soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2021-08-05 07:09 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2021-08-05 07:09 pm
2021 Hugo Award: Best Novel
Hoorah, I have now read all of the finalists for the Hugo Best Novel this year! Let's go through my ranking of them.
For the books I finished and wrote a proper review, I've linked the review from the title of the book.
1. Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
Fascinating and lovely and odd and touching, and hugely immersive for such a (relatively) short novel.
2. Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse
Interesting and enjoyable, loved the worldbuilding and the author's style, but frustrated by the cliffhanger ending.
3. Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
I struggled to be invested for the first half but once I was there I was THERE. Very weird in a very compelling way.
4. Network Effect, by Martha Wells
I adore Murderbot and everyone Murderbot cares about, but I had trouble following what was going on for a lot of this book. Possibly I was hampered by having a bad day when I was reading it. Possibly I should try rereading it before casting my final votes, because I may not be doing it justice here. We'll see if I get round to that...
5. The Relentless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal
I mostly enjoy the series, but this book didn't work for me as well as previous entries in the series did. Too stressful for my tastes, and the ending didn't work for me.
6. The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin
I've really enjoyed the other novels by Jemisin I've read, but this was a DNF for me. It felt overly invested in New York City being special, and also just overly invested in New York City, a city that I don't have any reason to care about at all, having no personal connection to it. I think there were other things that weren't working for me as well, but I no longer remember what they were! And I didn't write down my thoughts at the time of reading it. But the book just didn't work for me.
For the books I finished and wrote a proper review, I've linked the review from the title of the book.
1. Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
Fascinating and lovely and odd and touching, and hugely immersive for such a (relatively) short novel.
2. Black Sun, by Rebecca Roanhorse
Interesting and enjoyable, loved the worldbuilding and the author's style, but frustrated by the cliffhanger ending.
3. Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
I struggled to be invested for the first half but once I was there I was THERE. Very weird in a very compelling way.
4. Network Effect, by Martha Wells
I adore Murderbot and everyone Murderbot cares about, but I had trouble following what was going on for a lot of this book. Possibly I was hampered by having a bad day when I was reading it. Possibly I should try rereading it before casting my final votes, because I may not be doing it justice here. We'll see if I get round to that...
5. The Relentless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal
I mostly enjoy the series, but this book didn't work for me as well as previous entries in the series did. Too stressful for my tastes, and the ending didn't work for me.
6. The City We Became, by N.K. Jemisin
I've really enjoyed the other novels by Jemisin I've read, but this was a DNF for me. It felt overly invested in New York City being special, and also just overly invested in New York City, a city that I don't have any reason to care about at all, having no personal connection to it. I think there were other things that weren't working for me as well, but I no longer remember what they were! And I didn't write down my thoughts at the time of reading it. But the book just didn't work for me.