Seanan McGuire
I liked Rat-Catcher a lot, but that's not at all surprising since I love the October Daye books and every story McGuire writes in that universe. Plus the Cait Sidhe are my favorite of her different kinds of fey. ( )

I had not read three of the four series the novellas in the collection are drawn from, and that didn't hinder my enjoyment at all. They're all four engaging reads on their own - McGuire's, I think, is the strongest, but the quality is reasonably consistent. I was actually least enthralled with the Huff, even though that was the one I was most familiar with - it just seemed a little too pat and predictable, and too dependent on prior knowledge to have much emotional weight. Regardless, a solid little collection. ( )