Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

Our annual review where group members can summarize their past year of books. Some of the questions are focused on monthly group reads & challenges, but you can also comment on other books from our shelves or other titles you read during the year.

The novel you enjoyed most
The book that made you think the most
The weirdest group read
Your favorite newly discovered author
Favorite sci-fi & fantasy
The book that exceeded your expectations
Your favorite protagonist & villain
The novel you'd like to re-read in the future
The most difficult read
The novel that failed to live up to its hype

Well like usual I was only able to read a handful of the monthly reads from the group this year, so I'll draw on other books too.

First my group reading list for the year (I invite others to do this too!)

Group reads I finished:
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Isle of the Dead
The Man in the High Castle (catch-up month)
Among Others
The Gods Themselves
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang

DNF: The Dying Earth

IPR: Gather, Darkness!

Previously read: The Eye of the World and Red Mars

Now for my "best & worst"

The novel you enjoyed most: Tie between Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The book that made you think the most: The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
The weirdest group read: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Your favorite newly discovered author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Favorite sci-fi & fantasy: Same as "favourite new book" above
The book that exceeded your expectations: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
Your favorite protagonist & villain: Villain is the Emperor (Harrow the Ninth), Protagonist is a tossup between Murderbot (of course) and Maika Halfwolf (Monstress)
The novel you'd like to re-read in the future: Harrow the Ninth, Children of Time, Network Effect
The most difficult read: The Ministry for the Future
The novel that failed to live up to its hype: The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Good idea, Kalin, I go with your list for the year's group read. I have to add that I often don't read them together with the group or sometimes have read before (I'm not good with English and always feel overwhelmed when I should explain some likes or dislikes in books, that's why I mostly (mainly?) only give a short statement and then chick out of the discussion ... sorry)

Group reads I finished:

I find myself often rating older books higher because I always keep the time of release in my mind and find that some of those really held themselves pretty well for their era.

Gather, Darkness *****
The Book of Skulls ****
The Drowning Girl *****
The Eye of the World ***
Red Mars *****
Where Late the Sweet Birds sang ****
The Dying Earth ****
The Once and Future King ***
The Boat of a Million Years **
Among Others *****
China Mountain Zhang ****

The next part gets difficult and is only a snapshot of my current mood, because I've read over 260 books this year and often can't single one or two out.

The novel you enjoyed most

Has to be one of those. The first three I actually read twice this year alone - which says everything there is - and the last one has the perfect ending which I'm such a sucker for.

Rhythm of War
Salute the Dark
One Day All This Will Be Yours
The Years of Rice and Salt

The book that made you think the most

Bewilderment

The weirdest group read

That has to be "Dying Earth" - such a strange one and still somehow compelling


Your favorite newly discovered author

I think I will give this to Caitlín R. Kiernan - authors who write about depression/mental illness from a point of actually understanding it are rare in SFF and especially thought after by me.

Favorite sci-fi & fantasy

For Fantasy Rhythm of War

for SF one of the two Tchaikovskys One Day All This Will Be Yours or Shards of Earth

The book that exceeded your expectations

several of the older ones, where I always go in with the expectation that I won't like them because of dated gender writing. I think I single out Gather, Darkness! here, because I found myself really liking it.


Your favorite protagonist & villain

protagonist: Navani Kholin from the Stormlight Archives and Cheerwell Maker from the Shadows of the Apt - both the kind of female characters I love to read about but get way too seldom.

villain: this will forever be Taravangean from the Stormlight Archives - even though he probably doesn't even count as villain, but as antagonist


The novel you'd like to re-read in the future

XD ... like I said under 'enjoyed most' I've already re-read several of my favs this year and I will certainly go on doing that.

The most difficult read

all points to Blindsight - the first time that I've read a book where I had the distinct feeling that my intellect isn't up to it. A quite humiliating feeling for sure.

The novel that failed to live up to its hype

Ha! Everything that was listed for the Hugo award with the exception of Piranesi

Oh yeah! I only finished nine group reads, so I will include mostly but not exclusively books from this group.

