Kriptonomicon

By Charles Stross

Hugo Best Novel Nominee 2014

I can see why this book has been nominated; its got lots of science, hard and otherwise. Its entire plot is based around international/interstellar finance. Its got a transhumanist agenda, if not a post-human meme. I liked the world building, even if its a follow on to a previous book in the universe.

The problem is, I just didn’t enjoy it. When you’re being motivated by the kindle telling you ‘only 1 hour left in this book’, the author has kind of lost your attention..

I’m actually going to put off the next Laundry novel I have eagerly awaited on my kindle and read something else (currently only 187 hours left of ‘The Wheel Of Time’ – I may not finish that before the voting deadline!). A number of other goodreads reviews seem to be saying the same thing, so its obviously a marmite book, since its popular enough to have made its way onto the Hugo Nominee shortlist.

By Mira Grant

Hugo Novel 2014 Nominee

This was a cracking page turner. While its not as ground breaking as Feed (but then, that’s a hard act to follow), the story is involving and despite having only one gunfight and no car chases, is very tense and atmospheric.

I do have one niggle, and that’s a purely technical one. At a point in the book, the protagonist and partner are going across a bridge, and the phone rings, and the line is something like ‘bluetooth never works on the bridge, can you get it?’. It bugs me because bluetooth is a short range radio protocol and GSM is much longer range. If Bluetooth doesn’t work, neither would the phone. Picky, I know, but it jarred me out of my suspension of disbelief.

It ends really abruptly, I thought, but IIRC she already has book two announced..

I think it will get pipped to the post by ‘Ancillary Justice’ myself, which will be a shame for Grant to not get the recognition of her excellent work. Still astonished she didn’t win for Feed..

By Ann Leckie

Hugo Best Novel 2014 Nominee

I had heard good things about this book from a number of different people before I saw it was in the Hugo nominations list, and this persuaded me to pick it up when it was on Amazon for £2.99. I had mixed feelings about this since I’d already paid for the Supporting Membership for the Worldcon, which for the past couple of years has included digital versions of all the nominees. This year, though, one of the publishers (behind three of the nominee’s no less) had decided to only submit sample chapters (to be fairt, it also seems that they’ve discounted the books also). Their choice, and there was no understanding that buying the supporting membership meant that I would be guaranteed the books, and at £35, with all the other nominee’s curated for me, along with two whole series of other novel nominees means there is no way I can claim to be short changed. That said I wasn’t sure I was happy using my money to reward their decision. Also, those authors now get paid for the books, whereas I’m pretty sure the others who submitted their works were not directly compensated (I’m also sure that just getting nominated would make for a good sales kick). I’m happy to reward the authors, obviously, but..

Anyway, onto the novel.

I really appreciated this book, and its my pick to win so far. It does a lot of interesting things with gender and identity and world building that I’m still not sure I’ve fully grasped, and would definitely benefit from a second read. Technically, its the best book of the Novel category I’ve read so far and I expect that to be the case after reading the others.. I don’t expect it will will though. I expect the Wheel of Time to win, as recognition of the authors work. valid, but like Mira Grant’s first foray, I do wish the groundbreaking work would get better acknowledgement, although some would argue, I suppose that this is what the Campbell awards are for.

For the novel itself, I liked the fact that I’m still none the wiser as to the gender of the protagonist. I would like to discuss with someone the possibility that Aannander Minani (sp?) is an AI herself, which is how she manages the whole multiple clones thing (no spoilers, I hope). I like that for me, the ships themselves echo Bank’s Culture Minds, perhaps in prototype form. I like the discussions of ethics, and war and free will and ties into Huxley’s Brave New World.

If this is Leckie’s first novel, its a very strong contender and I hope she goes onto write much more. I’ve certainly enjoyed her short fiction.

By Larry Correia

Hugo Best Novel Nominee (actually book 3) 2014

As the publishers were kind enough to include all of the Grimnoir chronicles, and I much prefer starting a series at the start, I thought I’d see if Book 1 was a good start for the rest (might even read some of ‘The Wheel Of Time’ to get a flavour if I have, aha, enough time).

I enjoyed lots about this book. Its a different take on the ‘Urban Fantasy’ genre, along with alternate history and Noir in general. Hell, if the ‘GrimNoir’ isn’t a tongue in cheek reference to the ‘Grim Dark’ fantasy sub-genre aka Joe Abercrombie et all, I’d be very surprised. I liked the take (and hints of more) on magic, and the working into the worldview (and how its altered history). I liked the protaganist being both smart and the weary PI type, and hints of how he’s got more potential. I sat up far too late several evenings reading it, which is always a good sign.

Things I didn’t like however were the ‘America bleeding for the world. Again’ tropes. I wasn’t keen on the racism and portrayal of the Japanese – although they did commit atrocities in WWII and beyond, which is what its riffing off, Stevenson does a much better job of dealing with this culturally, for example. I also got tired of the almost schoolboy levels of ultraviolence, almost to the ‘and a big man came along and was killed, then another big man and HE was killed, then an EVEN BIGGER man and he was killed and and”. I felt that the fight scenes almost detracted from the more subtle areas of the work, and threatened at times to spoil my enjoyment. Its a bit like Game of Thrones; you can have too much violence and gore..

The jury’s out on whether I’ll read the rest of the series. I feel I have a grasp of it now, and would be very interested to know if the style changes through the series. If it does I’ll certainly read the others. Anyone know? As it is, I can see why it was picked, but I suspect the other Nominees will do better. Ultimately I wasn’t sure at times of the author was being deliberately referential of unknowingly so. The former I think would ensure its place in the nominee category, the latter drop it out for me.

By Rachel Swirsky

Hugo Short Story 2014 Nominee

I found this one an amusing diversion, with a sting in the tail I’d guessed about half way through. Mmmm. Probably my runner up nominee but nothing in this category has grabbed me this year (no fault of Samatar, though).