Skinswaps received favorable reviews in Publishers Weekly ("The recognizably Central European characters mix philosophy, eroticism and everyday grit, returning repeatedly to themes of music, death, betrayal and the fragility of the individual's hold on reality.

"),[3] The New York Times ("This debut collection ... shows that after the opening of the former Eastern bloc, modern alienation travels faster than social and political change.

You Do Understand received an equally positive response in Publishers Weekly ("Each of these short bursts (most are barely a page long) bubbles with a droll, dry humor handily captured by Soban's dead-on, deadpan translation.

"),[6] Kirkus Review ("Blatnik has a knack for wringing insight and meaning out of such concision, and he occasionally places stories with similar themes next to each other to exploit their resonances.

[8] Publishers Weekly noted that in Law of Desire "some stories delve into darkly profound territory, like 'A Thin Red Line,' in which a former terrorist chooses a humanitarian suicide, sacrificing himself for a tribe's rain ritual" and "some pieces are wonderfully humorous.