Reading Lately (H)ugo Award Finalists

The 2021 Hugo Award Finalists were announced on April 13. Voting will continue from now until November and then the winners will be announced on August 28th. I’ve already read a good number of the finalists and hope to read a few more of them before the awards are announced.

Best Novel

Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse

I read this back in January of this year and really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading the next in the series. No word yet on when that will be but Rebecca Roanhorse is now on my list of authors to watch for.

A ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin

I really loved the idea of this book and was very excited to read it. This one started out really strong for me but then began to feel really disjointed, jumping from one character to the next. It made me lose interest mid-read and honestly I had to force myself to skim through the rest of it. I think it had really great potential but imo wasn’t executed as well as it could have been.

Five New Yorkers must come together in order to defend their city. Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She’s got five. But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

Harrow The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

I listened to the audio of Gideon the Ninth a couple of months ago and loved it so much. Gideon is much like Murderbot – a total badass with a chip on their shoulder. The ending of Gideon really shook me up though so I’m planning on reading Harrow the Ninth this month to hopefully get some questions answered. This is such a unique series.

Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor’s Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome questions: is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?

Network Effect, Martha Wells

My love for the Murderbot novellas runs deep. Network Effect is the first full length novel in this series and it did not disappoint! I loved it so much. I’m currently reading Fugitive Telemetry and it’s just so good! I won’t ever stop raving about this series.

You know that feeling when you’re at work, and you’ve had enough of people, and then the boss walks in with yet another job that needs to be done right this second or the world will end, but all you want to do is go home and binge your favorite shows? And you’re a sentient murder machine programmed for destruction? Congratulations, you’re Murderbot.

Other Finalists on my TBR: