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Worlds Without End Blog

2016 Hugo Award Finalists Posted at 5:34 PM by Dave Post

Dave Post

Ancillary Mercy The Aeronaut's Windlass The Fifth Season Seveneves Uprooted

The 2016 Hugo Award finalists have been announced. The noms in the Best Novel category are:

See the full list of noms in all categories on the MidAmeriCon II website.

Our congrats to all the finalists. As most everyone expected Ann Leckie’s third Imperial Radch book got a nod and Jim Butcher has made the list again this year but with a book from his new Steampunk series The Cinder Spires. What do you think of this crop of books? Any favorites in the list?

9 Comments

Weesam   |   26 Apr 2016 @ 23:22

N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season really impressed me last year. Glad to see it getting a nomination, and am crossing my fingers for it to do well.

bleebs   |   27 Apr 2016 @ 08:15

I think The Fifth Season’s world building was inconsistent in some crucial points.

It’s maybe an old nail I’m hitting, but I don’t like the fact that fantasy books are eligible for an award that is given by an organization named the World Science Fiction Society.

As far as SF goes, I think Seveneves is the most mind-blowingly Hard SF book in quite some time, and the scope of it’s vision is also quite something, but Ancillary Mercy has such a deadpan vibe to it that makes for a strong contender.

Val   |   27 Apr 2016 @ 08:53

How Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson, one of the most discussed sf novels of 2015 can be missing from this list (or the Nebula list for that matter) is beyond me. But given the choices I think either Jemisin or Stephenson will take it.

Scott Laz   |   27 Apr 2016 @ 09:39

None of my nominees made the cut (including Aurora), but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Fifth Season, which seems like a worthy choice. (Uprooted was also good, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Grace of Kings here as well.) However, like bleebs, my Hugo bias will always be that it shouldn’t have veered away from science fiction (old news, I know), and I’m not sure whether to pick Leckie or Stephenson.

Avert your eyes from the short story and best related work categories.

Roland Johnson   |   27 Apr 2016 @ 10:30

The Jemisin was the only one that wasn’t on a puppy slate. I’ve read Uprooted, Ancillary Mercy and Fifth Season. Of the three I’d put the Novik slightly ahead.

fluke71   |   27 Apr 2016 @ 14:10

I have read seveneves and ancillary mercy, i liked both a lot. I have though a lot about seveneves after reading it, and i still do. So i guess my vote would have gone to Stephenson, but Mercy a close second. I too miss Aurora on the nomination list, that book has been spinning in my head too.

Roland Johnson   |   27 Apr 2016 @ 20:26

Correction: Ancillary Mercy was not on any slate. Uprooted was on Sad Puppies, Seveneves on Rabid Puppy and Cinder Spires on both.

Emil   |   29 Apr 2016 @ 03:25

The Puppies will only see the works they deem “leftist,” and trying to oust, as winners by creating ever more momentum in that direction as people attempt to avoid voting for works that appeared on their slates. All just silly antics.

Emil   |   29 Apr 2016 @ 03:29

Saying that, many of their nominations are already popular works, so let’s not go overboard and assume the good stuff got there because of them. Although, let’s be honest, something like Chuck Tingles slammed in the butt short story attempt probably has a better place at the AVN Awards.

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