I found this while sorting books in preparation for a book sale. I searched this subreddit and this exact book doesn't seem to have been posted here before, but the publishers very brazenly used the same terrible art for a different book in this "national bestselling series!"
Note: I posted this already but it got automatically removed in error for a link missing context, and I was never able to contact the moderators of this subreddit to correct the error. Now that I've read pretty much all the things I have the time or desire to read, I am re-posting it because I put thought and effort into these reviews.
The Hugo Awards finalists have been released! I have seen some say that this seems like a very safe, "boring" list, with a lot of the nominees coming from the same publisher and from authors who have already been nominated or won Hugos in the past. I nominated the novel The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes and am a bit sad it didn't make the cut. I'm not that into following awards in the genre, but I was at last year's Worldcon and plan to vote for the Hugos and go to this year's Worldcon, where the winners are announced.
#Novels
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape): Sequel to last year's Hugo winner, The Tainted Cup. I thought it was good. The Empire continues to have weird and enchanting fantasy technology. A thoughtful thing I saw someone say after reading this: "I don't know what the Empire stands for any more." The worldbuilding kind of reminds me of the Dishonored video games, in a good way.
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow; Gollancz): I loved this book, but first of all, in order to enjoy it you will need to be able to tolerate the characters. I cannot stand Kim Stanley Robinson's or Connie Willis's characters, for example, even though those authors are much beloved. Similarly, either you can or you can't enjoy the characters in Death of the Author and no amount of other people liking them will help, which explains the extremes of positive and negative reviews. If you are on the fence I'd guess the scene where Zelu first tells her family that her book got published is far enough to have a good idea of whether you will like it or it's time to throw in the towel. I thought this was a beautiful story about a messy, complicated immigrant family and the "black sheep" who everyone is simultaneously protective and critical of. There are chapters from Zelu's blockbuster bestseller sci fi book in here, which at first I thought wasn't that good but by the end nearly moved me to tears. It takes a while, but the characters do eventually grow and there are some heartfelt moments I loved, such as >!the funeral!< and >!Zelu taking her mother Omoshalewa to the hair salon.!< I also really loved how none of the bad things in this book ever came from technology itself. That's surprisingly rare in sci fi, where technology going wrong is such a common theme.
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US): I was surprised how much I liked this. I have mixed feelings about a lot of Tchaikovsky's work. I think his writing is good but doesn't engage deeply enough with the ideas, and if you read enough you'll notice he writes human characters in very same-y ways and tries to put them in deadly high stakes situations despite never actually killing them, which sucks out all the tension. But I liked Shroud. The corporate-dominated human society was kind of annoying to read at first, but that was very intentionally done and gets better later on. The alien landscape descriptions were amazing. The way the aliens speak of themselves was a creative touch.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Tor US; Tor UK): This book has themes of the cyclical nature of violence, horrors of war, and rise of fascism in a vaguely post-WWI-ish fantasy world. We see the dark side of honor, loyalty, and timeless myth-making from the nations founding legends. This is about stories as inspiration and as propaganda. What is the purpose of a story, what is the purpose of a nation?
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh (Tor US; Orbit UK): This book feels very much like a crowd-pleaser, meant to make the reader feel good and nostalgic. I was never a Harry Potter fan so I'm not really the target demographic. There are a few mentions of serious things like long-neglected infrastructure, and the economic inequality in who gets to learn magic. I was completely enthralled by the ending, even though there was adequate foreshadowing to know what was coming. Overall, a fun read that I enjoyed, but not particularly deep.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape)
#Novellas
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom): Delightful sci fi in the time honored tradition of robot as other. There's a surprising amount of bad reviews because the robots here are not like real world generative AI. They are, as has long been the case in sci fi, representative of people who are different in some way. Robots in this post-war futuristic California are second class citizens who, like everyone else, struggle to come to terms with how to live and rebuild after war. The >!contracts being intelligent and wanting to live!< was a very creative touch. I thought this was all around a solid story about trying to make the best of a bad situation, with a lighthearted tone in a dystopian setting that worked well. There's cryptocurrency scams, whooping cough, and algorithmic manipulation, yet the characters all try their best. >!The ultimate message that you overcome hate by focusing on building connections with others around you is particularly valuable now.!<
Cinder House by Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK): It was pretty good. Ultimately, I think the characters all met satisfactory resolutions, but I feel the geopolitics were unresolved. What does it mean for >!this tiny, highly magical kingdom to now be in a marriage alliance with the much larger and magic-prohibiting kingdom of Cajar?!< I think we're supposed to see this as >!Cajar conveniently getting rid of an unwanted princess by marrying her off to some little kingdom out of the way, so she can do whatever she wants without embarrassing them. There's probably no implications for Ella's kingdom because that's not the point of this story.!<
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (Tordotcom): Not a fan. Lacking substance. I found the way the ship was described confusing (which way is "down"? There's artificial gravity, so is there only one down? What does it mean that the garden is in the middle, is this a hot dog or a jelly donut situation?), but the Library was cool. The most worldbuilding care was for the financial system, which worked well enough, but in the end I didn't understand what the motive was for the crime. >!It was just accumulating money for its own sake? Not even using the money for anything.!< I kept waiting for a big reveal of what would be so important it's worth murdering someone >!over and over again over centuries, but there's nothing.!< All the characters were too minimal for me to feel invested in them or what they were doing. If anyone wants a slightly more substantial take on similar ideas (murder mystery set on a spaceship crewed by humans who upload their minds into new bodies when their old ones wear out) there is Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK): A fairy tale with a lot of emphasis on sisterhood. Romantic love takes a back seat. Like any good fairy tale, it wraps up very neatly. It has nice woodblock print illustrations.
