Adrian Tchaikovsky: Alien Clay

The last of the Hugo-nominated novels this time.

Professor Arton Daghdev has been sentenced to forced labor on the planet Kiln. Earth is ruled by a tyrannical regime known as the Mandate, which tolerates no dissidents. While it is nominally pro-science, it only supports research that confirms its rule and upholds the andromorphic principle, the belief that the human form is the pinnacle of evolution.

Daghdev has conducted research not approved by the Mandate, and it later emerges that he has also been involved with rebels opposing the regime.

Life has been discovered on a few other planets, but nowhere is it as diverse as on Kiln. Though not fully compatible with Earth-based life, the differences are not extreme. Kiln’s organisms are inedible to humans, and while most of their poisons don’t affect us, they can live on and inside the human body. One example is an older scientist who lives in a cage, apparently driven mad, occasionally screaming as Kiln life thrives on her. Yet surprisingly, she remains alive.

Kiln also contains several ruins that appear to have been built by intelligent beings. One of the camp's goals is to discover who built them and decipher their inscriptions. So far, there have been no results—no signs of intelligent life, no tombs, no remains of any builders.

Daghdev is assigned to study the planet’s strange life forms. Most of his work consists of dissecting specimens and performing repetitive statistical analyses. Kiln’s life is bizarre: its animals are assembled from other organisms in an intricate web of symbiosis and parasitism. It’s as if they’re built from biological LEGO bricks, modular, adaptable, and capable of forming nearly infinite new life forms.

Daghdev eventually joins an organized mutiny, which ends in complete failure. As punishment, he is assigned to the “Excursions”—teams sent out from the camp to explore new ruins. The work is extremely dangerous, and everyone on it eventually dies. On one mission, everything goes wrong, and their copter is destroyed. No rescue will come; the camp doesn't value the lives of a few prisoners. The group decides to attempt the long, deadly walk back through the jungle, teeming with alien, poisonous, and hostile life.

But Kiln harbors more than anyone has realized. For those willing to accept it, the planet’s life may offer unprecedented benefits and a strange sense of completeness.

A very good book, with a truly fascinating vision of evolution and alien biology. The writing is solid, the characters may be slightly caricatured, and the ideology of the Mandate could have been explained in more depth—but overall, it’s a strong novel that delivers a real sense of wonder. It gave me a déjà vu of Isaac Asimov’s Misbegotten Missionary. This will be my top choice on the Hugo ballot.

390 pp. 

My Hugo award votes 2025, Part 2: Novelettes

The quality of the novelettes was pretty good overall. All of the stories were at least fairly enjoyable. Four of them were fantasy—some of the kind where fantastic things happen without explanation, a style that usually isn’t my favorite. None stood out as a clear winner, but none felt like a definite loser either.

As a side note, five out of the six stories had a female protagonist, and I don’t recall the gender being specified in the sixth. I decided to place the most science-fictional story first. The last place was also fairly easy to decide, but the order of the others could have gone in almost any direction.

“Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)

A young woman is supposed to meet her long-time friend for the first time in a while. They both arrive at the bus stop but can’t find each other. Soon, it becomes clear that all of the woman’s friends and family are absent. They can leave traces, take objects, and communicate via text or email, but they cannot be seen.

She tries to make a new friend, but that person soon disappears too. Her brother eventually discovers they can interact as avatars in a computer game. Then the phenomenon becomes global: people everywhere lose their loved ones. Later, even the avatars begin to fade, and internet connections grow erratic.

A pretty good, wistful story that gradually fades away, just like the people in it.

“Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)

Veronica, a longtime TV news presenter, travels to visit her younger sister Violet. They haven’t spoken in years, despite having been close as children. Violet had always wanted a sister and was overjoyed when she got one.

Violet lives far away, and after Veronica’s car breaks down, she ends up spending the night at Violet’s house. A very polite and helpful young man is there, and Violet asks him to call Veronica “aunt.” The sisters have long conversations about what caused the rift between them, as well as their lives and family. Violet seems to have lost her husband and sons.

