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Hugo Novel Nominees, 2019
May. 13th, 2019 07:02 amIt's Hugo season!
Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers) (2018): Third novel in the Wayfairers universe. A tragedy in the human Exodus Fleet and the tragedy's fallout gradually force five characters to reassess their lives.
( Generation ships after humans have reached other planets is exactly the sort of concept that sounds up my alley. However, unfocused writing is the opposite of up my alley. )
The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal) (2018): Historical AU. A very large asteroid takes out DC and the Chesapeake. Our Protagonists fear that an impact winter will be followed by an out of control greenhouse effect and the end of a human-survivable climate. Cue an accelerated space program, from the perspective of a woman, Edna York, who really wants to be an astronaut. Edna is an ex-WASP and mathematician working as a computer when the Meteor strikes the Earth. ("It's a meteorite!" Edna says, a lot. The media does not listen.) During the story her eyes are opened to racism, particularly against African-Americans, and Edna herself has to confront some pretty extreme anxiety issues.
( All the spoilers. Flawed but interesting. )
And with all that said, I want to read the sequel. Give me flawed and imperfect and something I can argue with over perfect wispy nothingness.
Revenant Gun (Yoon Ha Lee) (2018): Previously read. Wasn't my fave, but I finished it. I'm still disturbed that I missed All The Consent Subtext, Which Is Not Actually Subtextual, because that really changes the reading of the entire Machineries of Empire Trilogy.
Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik) (2018): Previously read. I suspect this novel is catering to my specific demographic in a way that blinds me to some of its flaws, but I finished it, and I liked it.
Trail of Lightning (Rebecca Roanhorse) (2018): To me, this feels very strongly of Harry Dresden in Diné land. Or maybe it's a subgenre with Laurell K. Hamilon? The takeaways are violence against women, and perpetuated by women; it's (almost) always Coyote's fault; in all that toting and shooting of guns, did the shotgun and Glock ever get cleaned / maintained? Trail didn't impress me as Hugo material. But continuing the the Dresden files comparison, I am curious to see what Roanhorse does as she matures as a writer and hits her stride. Butcher's later novels are much better at being novels compared to his earlier work.
Space Opera (Catherynne Valente) (2018): Valente really does not believe in using one descriptor when a rambling paragraph of description is available. Disengaged by mid-chapter 2 (of 36); did not finish. Its too bad; Valente is shooting for Eurovision in space meets Douglas Adams, but I wonder if it might be compared to the New Wave's shift into "softer" SF as well. But to find out, I'd have to get past a nearly unreadable prose style and the deadly words "I do not care about any of these people". Possible wispy nothing.
Rankings: Spinning Silver, Calculating Stars, toss-up between Revenant Gun and Trail of Lightning, toss-up between Record of a Spaceborn Few and No Award, Space Opera.
At least one other voter I've spoken with argues No Award should be saved for political statements, but I find that post-Puppies I am more willing to say, "this is not good writing" and rank No Award high.
Next: the novellas!
Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers) (2018): Third novel in the Wayfairers universe. A tragedy in the human Exodus Fleet and the tragedy's fallout gradually force five characters to reassess their lives.
( Generation ships after humans have reached other planets is exactly the sort of concept that sounds up my alley. However, unfocused writing is the opposite of up my alley. )
The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal) (2018): Historical AU. A very large asteroid takes out DC and the Chesapeake. Our Protagonists fear that an impact winter will be followed by an out of control greenhouse effect and the end of a human-survivable climate. Cue an accelerated space program, from the perspective of a woman, Edna York, who really wants to be an astronaut. Edna is an ex-WASP and mathematician working as a computer when the Meteor strikes the Earth. ("It's a meteorite!" Edna says, a lot. The media does not listen.) During the story her eyes are opened to racism, particularly against African-Americans, and Edna herself has to confront some pretty extreme anxiety issues.
( All the spoilers. Flawed but interesting. )
And with all that said, I want to read the sequel. Give me flawed and imperfect and something I can argue with over perfect wispy nothingness.
Revenant Gun (Yoon Ha Lee) (2018): Previously read. Wasn't my fave, but I finished it. I'm still disturbed that I missed All The Consent Subtext, Which Is Not Actually Subtextual, because that really changes the reading of the entire Machineries of Empire Trilogy.
Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik) (2018): Previously read. I suspect this novel is catering to my specific demographic in a way that blinds me to some of its flaws, but I finished it, and I liked it.
Trail of Lightning (Rebecca Roanhorse) (2018): To me, this feels very strongly of Harry Dresden in Diné land. Or maybe it's a subgenre with Laurell K. Hamilon? The takeaways are violence against women, and perpetuated by women; it's (almost) always Coyote's fault; in all that toting and shooting of guns, did the shotgun and Glock ever get cleaned / maintained? Trail didn't impress me as Hugo material. But continuing the the Dresden files comparison, I am curious to see what Roanhorse does as she matures as a writer and hits her stride. Butcher's later novels are much better at being novels compared to his earlier work.
Space Opera (Catherynne Valente) (2018): Valente really does not believe in using one descriptor when a rambling paragraph of description is available. Disengaged by mid-chapter 2 (of 36); did not finish. Its too bad; Valente is shooting for Eurovision in space meets Douglas Adams, but I wonder if it might be compared to the New Wave's shift into "softer" SF as well. But to find out, I'd have to get past a nearly unreadable prose style and the deadly words "I do not care about any of these people". Possible wispy nothing.
Rankings: Spinning Silver, Calculating Stars, toss-up between Revenant Gun and Trail of Lightning, toss-up between Record of a Spaceborn Few and No Award, Space Opera.
At least one other voter I've spoken with argues No Award should be saved for political statements, but I find that post-Puppies I am more willing to say, "this is not good writing" and rank No Award high.
Next: the novellas!