The Apex Book of World SF 2 Paperback – August 21, 2012

First, I should mention that the title is misleading. This collection is a mix of science fiction and fantasy stories. That doesn't bother me too much since I read both, but it surprised me and may well bother others.The quality is a uneven. Some stories are excellent and others were beyond boring and had to be skipped by this reader. Then there are stories that will be unintelligible to nonlocals - the story by Lauren Beukes, for example, uses many words only South Africans will understand. I happen to be South African, but I find extremely annoying this overuse of localisms in works intended to be read outside the country. It is in my opinion a bad technique to give a work a local flavor by peppering it with localism instead of doing it the hard way via good writing. Any technique that interferes with reader comprehension of the story is, in my opinion, a failure.

Good read, well chosen stories

Good stories, but not all will resonate with the reader.