Everything feels very mundane, with no hint of fantasy or science fiction—until discussions about Veronica’s birth and the young man’s true identity surface. A cozy, gentle fantasy story that offers no explanations; strange things just happen without reason.

“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)

A sorceress lives in a coastal village. Unexpectedly, she receives an apprentice, which is unfortunate, as she has lost her magical abilities. A giant sea monster, which periodically attacks the village, is expected to return soon.

She has lived in fear of its next appearance, but now she isn’t alone. However, her apprentice is inexperienced, and the sorceress herself is powerless. Is there any hope of saving the village?

An optimistic and well-written story about perseverance. Everyone is kind, and there are no real villains (aside from the monster, and even he isn’t seriously harmed).

“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)

The main character finds a strange book, one without lights or electronics. This is highly unusual in a world where everything is editable and digital.

Interest in the book is high. The unnamed protagonist finds himself caught in schemes and intrigue. He’s friends with a dealer in arcane items who is also drawn to the book. The protagonist becomes fascinated by the idea of fixed, immutable text.

An okay story with an interesting premise, but one that doesn’t quite make sense. What force has eliminated all physical books to the point that the protagonist has never even seen one? Why does this world still use VHS tapes for some reason? And if digital books are editable, why do they come in single-book units that fill a library? That setup makes no sense.

“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)

A woman who once studied seals is now living by the sea with her husband. Her dissertation was lost due to a computer crash, while her husband, who has tenure (albeit with a low salary), has finished his.

She finds that some of the very same seals she studied live near their new home, so maybe she can start her work over. But most of her time is spent editing (basically writing) her husband’s research papers, without receiving authorship credit even when she asks.

Her husband turns out to be a major PoS. The story contains minimal speculative content, though it eventually reveals itself to be a kind of selkie tale which is a common motif that has shown up in several recent nominations. Still, this one wasn’t bad.

“Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (in Lake of Souls, Orbit)

A shrimp-like alien named Spawn (later described as looking like a woodlouse) is going through an identity crisis. Its molting is delayed, and it fears it doesn’t have a soul. Those with souls are reborn as flying beings after death.

Meanwhile, an exoanthropologist awakens on a spaceship orbiting the planet. The rest of the crew is gone, with signs of a violent struggle. The ship’s ansible is also missing, but she locates it on the planet’s surface.

She makes her way down and eventually meets Spawn. They form a tentative bond. The anthropologist realizes that without delivering the data about a sentient species, the corporation funding the mission won’t care about its fate.

A well-written, fairly strong story. The ending is a bit thin, as it’s told from Spawn’s point of view.

My voting order will be:

1. “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie (in Lake of Souls, Orbit)

2. “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed (Strange Horizons, Fund Drive 2024)

3. “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 59)

4. “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 58)

5. “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer (Asimov’s, September/October 2024)

6. “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld, May 2024)

Elina Backman: Ennen kuin tulee pimeää (Saana Havas #3)

Seuraava osa Saana Havas sarjassa. Tällä kertaa Saana matkustaa Lappiin. Hänen esimiehensä ystävän sisko on tapettu vuosia sitten, ja tämä pyytää Saanaa selvittämään asiaa. Saana samalla haluaa tavata isäänsä, jonka kanssa yhteydet ovat olleet jo vuosia aika vähäisiä.  Kun Saana pääsee paikkakunnalle, osoittautuu, että vain hiukan aikaisemmin on kadonnut toinen tyttö, saman ikäinen ja jopa aika saman näköinen kuin vuosia sitten kadonnut ja kuolleena löytynyt nuori nainen. Onko asioilla yhteyttä? Kun jälkimmäinenkin tyttö löytyy kuolleena ja kuolemaan liittyy samoja piirteitä kuin aikaisemmin, vaikuttaa ilmeiseltä, että kyseessä on jonkinlainen sarjamurhaaja. Vaikuttaa myös selvältä, että ihmiset eivät kerro kaikkea mitä tietävät. Saanan poikaystävä Jan matkustaa myös paikkakunnalle selvittämään murhia.

