Hugos: Novel

In the written categories, nominees from slates start off with demerits from me. There were two of those on the final list of nominees, The Dark Between the Stars and Skin Game. I read about 150 pages of the former before setting it aside; the characterizations are cardboard, the use of POV poor, and the plotting stuffed with badly-aged tropes. (Disaster is coming! No one will listen! I and my son will flee! - There's a legend about these parts, involving a mysterious sort of threat, but no one believes it! Oh, over there, there's something that looks just like that mysterious threat! Let's go investigate!) It's not even getting onto my ballot. Skin Game I'd already read and enjoyed, but it really isn't Hugo material. I'm putting it below No Award - I'd rather it not get the award, but I'd rather it win than TDBtS.

There remain three. I've already discussed The Three-Body Problem, and I'm placing it third. Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword was quite good, but not as groundbreaking as Ancillary Justice, and suffered a bit from second-book syndrome. First place goes to the absolutely charming The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison; Maia, the protagonist, is one of the most appealing characters I've seen in a long time.