Prophecies, Libels & Dreams: Stories

Very difficult book to rate.
Starts with two three-star stories (both loosely connected to the Flora Segunda books). But then we get three stories which can be dubbed as Hardhands and Tiny Doom: The Early Years, and I really did not like them. But I dislike writers never using one word if they can use two or – better! – more. It very rarely works for me, and in this case it did not. The fact that Hardhands and Tiny Doom's family is the very model of a disfunctional one does not help...
Luckily the last two stories I really liked, the Hand in Glove being my favourite. Strangely, the best stories have almost nothing to do with Flora books – they simply happen to be happening in the same world, and that's all.