Kirja etenee aika verkkaisesti ja sen teksti on hyvin kirjoitettua, maalailevaa ja helposti luettavaa/kuunneltavaa. Hitaus ei kiusannut tässä kirjassa lainkaan, siinä määrin kiinnostavia henkilöhahmoja riitti. Itse aloin epäillä syyllistä kohtalaisen ajoissa, mutta varma syyllisestä ei voinut olla, sillä useampia vaihtoehtoisia mahdollisuuksia kyllä oli. Kirja oli pätevä jatko-osa, joka oli automatkoilla kiinnostavaa kuunneltavaa. Hiukan jäi lopussa kiusaamaan, että Saanan keskusteluja isänsä kanssa ei sitten sen selvemmin tuotu esiin, muutenkin loppu oli kaiken sen rauhallisen etenemisen jälkeen aika töksähtävän nopea ja ihan kaikki ei oikein selvinnyt. Näyttelijän kuoleman kunnollinen motiivi mm. jäi aika auki.

416 pp

My Hugo award votes 2025, Part 1: Novellas

 This time, the novellas were the first Hugo nomination category I finished reading. The stories were mostly at least decent, but there were no truly exceptional or unforgettable ones. On the other hand, the overall quality was much higher than last year’s, and there were no complete stinkers like the bottom nominees of the previous year. Three of the stories were fantasy, and three leaned more toward science fiction, which made for a fairly good mix. My voting order was pretty easy to decide.

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

Veris lives a peaceful life in a small village. Most of her family was destroyed when a tyrant and his invading army came to her country and settled in a nearby castle. Close to the village lie the northern woods—no one goes there. If a child or an ignorant person wanders into the forest, they never return. Not once.

Veris once managed to retrieve a child from the forest, something unheard of. When the tyrant’s children go missing into the woods, Veris is summoned to the tyrant’s court. She has no choice: she must bring the children back, or she and her remaining family will be killed.

The forest is filled with strange and mischievous creatures, but Veris manages to strike deals with them—at a cost. She escapes the forest again, but not without sacrifice. This was a pretty good story, though it could have been slightly tighter. The backstory was also a bit sketchy. What exactly is the tyrant’s background? What is the origin of the forest and its creatures? The ending felt somewhat abrupt—was this perhaps the start of a series?

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

A sequel to the earlier novella What Moves the Dead by the same author. The main characters return. Ex-military officer Alex (who belongs to a “military gender”) travels to her family’s hunting lodge in a remote location. It has been largely unused for years. A caretaker was living there, but he has recently died from a mysterious respiratory illness that the villagers refuse to discuss.

The lodge feels unnaturally quiet. Alex and her companions hire a cook, whose son comes along to help as a handyman. Alex dreams of a woman sitting on her chest and stealing her breath. Surely it was just a dream? But the handyman begins to seem exhausted and distracted, like he hasn’t slept in days. Is something supernatural happening?

It turns out, yes—there is something otherworldly going on. The story takes a while to build up, but it ends up being a solid supernatural thriller (and, as a mild spoiler, there is no quasi-natural explanation this time). There were some genuinely tense moments. The characters were well-developed, and the writing was smooth and enjoyable. I liked this more than the first installment.

Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard

Navigators guide ships through a form of hyperspace using “shadows”—some kind of invisible (perhaps metaphysical?) extensions of their bodies. It reminded me of Lucy’s “vectors” from the anime Elfen Lied, though less lethal and with greater range. Navigators belong to various guilds that are in constant rivalry, seeing each other as competition. Meanwhile, the powers that be see the entire navigation system as expensive and possibly obsolete.

