Years ago, I wrote a review on a miracle. The book still is one.
Alas, what it has degenerated into is damn disappointing. I was not quite right to note "I`ve only read four of the Old Vilnius books; from about the middle of the fourth one, something I cannot quite put my finger on seems to veer towards “proper” SF", because the rest of the Old Vilnius books cannot be calumniated as "SF proper".
What I mean is Тяжелый свет Куртейна ("Heavy Light of Curtain"), quite a few voluminous (in more senses than one) volumes depicting the same City and, mostly, the same persons, but of totally different hue. Those are certainly SF. Not bad, at that, but nothing like the Vilnius Tales. There`s no light seeping through stained glass any longer; there`s almost no soul, and even if there is one, or even more, the soul is very different. Heavier, maybe? I`m not sure... There`s certainly more death in its various forms. And Joy has been replaced by Fun.
The Heavy Light books are worth reading, but they are nothing like the Vilnius Tales. Should they have nothing to do with the Tales, they`d be perfectly OK.
But as it is, they are disappointing even though interesting.
Why would the author drag That into This I can only suspect... Sadly...