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I finally finished reading all the books nominated for this year's Hugo for Best Novel.
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera was the main reason it took this long. It had several interesting concepts and ideas, and a lot of the worldbuilding was very cool, very good and vivid (to the point the depressing parts were actually uncomfortable to read sometimes.) Unfortunately it didn't really manage to put them together into a story I found compelling. Every time I put it down I wasn't really that interested in picking it up again, so it took me a long time to finish. On top of that the ending of Fetter's storyline felt rushed and not entirely satisfying.
In contrast, I read Translation State by Ann Leckie in one day. (I had the advantage of a long train ride but still.) I was a bit worried that I'd be lost because I've only read the first book of the Imperial Radch trilogy and that was several years ago, but fortunately that wasn't a problem (though it was an advantage that I read at least that one.) I enjoyed this a lot while reading, I liked the main characters and the ways their journeys intertwined and all the varying perspectives we got. Unfortunately the ending was a bit rushed and several things felt not really resolved, I would have liked to get a better sense of the fall-out etc. It's also not a book I still thought about as soon as I put it aside.
I also read The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan, a new Percy Jackson book. I still like that series a lot! Some fun adventures and strong relationships mixed with other themes as Percy is growing up and is now a teenager planning to move away to college. Very good light reading.
Soo, thinking about my Hugo vote: tricky! It's notable that the majority of them had endings I didn't really find satisfying, or at least not at the same high level as the rest of the book, which is a shame. And it's been a year since I read The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi.
I think my current ranking would be 1. Some Desperate Glory, 2. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, 3. Translation State, 4. The Saint of Bright Doors, 5. Witch King, 6. Starter Villain. The only one I'm absolutely certain about is #6, and I'm mostly certain about #1.
I'm not sure how much more reading I'll manage in the next week, maybe some of the shorter categories?, we'll see. For best series I'll vote The Final Architecture before Imperial Radch.
Now I just need to actually finish planning my Scotland travel, it's a bit short-notice already... I'm sure it'll be fine, ahem.
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera was the main reason it took this long. It had several interesting concepts and ideas, and a lot of the worldbuilding was very cool, very good and vivid (to the point the depressing parts were actually uncomfortable to read sometimes.) Unfortunately it didn't really manage to put them together into a story I found compelling. Every time I put it down I wasn't really that interested in picking it up again, so it took me a long time to finish. On top of that the ending of Fetter's storyline felt rushed and not entirely satisfying.
In contrast, I read Translation State by Ann Leckie in one day. (I had the advantage of a long train ride but still.) I was a bit worried that I'd be lost because I've only read the first book of the Imperial Radch trilogy and that was several years ago, but fortunately that wasn't a problem (though it was an advantage that I read at least that one.) I enjoyed this a lot while reading, I liked the main characters and the ways their journeys intertwined and all the varying perspectives we got. Unfortunately the ending was a bit rushed and several things felt not really resolved, I would have liked to get a better sense of the fall-out etc. It's also not a book I still thought about as soon as I put it aside.
I also read The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan, a new Percy Jackson book. I still like that series a lot! Some fun adventures and strong relationships mixed with other themes as Percy is growing up and is now a teenager planning to move away to college. Very good light reading.
Soo, thinking about my Hugo vote: tricky! It's notable that the majority of them had endings I didn't really find satisfying, or at least not at the same high level as the rest of the book, which is a shame. And it's been a year since I read The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi.
I think my current ranking would be 1. Some Desperate Glory, 2. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, 3. Translation State, 4. The Saint of Bright Doors, 5. Witch King, 6. Starter Villain. The only one I'm absolutely certain about is #6, and I'm mostly certain about #1.
I'm not sure how much more reading I'll manage in the next week, maybe some of the shorter categories?, we'll see. For best series I'll vote The Final Architecture before Imperial Radch.
Now I just need to actually finish planning my Scotland travel, it's a bit short-notice already... I'm sure it'll be fine, ahem.