A dangerous creature has escaped from hyperspace, one that feeds on human minds. (I did wonder how such a thing evolved in a place where no sentient beings presumably exist…) A team of young trainees from different guilds is assembled to stop it. The situation becomes even more critical when their senior mentor is apparently poisoned. Can this group of misfits—each viewed with skepticism by their own superiors—succeed?

The story was quite good, although the focus leaned more toward the relationships between the characters than the central plot. I wasn’t too interested in the teenage emotional drama, but the writing itself was strong.

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

Damira spent her life fighting for elephants. It was a losing battle against ivory poachers, and ultimately, she died in the struggle. Just weeks before her death, however, her consciousness was recorded.

Decades later, Russian scientists have brought back mammoths—or at least mammoth analogs—to roam Siberia. But these creatures lack the instinctive knowledge to thrive. So Damira’s mind is uploaded into a large female mammoth, making her the “matriarch” of the herd. Who better to guide them than someone who knew elephants intimately?

But even in remote Siberia, the mammoths aren’t safe. Poachers remain a threat, and the park's organizers plan to sell hunting rights to the ultra-rich, at prices only billionaires could afford. Damira, in mammoth form, is more aggressive than a natural elephant—and it’s not wise to provoke a creature that size.

A well-written and thoughtful story, told from multiple perspectives and timeframes, including the son of a poacher who doesn’t share his father’s views.

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

The story continues a series set in an alternate version of ancient China. The protagonist, Cleric Chih, serves as a chaperone for a young noblewoman—whose background may not be as noble as she claims. The bride-to-be is to marry a wealthy man at a distant manor and live a life of luxury.

But things at the manor seem… off. A servant casually refers to the man’s former wives, implying there have been many. A young man behaves erratically, trying to convey something important. Chih and the bride discover strange things in an abandoned building. Is the marriage dangerous?

The groom starts to appear increasingly unstable and sinister. Should Chih stop the wedding and escape? Well—yes, but not for the reasons they think, and not for the person they believe to be in danger.

By far the best entry in the series so far. The first half of the story is very low fantasy, like earlier installments—but that changes. Dramatically. As does everything else in the story.

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

Set aboard what appears to be a generation ship—or maybe a mining ship?—this story’s worldbuilding is confusing. There’s a rigid caste system. At the bottom are the "chained": literal chains around their ankles, living in filth in the Hold. A level up are people with anklets—electronic chains controlled via a mobile app by those in power.

A young man from the chained caste turns out to be a gifted artist. A social scientist, herself an anklet-wearer and the daughter of a chained man, brings him to the upper levels as part of a social experiment. The boy struggles to adapt and misses his mentor, a prophetic figure from the Hold. The scientist takes him back to visit—but the ship’s rulers are not pleased.

There may be a chance for solidarity and rebellion.

The writing is solid, but the message felt extremely obvious. “Oh wow, slavery and oppression are bad?” Who could have guessed? I also struggled to buy the setting: are they mining ore in space? By hand? Is it a hollowed asteroid? The caste system lacked a clear, believable origin. The background was underdeveloped.

My voting order will be:

1. The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

2. What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher

3. The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

4. The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

5. Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard

6. The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

John Wiswell: Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Shesheshen is a shape-shifting monster. She is awakened from hibernation by an attack — a few monster hunters are trying to kill her. She quickly assembles various parts to rebuild her skeleton and fights back, killing and absorbing a haughty nobleman. However, she is struck by an arrow poisoned with rosemary (which is extremely toxic to her). Badly injured, she falls off a cliff.

Disguised as a human, she is rescued by a kind woman named Homily, who nurses her back to health. Shesheshen has never encountered such kindness before, and the two become very close. But complications soon arise: Homily turns out to be the sister of the nobleman Shesheshen killed and absorbed. Homily believes her family is cursed by the monster and considers it their duty to destroy it. Shesheshen, however, has no memory of ever cursing anyone.

