HexMachina Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Thanks for the answers everyone. Just wanted to check I had it right. beniowa, I didn't particularly enjoy The Grace of Kings. Maybe it was my lack of knowledge of the historical era it's inspired by but it just didn't engage me at all, and the writing felt clunky, with huge info dumps dropped in at odd points. Although I don't think my opinion is shared by many, most of the reviews I read seemed positive. Since you also mentioned The Mechanical, I will add that I found that far more enjoyable and much better written than Grace of Kings. Got a few more new releases (House of Shattered Wings and Sorceror to the Crown) on preorder already so I should have more to add to this thread later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 It would be great to see a lot of these get a nomination, but I've noticed the Hugo tends to ignore fantasy, with a few notable exceptions of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felice Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 There is a rule that allows the final part of a multi-part story to be nominated if none of the previous parts have been nominated. More precisely, that allows a multiple-volume work to be nominated as a whole in the year in which the final instalment was published, if none of the previous instalments have been finalists. The final part can be nominated by itself irrespective of whether or not previous instalments were finalists. Eg A Song of Ice and Fire as a whole won't be eligible when complete, because A Storm of Swords was a finalist in 2001, but A Dream of Spring will be eligible on its own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 I'd have to go back and look at what I've read this year. This summer has been insane for good books. Nemesys Games, Half a War, The Lair's Key, Fool's Quest(Hobb should be given a special award all her own). Gene Wolfe has one this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuncle Stark Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 My favorites so far this year: Half the World, Half a War, Joe Abercrombie The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi Nemesis Games, James S.A. Corey The Grace of Kings, Ken LIu Savages, K.J. Parker Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson Honorable mentions: The Mechanical, Ian Tregillis The Just City/The Philosopher Kings, Jo Walton Heck of a list. I don't disagree! Very good year for books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Did half this thread get eaten or am I going insane? Also Nova by Margert Fortune(I think) was really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Guy Garlan Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 The Bees was published in 2014 so it won't be eligible for next year. Oops, you're right, don't know why I thought it was published this year (though, I was halfway kidding). I support "The Water Knife", and even "Golden Son" by Pierce Brown was the fun space opera spectacle that the Hugos are allegedly lacking. And I know it won't happen, but Kelly Link's "Get in Trouble" deserves a nod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastard of Godsgrace Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I am also not very enthusiatic about Uprooted. It is OK, but not really award level, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 beniowa, I didn't particularly enjoy The Grace of Kings. Maybe it was my lack of knowledge of the historical era it's inspired by but it just didn't engage me at all, and the writing felt clunky, with huge info dumps dropped in at odd points. Although I don't think my opinion is shared by many, most of the reviews I read seemed positive. Since you also mentioned The Mechanical, I will add that I found that far more enjoyable and much better written than Grace of Kings. To each their own. :) I put The Mechanical as honorable mention because so far I prefer Tregillis' previous trilogy, the Milkweed Triptych. Though perhaps that's a little unfair as Mechanical is only the first book. Ex Machina deserves the Hugo for best long form dramatic presentation, idc how good the next Star Wars is. Ex Machina was very good. One of the better movies on A.I. I also really liked Chappie too. How did people feel about that one? I thought it was better than Elysium, but perhaps not as good as District 9. I've been hearing good things about Antman. I need to get around to that one. I'm hoping The Martian will be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Because anecdata make the world go 'round: I couldn't even finish Grace of Kings (didn't like the prose nor the story). But I really loved The Mechanical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Because anecdata make the world go 'round: I couldn't even finish Grace of Kings (didn't like the prose nor the story). But I really loved The Mechanical. :cheers: I no longer feel so alone :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Ex Machina was very good. One of the better movies on A.I. I also really liked Chappie too. How did people feel about that one? I thought it was better than Elysium, but perhaps not as good as District 9. I've been hearing good things about Antman. I need to get around to that one. I'm hoping The Martian will be good. I really liked [i]Ex Machina[/i], and I think it would be a worthy nominee/winner. I'd definitely suggest [i]Mad Max : Fury Road[/i] as a nominee as well. Probably the [i]Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell[/i] miniseries as