Nebula Novel Finalist Thoughts
I spent the last week rereading Murderbot, so I don’t have any reviews.
So, I thought, instead I’d give my analysis for the Nebula Award for Novel and who I think is going to win.
First, the finalists
Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav Barsukov
I would probably have liked this one more/better if I hadn’t loved the original novella. Even the author suggesting I treat it as an AU didn’t help.
The novella had the perfect ending.
If it wasn’t for that, it would be my personal perfect type of weird. Really weird. Delightfully so.
Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
I have to face it. I just don’t like Vajra Chandrasekera’s work (I’ve never met Vajra Chandrasekera). The Saint of Bright Doors had its moments. Rakesfall was just, to me, an incoherent mess wrapped in beautiful prose.
He does have a lovely voice, he’s just never done anything with it I’ve liked in his entire career.
In objective analysis, Rakesfall is not as good as The Saint of Bright Doors, which won last year. It’s good, it’s not that good.
Asunder by Kerstin Hall
For some reason, I had to look up a synopsis to recall this one, which isn’t great for the book. And is annoying, because as soon as I did, I did remember it, and it’s a good book.
Karys Eska is a deathspeaker…a kind of necromancer…who has sold her soul to an eldritch entity. We have two bands of warring gods (I’m a fan of warring gods) in this thing, neither of whom are anything resembling “good” per our traditional western morality.
It’s dark, it’s beautiful, but again, it didn’t stay in my memory.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
I’m hot and cold on Kingfisher, but A Sorceress Comes to Call is her at her very best, brilliant regency combined with fabulism (but not a romance).
I loved this book. And anyone who can get me to love anything remotely resembling a regency after my terrible Jane Austen Trauma <tm> has my attention.
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
640 pages. This thing is a tome, and it needed to be about 400 in my mind. Again, very well written. Again, not my thing.
It’s about love, death, and music…and I’m normally more in favor of books about music. And books where people have to solve their own murder.
I just found it a little long.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
John Wiswell’s first novel is remarkable. It’s a monsterf*cking novel without any actual f*cking (because they’re ace, natch).
It’s about love, understood in incredibly different ways by members of two different species, but nonetheless coming together.
It’s about family, but not a very functional family.
It’s about the lies we tell ourselves and our children, but ultimately it’s that rare thing…a truly lovely ace romance.
Predictions and Picks
So, my pick? Surprisingly, it’s A Sorceress Comes to Call. If you’d given me the descriptions, I would have assumed that one was going to be last.
Nebulas doesn’t require me to rank, but I am going to anyway – Someone You Can Build A Nest In, Asunder, Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory, The Book of Love, Rakesfall.
But this is entirely subjective!
As for my prediction:
I am 90% on Someone You Can Build A Nest In. It might not have been my choice, but it came close, and I know many, many people who simply adored this book.