And it turns out that Homily’s mother killed Shesheshen’s mother years ago. And as Shesheshen grows more emotionally attached to Homily, her eggsack begins to develop. It appears to have a will of its own, intent on being implanted in a human host so that her offspring can consume the person from within.

So, there are a few complications in their love story.

But love conquers all — even when there are many, many obstacles along the way.

A fun and unusual romantic story.

The book could have benefited from tighter editing. The monster’s life cycle also raised some questions — how were the eggs fertilized? There were no male monsters present, though it was stated that monsters could be either male or female, implying two sexes. Additionally, if each female only produced one eggsack in her lifetime, and if implanted offspring fought to the death until only one survived, that would mean only one child per female monster — an unsustainable reproductive model.

Shesheshen also seemed a bit too human in her thinking. At times, she was portrayed as naïve, yet she could also grasp complex psychological concepts and recognize signs of mental abuse. Given her lack of prior contact with humans, this felt implausible.

Still, the book was a fun, light read overall.

310 pp.

Satu Rämö: Rakel (Hildur #4)

Seuraava osa suomalaisen Islannissa asuvan kirjailijan Islannissa tapahtuvia dekkareita. 

Kylään poikkeavasta risteilyaluksesta hoippuu laituria pitkin kasvoistaan pahasti vahingoittunut mies. Hänet toimitettiin sairaalaan, mutta hän ei suostu kertomaan mitään siitä, mitä hänelle on tapahtunut. Koska paikallispoliisin valtuudet risteilyaluksien tutkimisessa ovat tiukasti rajattuja, Hildur ei voi kunnolla selvittää asiaa, koska hänellä ei (muka) ole oikeuksia astua alukseen (mahtaako todella olla näin, nopealla googlauksella poliisilla on satamaan kiinnittyneellä aluksella kyllä täysin täydet toimivaltuudet, todella kummalta kuulosti, etteikö poliisi voisi rajua pahoinpitelyä selvittää). Lisäksi paikkakunnalla on tapahtunut runsaasti mökkimurtoja, tosin juuri mitään murtojen yhteydessä ei ole varastettu. Vielä kolmantena juonena Hildurin vanhan kotitalon takapihalta löytyy kolme kuollutta ruumista. Ne vaikuttavat olevan muutaman kymmenen vuoden takaa. Vielä kun Hildurin vanha naapuri kuolee vanhainkodissa epäilyttävissä olosuhteissa, on juonia vaikka jaettavaksi. 

Muutama ärsyttävä kummallisuus kirjassa oli. Miksi ihmeessä varaskopla kätki tavaroita asumattomien kesämökkien kuistien alla ja vastaaviin paikkoihin? Kyllähän Islannissa autiota maata riittää, vaikka kuinka, olisihan huomattavan paljon riskittömämpää ja helpompaa ollut kätkeä tavaroita johonkin autiolla olevaan kallion koloon tai vastaavaan paikkaan. Myös sattuma, että kadonneen saksalaisnaisen todennäköisesti tuntenut ihminen oli juuri tällä hetkellä Islannissa, lähestyy astronomista. Murhien motiivit olivat myös erittäin kyseenalaisia, sekä menneisyydessä tapahtuneiden että nykyhetken murhan - syyt eivät kyllä olleet riittäviä tappamiseen ja siitä aiheutuviin riskeihin, ja vaikea käsittää mitkä niin mittavat taloudelliset edutkaan menneisyyden tapoille olisi ollut. Yhdelläkään kuolleella ei ollut yhtään ystävää, joka olisi ihmetellyt heidän katoamistaan? Isot riskit, ja pienestä hyödystä. Ja täysimittaisen haudan kaivaminen talon takapihalle ei ole ihan pieni suoritus, ja vielä “sattumalta” hauta oli pihan ainoassa paikassa, jossa pihan pinnan alla ei ollut kalliota. Pitääkö olettaa, että Hildurin isä kaivoi kokonaisen sarjan koekuoppia? Vanhainkodin oven murtojäljet myös olivat harhautus, joka kirjailija ilmeisesti vähän unohtui, sillä tapahtumiin löytyi selitykset, jotka olivat murrosta riippumattomia. Muutenkin logiikka tarinassa oli aika hataraa. Sinällään juoni oli ihan vetävä, kunhan sitä ei liikaa pysähtynyt miettimään. Aikaisemmat kirjat oli lukenut. Tämän kirja kuuntelin pääosin, ja kuunneltavaksi tämä tuntui soveltuvan paremmin kuin luettavaksi, kielelliset pienet jäykkyydet eivät olleet niin paljon huomattavissa.  