The novel you enjoyed most
This group: The Scar. It was both very readable and had an exciting story, plus loads of good ideas.

The book that made you think the most
This group: The Iron Dream. Spinrad's satire was really well done, and it made me think about the fascist undertones in a typical "lone hero vanquishes evil opponents through his force of will" story, and also how that kind of story is pretty compelling, nonetheless.

The weirdest group read
This group: The Gods Themselves I don't quite know what that was all about.

Your favorite newly discovered author
This group: Jo Walton.
Other: Karin Tidbeck

Favorite sci-fi & fantasy
SF: The Carpet Makers
Fantasy: Does Kafka on the Shore qualifies as fantasy? If it doesn't, then The Memory Theater


The book that exceeded your expectations
This group: Rendezvous with Rama. I thought the story would be more action-oriented, but it was almost completely exploration, with some politics thrown in the mix.

Your favorite protagonist & villain
I think my favourite protagonist was Vanja from Amatka, although (or because) I'm still not sure if she wasn't actually the villain of the story.
Favourite villain was probably Farid Koshennikov from Vita Nostra, although (or because) I'm still not completely sure if he wasn't actually the hero of the story.

The novel you'd like to re-read in the future
This group: The Scar
Other: Vita Nostra, Amatka

The most difficult read
Vita Nostra. First off all, because it was so damn bleak and cruel that reading the book was emotionally hard. Second, because I didn't really understand the ending.

The novel that failed to live up to its hype
This group: The Gods Themselves. How did a book this mediocre ever win both the Hugo and the Nebula?

Others: The Empress of Salt and Fortune. How did a novella with this many plot holes win a Hugo this year?

The novel you enjoyed most.
Either Amatka or The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday.

The book that made you think the most.
Blindsight. I would prefer to never think of it again, though.

The weirdest group read.
I read lots of weird stuff. None was from this group this year. Weirdest was probably The Hearing Trumpet by the surrealist Leonora Carrington.
Closer to SFF, there was "Amatka" and "Kafka on the Shore".

Your favorite newly discovered author.
Fantasy: Saad Hossain. I've read two of his books, including this year's Cyber Mage, and have already pre-ordered his next book.
Science Fiction: Wole Talabi. His only published collection is from Scotland, Incomplete Solutions. I hope he gets that collection, or a new one, published in USA soon. There are no duds in the collection.

Favorite sci-fi & fantasy.
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler. I read the first book with another group. I wasn't looking forward to reading it, but I loved it so much that I went on to finish the trilogy.

The book that exceeded your expectations
The Last Wish. The Witcher is very popular, which often corresponds with bland. But this was good.

Your favorite protagonist & villain.
Protag: Lilith from "Dawn".
Villain: Gristol Malik from "Psychonauts 2"

The novel you'd like to re-read in the future.
I don't do that often. But I would re-play the games "Outer Worlds" and "Psychonauts 2".

The most difficult read.
The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish. It was difficult because it is boring. Unfortunately it was not burned in the great fire of 1666.

The novel that failed to live up to its hype
Once and Future King. It is intermittently good, but also sometimes really bad, especially in (the original version of) part 2: The Witch in the Wood.

Best 2021 SFF graphic novel.
Abbott: 1973. Female black reporter in 1973 Detroit fights demons.

As usual, Antti & I have similar tastes. His likes & dislikes often echo my own.

I finished 12 group reads, having already read 11, leaving only 1 unread, A Midsummer Tempest. I also read 3 leftover group reads from 2018, Blackout, The Difference Engine & The Sheep Look Up. That leaves me with 5 total unread in the 4 years of the group's existence.

The novel you enjoyed most
I'm with Antti on this one: The Scar. As much as I loved Perdido Street Station, I think this one surpassed it. So layered, complex, readable and exciting. Runner-up: Piranesi.

The book that made you think the most
To a large degree, I agree with Antti on this one too, The Iron Dream. Over the top, spot-on satire. Also, on a more personal level, China Mountain Zhang; I am all too familiar with suicide, so that part stuck with me.

