I'm drawn to stories like that. BUT
936051
I guess I'm in the camp of those who aren't so crazy about this book.  I don't mind stories that are dark and depressing, as a matter of fact, I'm drawn to stories like that.  BUT, I found the writing style really difficult.  And again, I'm willing to put up with a lot as far as writing style goes, but too often, I'm wondering who's speaking, where are we now, who is being spoken about now, what the hell is going on....etc.

I'm now half way through this book, and I find it a tough slog, and I'm putting the book down a lot, with a heavy sigh.  I like to be riveted to the story I'm reading, so that after I've been reading awhile, I'm shocked at how much I've read.  Not with this book at all.  It's more like, oh my God, how many more pages do I have to get through to finish this.

Kudos to the author for writing about something so current and real.  But the writing style is really difficult.
3150184
First story in a long time that iv read that wasn't a romance story. But the story made so much sense to me. More than it should have
I guess i don't feel so different after all.
3813711
I picked up The Apex Book of World SF: Volume 4 because I know Mahvesh Murad and I wanted to expose myself to new voices from around the world, hoping to find some new favorites. I've just come off a few months of reading slush for a magazine, which made it all the more clear to me that Murad's and my editorial tastes differ. Anthologies are usually a mixed bag because of personal taste, and I felt positive-ish about half the stories here, with very few if any stories fully satisfying me. Some were hard for me to get into, some I didn't know what was going on, some didn't feel like stories. I could attempt to understand why so many stories didn't work for me, but I'd rather highlight some of the stories that (mostly) did.

"The Language of Knives" by Haralambi Markov is a stand-out, a second-person story about a strange death ritual: turning a dead body...into cake. It sounds silly but it's unnerving and moving. Speaking of unnerving, look no farther than Elana Gomel's "The Farm," which follows a man in a post-apocalyptic world where anything, literally <i>anything</i> could be the enemy. It's very creepy and leads to a thought-provoking ending. Speaking of endings, JY Yang's "Tiger Baby," about a woman who believes she is a tiger, is strangely compelling with beautiful writing and ends in an unexpectedly satisfying way.

I especially enjoyed the touches of humor throughout. "Setting Up Home" by Sabrina Huang is a weird flash piece about furniture appearing in a man's apartment but it ends abruptly; I wanted to know more. "Six Things We Found During the Autopsy" by Kuzhali Manickavel is cute and surreal, living up to its title in its descriptions, though I couldn't suss out the narrative. Sese Yane's "The Corpse" is an offbeat tale of a coroner who steals a corpse; I enjoyed the narrative voice but again wasn't sure what the real story was. Saad Z. Hossain's "Djinns Live by the Sea" is a fun take on djinns that takes an ominous turn.

Although this book of "world SF" contains both science fiction and fantasy, a few science fiction stories were particularly good. Chinelo Onwualu's "The Gift of Touch" is a Firefly-esque space adventure with banter among crewmates and some strange human cargo, but it's oddly paced and the really interesting stuff kind of gets thrown in at the end. Although I didn't quite understand everything about Sathya Stone's "Jinki and the Paradox," it's intriguing and fun. Vajra Chandrasekera's "Pockets Full of Stones" explores a time-dilated grandfather-grandson relationship and then sh*t gets very real. Zen Cho tackles the diaspora with psychic rabbits in "The Four Generations of Chang E."

Zen's story was one of the few I'd already read and liked. Others included "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow," Thomas Olde Heuvelt's novelette about the relationship between a boy who casts no shadow and a boy made of glass, and "A Cup of Salt Tears," Isabel Yap's warm and sweet tale of a woman and kappa.

I feel like Nene Ormes's "The Good Matter" is the most "traditional" story in the bunch, depicting a cryptic meeting between two collectors of artifacts with supernatural powers (the collectors, not the artifacts...although maybe them too). It's just one scene! It's linear! Nothing too tricky going on. On the other hand, Shimon Adaf's "Like a Coin Entrusted in Faith" is easily the most ambitious, complex story in the anthology, with nested narratives, multiple POVs, a section as a play, and...I wish I understood it because it seems really freaking cool.

The Apex Book of World SF: Volume 4 has a wide variety of stories in different styles, giving glimpses into different cultures and storytelling traditions. Maybe you'll find some to your tastes, and maybe you won't. I'm glad the collection exists regardless.
2066301
I love to read these stories because they feel so real that it puts you there right in the middle of the story!
1483377
Good reading, but I wish the stories could go on longer.
4420891
I admit it, I love reaper stories. This world, though, where there are reapers and reapers....
2376885
He has a way of putting words together that cause me to want to reread passages, trying to visualize his descriptions.
637382
The stories are amazing. My be too amazing. I love to read fiction including Arabian Nights, but this is just too mutch.
1710182
I love it when a story pulls me in like this one did. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be diving into the next one immediately!
3170997
I realized just now, how mutch I love fairy-tales.
4398189
The line between SF and fantasy is blurry; but what these stories have in common is they leave you with a feeling, an emotional oomph that stays with you after you turn the page. If this is a survey of the best of 2014/2015 then I like what I see.

I like the way the stories were chosen, with the finalists having the authors' names removed. That way, when I see a story by Neil Gaiman or Jo Walton, I'm sure it was chosen on merit and not the author's celebrity status.

I was going to go through the stories I liked best, one by one, and tell you about them, but no. I think you'll be better served if I simply let you know that, while not all of the stories worked equally well for me, almost all of them were excellent and excellently written, with style and verve and depth. The stories connect, and they offer a journey into a new place from which you are likely to return somewhat changed, with a new perspective on your life.

What else can you ask from a collection of the best short stories of the year?
2534814
I don't like short stories. I like to know the characters from start to finish. Short stories make me feel like I'm missing something. That said, there were several stories I would have loved to see how things turned out.
4262217
I am still enjoying the Laundry Files stories. There are elements I'm not keen on, but I like how the growth of the characters feels real and how the stories all connect. I can't put my finger on it, but something in this one feels...a bit off from the rest. I enjoyed it but not something I'd wanna reread.
4136920
A feel for real life.  I'm almost jealous.
2608061
I really like how real the story feels. I have to read this for an MBA class but it is an interesting read and i find myself reading ahead because I can't put it down. Maybe that make me a dork but hey whatever.
222669
Great stories in such detail that you wonder if it was beefed up a bit by the writer. I will take their word for it.
169936
These stories have a pretty bleak vibe that cuts into the book's enjoyable aspect - especially read all at once. However, the characters are so lifelike and behave so realistically that I felt connected to their experiences, harsh as they were. Another reviewer pointed out McCracken's best skill, which is creating that sense of empathy in the reader.

Ultimately, that's why the collection works - it's not "downbeat," simply for the sake of tragedy. Rather, I was empathetic toward these fictional people and the sadnesses they encountered. Fiction yes, but these stories speak to the human experience.

I'm not sure I'd suggest reading this book straight through. I think the stories might work better one at a time, with a chaser of something more escapist...but that's not how I read.