The next installment in a series of crime novels set in Iceland by a Finnish author living in Iceland.

A badly injured man with a severely damaged face stumbles down the pier from a cruise ship that has stopped in the village. He is taken to the hospital, but refuses to say anything about what happened to him. Since the local police have strictly limited authority when it comes to investigating cruise ships, Hildur can’t properly investigate the case because she supposedly doesn't have the right to board the vessel. (Is this really true? A quick Google search suggests that the police do, in fact, have full authority on ships docked at a port, so it sounded very odd that the police wouldn't be able to investigate a violent assault.)

Meanwhile, there has been a string of break-ins at summer cottages in the area, though curiously, hardly anything has been stolen. A third plotline emerges when three dead bodies are discovered buried in the backyard of Hildur’s old family home. They appear to be from several decades ago. And when Hildur’s old neighbor dies in a nursing home under suspicious circumstances, there are more plotlines than one can keep track of.

There were a few irritating oddities in the book. Why on earth did the gang of thieves hide stolen goods under the porches of uninhabited summer cottages and similar places? There’s no shortage of remote, uninhabited land in Iceland—it would have been far less risky and much easier to stash things in a remote rocky crevice or somewhere similar. Also, the coincidence that someone who probably knew the missing German woman just happened to be in Iceland at that very moment stretches credibility to the astronomical.

The motives for the murders were also highly questionable, both for those that took place in the past and the ones in the present. The reasons given simply weren’t sufficient to justify murder and the risks involved. It’s hard to believe that even significant financial benefits would have justified the killings in the past. And none of the victims had a single friend who wondered about their disappearance? Huge risks for minimal gain.

And digging a full-sized grave in the backyard is no small feat—and it “just so happened” to be in the only spot where there was no bedrock beneath the surface? Are we to assume Hildur’s father dug a whole series of test holes? The pry marks on the nursing home door were also a red herring that the author seemed to forget about, as the events were later explained in ways unrelated to any break-in. Overall, the story’s logic was quite flimsy.

That said, the plot was fairly gripping, as long as you didn’t stop to think about it too much. I had read the earlier books; this one I mostly listened to, and it seemed better suited for listening than reading—the minor awkwardness of the language was less noticeable in audio form.

352 pp

Frode Grytten: Päivä jona Nils Vik kuoli

Toinen norjalaisen mieskirjailijan kirjoittama kirja yhden miehen viimeisestä päivästä. Edellisen lukemisesta ei ollutkaan kuin muutama kuukausi.

Nils Vik on ollut koko elämänsä laivakuskina Norjan vuonon rannalla. Hän on kuljettanut ihmisiä rannalta toiselle, paikasta toiseen, talosta taloon. Elämänsä aikana hän on tavannut suunnilleen kaikki paikalliset – kuljettanut lääkäriä, kätilöä, pappia, jopa filmitähtiä.

Mutta tänään on hänen viimeinen päivänsä. Hän lähtee kotoaan vanhalla veneellään, jossa hänen (jo aikoja sitten kuollut) koiransa odottaa. Hän käy syvällisiä keskusteluja sekä koiransa että (jo edesmenneiden) vanhojen tuttaviensa ja ystäviensä kanssa. Samalla vähitellen piirtyy esiin miehen elämänkaari: rakkaus jo aiemmin kuolleeseen puolisoon ja myös paikallisten ihmisten elämän käänteet.

