Hugo Thoughts - Novels and Novellas

Herewith are my thoughts on the Hugo Awards for novels and novellas.

BEST NOVEL

Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (Roc)
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow)
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)


I read and nominated Seveneves and Ancillary Mercy, so I have a bias. I was completely unable to get into The Fifth Season, and found the excerpts provided of the other two novels entertaining. I thought Uprooted was an original take on fantasy, and Cinder Spires had promise as a steampunk / post-apocalyptic novel. My vote:

1) Seveneves
2) Uprooted
3) Ancillary Mercy
4) Cinder Spires
5) Fifth Season

BEST NOVELLA

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com)
Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum)
Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson (Dragonsteel Entertainment)
Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds (Tachyon)

I bounced hard off of The Builders - no talking mice for me. I also found Perfect State impenetrable, which is a shame as I've met and like Brandon. I'm not no-awarding them, but I am leaving them off the ballot. Binti and Slow Bullets were (to me) novel, and Penric was entertaining but bog-standard. So my (short) ballot will be:

1) Binti
2) Slow Bullets
3) Penric's Demon