The weirdest group read
The Once and Future King. It was not at all what I expected and just seemed a jumble to me. Half the time I didn't know what was going on. Unfortunately, I found a copy of The Book of Merlyn, so now I have to finish it.

Your favorite newly discovered author
I knew Norman Spinrad's name before, but had never read anything by him. Also Andrezj Sapowski, as I will continue to read the Witcher saga.

Favorite sci-fi & fantasy
SF: The Sheep Look Up - finally read this in December & really enjoyed it, despite its bleakness.
Fantasy: Piranesi, The Scar

The book that exceeded your expectations
The Midnight Bargain. I made fun of this as "Bridgerton with magic", and expected it to be uninteresting, but it was well-written & I enjoyed it a lot. Runner-up: The Year of the Quiet Sun, a very good time travel H/N nominee.

Your favorite protagonist & villain
No one really grabbed me except Geralt of the Witcher. Maybe characters from The Scar.

The novel you'd like to re-read in the future
This group: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. I really enjoyed it when I read it a couple years ago & would give it a rare re-read. Also, The Last Wish, as I'm now watching the show and have forgotten the short stories.

The most difficult read
A Midsummer Tempest. Even though I only read a little of it, it was enough to tell that this would be a slog. A very rare DNF for now.

The novel that failed to live up to its hype
Neptune's Brood, arguably the worst group read of the year, followed by The Boat of a Million Years. Outside the group, I was very disappointed in Ammonite and The Difference Engine.

Best non-fiction read
We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam. Excellent, detailed account of one of the bloodier battles of the Vietnam War. I actually got this book from an older friend who was a member of one of the battalions involved in this battle. He was lucky, in a sense; he had taken a shoulder wound and was in the hospital at the time of this battle.

Other favorites of the year:
Bring the Jubilee
The Queen's Gambit
The Sparrow
Use of Weapons
Mockingbird
A Desolation Called Peace

Thanks for this prompt Allan, this is my first attempt to look back my reading for 2021. I only read four (Glory Road, The Gods Themselves, A Midsummer Tempest, and The Lathe of Heaven) group reads this year. This is fine for me since I'm not trying to read the backlog of nominees/winners as part of a personal challenge and because the Wheel of Time challenge is taking up a lot of my reading time.

The novel you enjoyed most - Uprooted

The book that made you think the most - The Three-Body Problem, hands down.

The weirdest group read - for me it was A Midsummer Tempest, so weird I dnf-ed it. Maybe its not a fair characterization but it definitely was the worst of the 4 group reads for me.

Your favorite newly discovered author - this has to be Bradley Beaulieu, I devoured his first 4 novels and another maybe 4 novellas all in the first few months of the year. I then had trouble getting a hold of the later books from the library so paused reading the series. I'll start back up again in 2022.

Favorite sci-fi - is a tie between the Muderbot diaries and The Last Watch.

Favorite fantasy - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The book that exceeded your expectations - The Nine by Tracy Townsend, I can't really recall how I even found this book but it was great. Unique world, scrappy and intense characters, and who doesn't love a good mystery/heist story?!

Your favorite protagonist - Ceda from Twelve Kings in Sharakhai and subsequent books. She is a kick butt warrior out for vengeance.

Your favorite villain - Ruin from the Mistborn books (e.g. The Final Empire). Sooo sneaky and smart and conniving but really its just it's nature to be that way.

The novel you'd like to re-read in the future - House of Earth and Blood, guilty!

The most difficult read - oh this has to be To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, it was soooo long but I really wanted it to be good and that was a struggle. I gave it 4 ⭐️ but it was a difficult read.

The novel that failed to live up to its hype - Glory Road, I had such high hopes given the author and this was my first read of his - but it was such a disappointment. I don't think it aged well or can compete with the other quest fantasies. Womp. I'll also add the horrifically over-hyped The Midnight Library.

I agree wholeheartedly with your first and last items. I loved Uprooted, disliked Glory Road & didn't see anything worth a fuss on The Midnight Library.