Tavallisten ihmisten – osin salassa pysyneiden – pienten piirteiden kuvaus toi mieleeni jopa Spoon River -antologian. Kielellisesti ja tarinallisesti kirja oli erittäin korkeatasoinen, ja käännös toimi hienosti. Ei ehkä paras kirja ikinä, kuten Hesarin arvostelija ajatteli, mutta hyvä – todella hyvä.

Kirjapiiriläiset pitivät kirjasta pääosin, tosin sitä pidettiin ehkä hieman liikaa Jon Fossen Aamua ja iltaa -teoksen kaltaisena.

The second book by a Norwegian male author is about the last day of a man's life. It had only been a few months since I read the previous one.

Nils Vik has spent his entire life as a boatman on the shores of a Norwegian fjord. He has ferried people from one shore to the other, from place to place, from house to house. Over the course of his life, he has met just about everyone in the area—transporting doctors, midwives, priests, and even movie stars.

But today is his last day. He leaves his home in an old boat, where his (long-deceased) dog is waiting. He has deep conversations with the dog, as well as with old friends and acquaintances who have also passed away. Gradually, the arc of his life comes into view—his love for his already-deceased wife and the twists and turns in the lives of the local people.

The portrayal of ordinary people and their partly hidden, subtle traits reminded me even of the Spoon River Anthology. Linguistically and narratively, the book was of very high quality, and the translation worked beautifully. Perhaps not the greatest book ever, as the Helsingin Sanomat reviewer thought, but a good one, truly good.

Most members of the book club liked it, although some found it perhaps a bit too similar to Jon Fosse’s Morning and Evening.

197 pp

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Service Model

 The next Hugo-nominated book: Charles is a valet robot who works for his master. He dutifully puts up his travel coats (though his master hasn’t traveled in years), checks his master’s wife’s calendar (she has been dead for a long time), and coordinates everything with the other robots in the household. He is aware that much of what he does is redundant, but as these tasks are on the list, so he completes them nonetheless.

One day, Charles makes a tiny mistake. His hand movements are only about two centimeters off, but when you’re shaving your master’s beard with a razor, that’s a big deal. Strangely, he doesn’t remember the actual event and can’t find a decision tree that leads to that action. When he discovers a human is dead, he notifies the authorities. A police robot arrives and begins interviewing all the household robots, even though Charles makes a full confession. After all, the task lists must be followed even by police robots.

Eventually, the police can identify the murderer: Charles. He is ordered to report for maintenance at the Diagnostics department because he is clearly defective. He is also stripped of his name and thereafter called Uncharles. 

When Uncharles arrives at Diagnostics, he finds a long line. Some robots have already rusted in place, while those still functioning wait patiently for their turn. The Diagnostics department operates very inefficiently, as no humans have overseen the work for some time.

Uncharles meets a Wonk, an apparent robot who claims that Uncharles has caught a “free will virus” and is able to function outside of his programming. Uncharles doesn’t think so—he hasn’t noticed any free will. He decides to find a new place to work—surely there are still humans somewhere who need his services. After all, his mistake was small; he has only killed one employer. It can’t be that serious, right?

So Wonk and Uncharles start a journey through a decaying landscape where they mostly encounter robots trying to function according to their programming, but failing due to the lack of human intervention. What has happened—and why?

A fun, ironic book with some obvious digs at modern corporate greed—if something looks good on a quarterly report, it’s deemed good, regardless of long-term repercussions. 

Especially in the beginning, the writing felt a bit long-winded; the descriptions of Charles/Uncharles’s task list and his (in)ability to edit it took up too much space. A bit of condensation might have improved the pacing overall.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty good book—but it won’t be my top choice this year, there are even stronger contenders.

376 pp.