well. I suspect that if [i]Star Wars 7[/i] isn't a complete disappointment then it could be difficult to beat even if it isn't actually the best movie. I had mixed feeling about [i]Chappie[/i], it was reasonably entertaining but the tone veered wildly between Short Circuit and Robocop and the plot was full of holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Because anecdata make the world go 'round: I couldn't even finish Grace of Kings (didn't like the prose nor the story). But I really loved The Mechanical. *blows raspberry* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdyphillip Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I just hope that next year, we aren't searching for the least offensive work the Sad Puppies nominated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pebble thats Stubby Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I seem to have been reading a lot of 2014 novels in 2015, so don't have many suggestions yet. I think I've only read three 2015-published novels so far, Adrian Tchaikovsky's Guns of the Dawn, Joe Abercrombie's Half The World and Eloisa's Sailor To A Siren, all of which I enjoyed a lot. Also close to the end of Nemesis Game which has been good, although not the best in the series. I don't know whether Tchaikovsky is well-enough known to be in with a chance of a nomination? I imagine he'd have more chance with this stand-alone novel than anything in his previous 10-book series. I've also not read many 2015 books, mainly cos my kindle broke and reading loads more of the hugo finalist than normal since I hadn't previously read many of them. I will however second Gun's of dawn, although I do think Adrian's new book, Children of Time might have more chance being Scifi. Although I have not yet been able to read it, so it may not be worthy. I don't think Shadows of the Apt as a series or Seal of the Worm as an individual book is eligible since that came out in December not this year. although I don't know when the exact cut off is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mormont Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 It's undeniably true that this board skews more to the fantasy side of things than the Hugo voters in general do, so some of these are long shots. Despite that, I do think [i]Uprooted[/i] has a good chance, based on buzz. (It's next on my TBR pile, so I'll have a better idea soon!) [i]Karen Memory[/i] would be a good shout. Excellent standalone steampunk novel, strong voice, good critical reception and by an author reasonably well-known in WorldCon circles. I also really enjoyed [i]The Mechanical[/i] and would be delighted to see it get a nomination, if only because Ian Tregillis is such a lovely guy and a great writer, but I think it's less likely to get the critical mass. I hope I'm wrong. [i]Grace of Kings[/i] is also on my TBR list but a [i]lot[/i] lower than [i]Uprooted[/i]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 I will however second Gun's of dawn, although I do think Adrian's new book, Children of Time might have more chance being Scifi. Although I have not yet been able to read it, so it may not be worthy. I don't think Shadows of the Apt as a series or Seal of the Worm as an individual book is eligible since that came out in December not this year. although I don't know when the exact cut off is. [i]Seal of the Worm[/i] was definitely last year, I remember getting it signed at last year's TitanCon, so wouldn't be eligible. I have [i]Children of Time[/i], but haven't read it yet which is why I didn't suggest it although I'm sure I'll have read it by the time it comes to nominate. You may be right that the setting might appeal more to the traditional Hugo voter, although I think there'll be a lot of new nominators next year due to all the people signing up for Sasquan after the Hugo controversy - of course we're hoping that a significant number of those new voters aren't Puppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard's urban fantasy novel which came out this week, is really good. Especially recommended to readers looking for UF in a more original setting, without any vampires or werewolves in sight, in which the main characters aren't an epic badass crushing everyone without too much problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 The House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard's urban fantasy novel which came out this week, is really good. Especially recommended to readers looking for UF in a more original setting, without any vampires or werewolves in sight, in which the main characters aren't an epic badass crushing everyone without too much problems. Just finished this. Enjoyed it a lot (I'm a real sucker for things with angels in, oh well) but I'm not sure that the juggling of the East-meets-West magical elements was handled particularly well. Both were interesting by themselves but didn't quite work when combined in the same novel. Well, not for me anyway. That said, I thought the whole book was beautifully written, the last few chapters in particular being particularly engaging and the ending left me wanting more in this world. Eh, I'd even read a prequel detailing the events alluded to in the novel. I found the backstory stuff among the more interesting parts of the novel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 The only thing I have really loved this year is Thraxas and the Oracle by Martin Millar aka Martin Scott. So good. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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