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2021 Hugo nominees: Best Novel
It's that time again! Or rather, it's past the usual time, but Worldcon was delayed for Obvious Reasons, so Hugo voting isn't until this fall. Which is good, because between work and Mystery Hunt planning, I haven't had a ton of brain for recreational reading.
Anyway, my thoughts on this year's nominees (with no surprises if you follow me on Goodreads):
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
A delightful and compelling read about a man living in a massive house filled with statues and riven by tides, his sheer joy at being part of a space anyone else might consider a prison, and the true explanation behind where he is, who he is, and why he's there. I confess, my biggest problem with the book is that in fact there is a reasonably logical, sort-of-real-world explanation for Piranesi's plight; I would have enjoyed it even more had it been pure fantasy instead of fantasy ultimately steeped in Clarke's magical reality.
The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal
I liked this one more than the first Lady Astronaut book, but it's still got the same problems that book did: stilted prose coupled with hamfisted lessons about sexism and racism being bad, as if readers shouldn't already know this. It picks up substantially once action moves to the Moon and essentially turns into a base under siege story, though still dragged on a bit too long for me. Again I suspect this is a book people other than me will enjoy a lot more; Kowal's writing style just isn't to my taste.
The City We Became, NK Jemisin
I knew from the moment I read the original short story that ultimately became this book's prologue that I was going to love where Jemisin took things, and literally the only reason I didn't inhale the entire thing in a couple of days is that I wanted to savor it. It's tightly plotted, the characters are well-drawn, and even though I suspected (correctly) that I knew where the villain came from, it didn't make the slightest difference as to whether I enjoyed the book. It was just that much fun to read, and the only drawback is that now I have to wait however long it takes for the next book to come out.
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
I read this only because i want to give all the Hugo nominees a fair shake, but sure enough, this book, like the one that precedes it, is very much not for me. Muir desperately needs an editor willing to rein in her prose, particularly the modern meme references that are clearly meant to be funny but instead just come off as someone shouting about how clever they’re being while acting like a jackass. I won’t be bothering with the next book even if it gets a future nomination. (FWIW, I gave it one star on Goodreads. I just can't with this series anymore.)
Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse
It took me a few chapters to get into this, but once I did, it moved along at a really nice clip, and I especially enjoyed the fantasy setting based on pre-Columbian Indigenous people rather than medieval Europe. I didn't find the ending fully satisfying, but I'm willing to chalk that up to this being volume 1, and the ending being necessary setup for future books in the series; there are enough threads left dangling and enough worldbuilding to support rich storytelling that I'm curious to see where Roanhorse takes things.
Network Effect, Martha Wells
This is the only book for which I have no review on Goodreads, because it's the only one of the six I didn't finish. I've tried to like Murderbot, honestly, but something about the narrative voice leaves me absolutely cold. AND YET I would slog my way through the end of this any day of the week before picking up another one of Muir's benighted Locked Tomb books.
The final rankings
1. The City We Became
2. Piranesi
3. Black Sun
4. The Relentless Moon
5. Network Effect
6. Either Harrow the Ninth or No Award, because that's how much this book sucks
Anyway, my thoughts on this year's nominees (with no surprises if you follow me on Goodreads):
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
A delightful and compelling read about a man living in a massive house filled with statues and riven by tides, his sheer joy at being part of a space anyone else might consider a prison, and the true explanation behind where he is, who he is, and why he's there. I confess, my biggest problem with the book is that in fact there is a reasonably logical, sort-of-real-world explanation for Piranesi's plight; I would have enjoyed it even more had it been pure fantasy instead of fantasy ultimately steeped in Clarke's magical reality.
The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal
I liked this one more than the first Lady Astronaut book, but it's still got the same problems that book did: stilted prose coupled with hamfisted lessons about sexism and racism being bad, as if readers shouldn't already know this. It picks up substantially once action moves to the Moon and essentially turns into a base under siege story, though still dragged on a bit too long for me. Again I suspect this is a book people other than me will enjoy a lot more; Kowal's writing style just isn't to my taste.
The City We Became, NK Jemisin
I knew from the moment I read the original short story that ultimately became this book's prologue that I was going to love where Jemisin took things, and literally the only reason I didn't inhale the entire thing in a couple of days is that I wanted to savor it. It's tightly plotted, the characters are well-drawn, and even though I suspected (correctly) that I knew where the villain came from, it didn't make the slightest difference as to whether I enjoyed the book. It was just that much fun to read, and the only drawback is that now I have to wait however long it takes for the next book to come out.
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
I read this only because i want to give all the Hugo nominees a fair shake, but sure enough, this book, like the one that precedes it, is very much not for me. Muir desperately needs an editor willing to rein in her prose, particularly the modern meme references that are clearly meant to be funny but instead just come off as someone shouting about how clever they’re being while acting like a jackass. I won’t be bothering with the next book even if it gets a future nomination. (FWIW, I gave it one star on Goodreads. I just can't with this series anymore.)
Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse
It took me a few chapters to get into this, but once I did, it moved along at a really nice clip, and I especially enjoyed the fantasy setting based on pre-Columbian Indigenous people rather than medieval Europe. I didn't find the ending fully satisfying, but I'm willing to chalk that up to this being volume 1, and the ending being necessary setup for future books in the series; there are enough threads left dangling and enough worldbuilding to support rich storytelling that I'm curious to see where Roanhorse takes things.
Network Effect, Martha Wells
This is the only book for which I have no review on Goodreads, because it's the only one of the six I didn't finish. I've tried to like Murderbot, honestly, but something about the narrative voice leaves me absolutely cold. AND YET I would slog my way through the end of this any day of the week before picking up another one of Muir's benighted Locked Tomb books.
The final rankings
1. The City We Became
2. Piranesi
3. Black Sun
4. The Relentless Moon
5. Network Effect
6. Either Harrow the Ninth or No Award, because that's how much this book sucks