Hugo reading update: novellas

[lizbee]

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes

This is an interesting, dense story about MERMAIDS and HISTORY and the danger of a culture having its history erased versus the burden of being the one who remembers. I liked it a lot, but feel like I need to read it again to fully appreciate it. That ... is not necessarily a flaw in the story!

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

I've only ever managed to finish one of McGuire's work (Every Heart A Doorway, and I didn't even like it much -- I just wanted to see where it was going). Her prose is profoundly unappealing to me. DNF.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Chambers is the sort of writer who signals that a character is Australian by having them unironically say "mate" a lot.I boredquit The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet at the 50% point and had no regrets. This standalone novella lacks the cloying quality that irritated me with Chambers' novel, but I got a few chapters in and realised that I didn't see any point in continuing. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't good, either.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

I saved this for last, expecting it to be my favourite, and instead I DNFd at about 30%. It wasn't that I disliked it -- I just had no feelings about it whatsoever. I was ... bored. The characters' voices were exactly the same: imagine Killing Eve, but every single character is Carolyn. No, wait, that would be amazing.

I should say that, generally speaking, I don't read much short fiction because I feel like you do all the work of immersing yourself in a new universe, and then it's over. But I usually like novellas, so I don't know what's wrong with me this year.

Anyway, my votes are gonna go: 

1. Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom, by Ted Chiang
2. The Deep, by Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes
3. The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark

And No Award for the rest.

Comments

[kore]

I just couldn't finish Time War either, which was disappointing because so many people I knew loved it. The prose was really overcooked, and there was no differentiation between the two voices (which is weird, because I think the two writers wrote them separately?).

[lizbee]

(which is weird, because I think the two writers wrote them separately?)

Yes! I'm so confused!

But also, like, the overcooked prose alongside, for example, Eiffel 65 references was really jarring, and not in a good way.

[aristofranes]

Yeah, I was completely underwhelmed by Time War too. I finished it, but it didn't move me at all. Way too overwrought - if it had been much longer than it was it would have been a DNF. But others raved about it, so ... *shrug*

Chambers's stuff I have to confess to liking initially - I read The Long Way... and really liked the characters, and just wished there had been more (or indeed any) actual stakes involved - and then my view just deteriorated with the next couple of books. The queer rep is great, but. (I have a friend who raves about her, but then again he claims that the origin of the books as a crowdfunded publication is somehow an important part of their mythology, which... eh. Lots of better things have been crowdfunded.)

I'm loving Tram Car though - I finished A Dead Djinn in Cairo just this week and it was great, so I bought the second straight away.

[nonelvis]

I just finished The Haunting of Tram Car 015 last night and only have the Ted Chiang book left to go, but I can't argue with any of your reviews. Even This Is How You Lose the Time War, which I enjoyed, is definitely not for everyone; the prose style is either going to really work for you or really not, and there were times when I felt both. (I would be all over a rewrite starring Carolyn, though, so let me know when you've got that done.)

[ase]

I should say that, generally speaking, I don't read much short fiction because I feel like you do all the work of immersing yourself in a new universe, and then it's over. But I usually like novellas, so I don't know what's wrong with me this year.

I just finished the short stories, and am working up in length. But I have heard one person float the proposal this year's unofficial Hugo nominee theme is "X is Terrible", so. Might not be just you.

(British rule of India is terrible! War is terrible! I am afraid what will be terrible when I'm slogging through the novels. We already know puppies are terrible, what's next? Kittens?)

It's also been a lousy year, which I find coloring my reactions to fiction, even when it shouldn't.

Time War seems to have some loud supporters, but it's definitely not for everyone. Me, for example.