Wednesday, July 20, 2011

My Hugo award votes 2011 part 1: Novels

Most of the Hugo nominees this year are part of a series. The Dervish House was the only one which either isn't the first book of a trilogy or isn't part of an established old series. I didn't really, really love any of the nominees, not the way I liked the City and the City last year. There was just one book I would hate to see to win the award, but I am afraid the that will be the one which will get the Hugo this year - I am speaking about Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis. That book will be the only one I am going to place below "no award" in my ballot.

It was fairly easy to decide the order of the other books. I didn't love the Dervish House, but the writing was clearly better than in any of the other nominees and it was clearly the best book even if I didn't personally love it. Also, as it isn't part of any series I find that it is more "Hugo-worthy" than any of the other nominees. The second place goes to the "Feed" for pure entertainment value that book has. The order of the next two places was a bit more difficult to decide, but I believe the The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms deserves to award more than the Cryoburn which was a disappointment to a degree.

My voting order will be:

1. The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
2. Feed by Mira Grant
3. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
4. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
5. No award
6. Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis

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