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So the shortlist for the 2020 Hugo Awards was released in the past couple of days, and given I should have a lot of time to kill because of the pandemic I've decided to try something I've been meaning to do for a few years now and that is to read the nominated works for the Hugo Awards. I'll start with the best novel works, and then maybe dip into best YA novel too.

Some of these are also nominated for the Nebula Awards in May, so I might tackle them first, who knows. Maybe I can extend this, don't want to over aim though.

Anyway, the concept is simple. I'll be keeping a log here as I go through of my thoughts and feelings of each so I'll try to keep it spoiler free, and I'll tag them when necessary.

Here are the nominees:

Best Novel

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine*
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir*
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow*

* also nominated for Nebula Award

Best Graphic Story or Comic
Monstress, Vol. 4: The Chosen by Marjorie M. Liu
Die, Vol. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker by Kieron Gillen
LaGuardia by Nnedi Okorafor
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

(I've only included the first volume nominees, with the exception of Monstress because I already own Volumes 1 and 2, so it's not that much effort to catch up)


Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book

Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher
Riverland by Fran Wilde
The Wicked King by Holly Black

I'm not making any commitments to diving into these YA works, but they're here as a reference just in case.

1945 Retro Hugo Award for Best Novel

The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves
Land of Terror by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Shadow Over Mars by Leigh Brackett
Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord by Olaf Stapledon
The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater
The Winged Man by A.E. van Vogt

Again, no commitment here, more a reference in case I decide to dip in

Nebula Award for Best Novel

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Marque of Caine by Charles E. Gannon

One interesting thing I have noted, is how of both Hugo and Nebula Best Novel awards of the 9 different novels nominated, 8 of them are by female authors, a welcome step forward in SFF

Book 1 - A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine



Kicking off with this purely because I have the book on my self already from a few months ago but haven't ever gotten around to reading it so it looks as though we're checking one off the Hugo and Nebula off the bat and we're diving into some military space opera.

I'll be posting regularly as I read

I wanted to update more regularly as I read through a book but never mind. I've finished A Memory Called Empire and here's my review of it:

This was a fantastic book.

We see Mahit Dzmare arriving into Teixcalaan as the new ambassador for her mining station, Lsel, after the previous ambassador died. All she has to help her through is her 15 year out dated imago (the memories of another person embedded into your brain stem), and her cultural liaison.

What unfolds after she arrives is a wonderfully well written web of political intrigue, it felt a little slow to get going but Martine built the world nicely and you really got a feel for the differences in culture between the Teixcalaanli and the Stationers on Lsel.

Everything is built together from the culture, the characters and the politics. You really get a feeling for the interactions between each of the characters, and nobody feels irrelevant. This was a wonderful space opera, and I am really looking forward to what comes next.

(I feel as though I may have been too generous in the awarding of 5* books previously, but this one absolutely deserves it)

I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to read next.

I have decided on the formats for the books though, and I'll be splitting them between eBook and Audiobook.

Audiobook: Gideon the Ninth and Middlegame
Physical Book: A Memory Called Empire
eBook: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Light Brigade, and The City in the Middle of the Night

I'll probably start the audiobook of Middlegame and read some Manga I've got ARCS for until I decide which of the 3 ebooks to begin.

I just finished The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

I rated this three stars. I did enjoy the book, I don't quite know what to say about this. It posed some pretty existential questions - who is war really for? Who are we really fighting when we go to war? Who are the people than can inspire real change in society?

These were tackled in a nice sci-fi way, but there's a lot of characters and I struggled to keep tabs on some of them.

I enjoyed it, but not as much as A Memory Called Empire

***

I've also started listening to the audiobook of Middlegame. I'm really enjoying this, Roger and Dodger being twins build to be polar opposites and yet the same by They were created by Reed, an alchemist and then put out into the world for a higher purpose.

I've been listening to Roger and Dodger growing up and I'm already invested in these characters, I care about them both yet they both have flaws that are already apparent whilst the mysterious Reed goes about his alchemical business with his cronies in the background.