The Summer War by Naomi Novik (Del Rey US; Del Rey UK): Has a lot of superficial similarities to The River Has Roots (being about siblings living next to the border of the fairy lands who have to come up with clever solutions to their problems) but it's a very different story. Overall I thought this was great, though I didn't quite catch how the curse Celia put on her brother was dealt with at the end! I guess since she said >!"I hope no one is stupid enough to love you," the summer king/prince was able to fall in love with him because of his stupidity in fighting the Summer War as well as swearing a bunch of contradictory oaths?!< I think this novella does a good job of treading the line between telling a magical tale and having a believable fantasy medieval setting. It feels grounded while still being heroic and adventurous.
What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire; Titan UK): I enjoyed this a lot. It reminded me of old pulp stories, very fun, whimsical, and bizarre. It probably works as a stand alone. I read the previous two novellas out of order and they worked fine that way.
#Novelettes. These are all published free online!
Kaiju Agonistes by Scott Lynch: A humorous Cold War and Godzilla story. Great fun, laughed out loud.
Never Eaten Vegetables by H. H. Pak. An incredible story that really stuck with me and was at times difficult to read. Tackles big issues and ideas and introduces them well without resorting to large blocks of exposition. Some may find the ending improbable.
Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy by Martha Wells. Did not finish. I couldn't stand the snarky way the characters all talked to one another.
The Girl that My Mother is Leaving Me For by Cameron Reed. I loved it. In general, I find the concept of >!clone successors in sci fi!< to be interesting, in what says about things like legacy, free will, and family. This story is about >!rejecting the established system and trying to find a way to do better.!<
The Millay Illusion by Sarah Pinsker. I always enjoy Sarah Pinsker's writing. I think the reason this counts as speculative fiction is The Magnificent Millay >!tried so hard and searched so far for the best magic tricks, she found out how to actual magic and ascended to a higher plane of existence, stealing away the audience's souls or memory or vitality or something with her.!< But we don't really know, in the end.
When He Calls Your Name by Catherynne M. Valente: This feels like a meme. It's still a complete story in itself that is about something, but I've definitely seen memes about this concept before. It was ok.
#Short stories
10 Visions of the Future; or, Self Care for the End of Days by Samantha Mills. It was ok. Didn't seem especially substantial. It is a story about remembering what's most important to you in life amidst various vaguely described apocalypses.
In My Country by Thomas Ha: A great story about the power of fiction. I'm reminded of real-world authoritarian regimes looking powerful to their people, but if you look at it behind the scenes, the enforcers and censorship officials are constantly bemoaning how under-resourced they are and that they're barely holding it together. I like how this story feels timeless.
Laser Eyes Ain't Everything by Effie Seiberg: A funny story about superheroes and villains. I pictured this as the author's long, drawn-out scream of frustration at the world, which while genuine, may not be to everyone's tastes.
Missing Helen by Tia Tashiro: A story about a very lonely woman. I like to imagine >!that in the end, she accepted the narrator's message.!< I really like stories like this one that use cloning to explore family and relationship dynamics.
Six People to Revise You by J. R. Dawson: All your perceived flaws laid bare. What would you be, if other people could redesign you by committee? Would you be happier?
Wire Mother by Isabel J. Kim: My first thought upon reading this is, "what kind of future are we creating? It better not be this one!" Horrifying, very short and punch-y story relevant to the current state of technology and society. Also reminds me of a conversation I saw in this very subreddit, where some readers said they disliked The Life Cycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang because they didn't believe the digients were intelligent.
#Series
I really enjoyed the Chronicles of Osreth series. It was my personal favourite, though it's fantasy. I think it strikes a good balance between being cozy yet having actual stakes.
I started reading Ancestral Night, but it's a very slow paced, meandering kind of story that does not lend itself to powering through in a short time frame. Ancestral Night is like if you sat next to an anonymous astronaut in a space station bar and they started telling you their whole life story and all the misfortunes that led them there.
I started reading the Emily Wilde and Craft Wars series and didn't like either, quitting near the beginnings of the first books. I had read Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone, which provides some useful context for the Craft Wars series, but didn't feel invested enough to be interested.
If you purchase membership to vote in the Hugo Awards, you can read publisher-provided texts (either the entire book/series or just excerpts). More info! Despite having this available to me last year, I didn't know what it was and immensely regret that. I'm impressed by how many full texts are available in the Voter Packet! Next year (2027) Hugo awards will be in Montreal, so mark your calendars!