2022 Hugo Award: Lodestar (YA)

[sophia_sol]

Here's how I'm voting for the Lodestars! None of these books was a book I had zero reservations about, but they all had at least something worthwhile going on. Links to my full reviews in the titles.

1. A Snake Falls to Earth, by Darcie Little Badger

I loved the two stories that this book was telling, but I found that the way in which they were put together didn't quite work for me, because the switching back and forth was SO rapid.

2. Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao

Too dark for me to love it unreservedly, but I found the story and the characters very compelling!

3. Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko

Loved the characters, thematic focuses, and worldbuilding, but the uneven pacing, heavy-handed elements, and some real over-simplification of issues meant that it didn't live up to what I hoped from it.

4. Chaos on Catnet, by Naomi Kritzer

A fun read, but the degree to which you have to turn your suspension of disbelieve WAYYYYYYYY up is just...a lot.

5. The Last Graduate, by Naomi Novik

Good themes, does many things that I OUGHT to like, and written very competently, but I just couldn't care about any of it.

6. Victories Greater than Death, by Charlie Jane Anders

Perfectly good at being exactly the kind of book it is, but I found it a tedious read. The only book on this list that I really struggled to actually get through.

Comments

[lirazel]

It sounds like a it's a pretty strong field this year? (I haven't read a single one of these!)

[sophia_sol]

ehhhhh kind of! Nothing this year that's hopeless, unlike in previous years -- but also nothing that really blew me away. But it is at least a solid collection of books.

[lirazel]

Ah, okay. I honestly don't know which is preferable--high highs and low lows, or a field of just solid choices...

[sophia_sol]

yeah, what one wants is a series of solid choices with a couple of particularly excellent works to round it out!