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Gernsbacking 2
Mar. 15th, 2016 01:01 pmIn the past few days, I've finished three more of the novels that have been mooted as Hugo candidates this year: Seveneves, The Fifth Season, and The Dark Forest. A few comments below.
1. Seveneves. Yeah, the biology doesn't work; I really have trouble believing in the Diggers and the Pingers; and Stephenson still can't write an ending to save his life. Still, it was a well-told story (or, perhaps, two well-told stories, which don't hook together all that well), and I enjoyed it. I don't think I'm putting it on my nomination ballot, though.
2. The Dark Forest. The Three-Body Problem won the Hugo last year; I think this sequel is better. Still, neither of them is really to my taste. Lots of sensawunda, but I couldn't really get into the heads of any of the characters - especially Luo Ji, who got more POV time than any other character. I'll probably put it on my nomination ballot, but not high.
3. The Fifth Season. This one leaps past Ancillary Mercy into first place, in my opinion. The world Jemisin builds is rich and deep, and the telling is excellent. (It's clear early on that she's playing games with the time sequence, but the precise connection between the three plot lines didn't come clear to me until about halfway through.) It's obviously heading for a sequel, which is fine by me - there's a lot of stuff that I'd like to see expanded on. I enjoyed the Kingdoms trilogy, although it seemed a bit disjointed and a bit derivative; The Fifth Season is a long jump better.
Right now, then, my five picks, in order, are The Fifth Season, Ancillary Mercy, The Affinities, The Dark Forest, and The Mechanical. There are still several more I ought to check out, but the deadline for nominations is only a couple of weeks away, so I may have to go with this list.
1. Seveneves. Yeah, the biology doesn't work; I really have trouble believing in the Diggers and the Pingers; and Stephenson still can't write an ending to save his life. Still, it was a well-told story (or, perhaps, two well-told stories, which don't hook together all that well), and I enjoyed it. I don't think I'm putting it on my nomination ballot, though.
2. The Dark Forest. The Three-Body Problem won the Hugo last year; I think this sequel is better. Still, neither of them is really to my taste. Lots of sensawunda, but I couldn't really get into the heads of any of the characters - especially Luo Ji, who got more POV time than any other character. I'll probably put it on my nomination ballot, but not high.
3. The Fifth Season. This one leaps past Ancillary Mercy into first place, in my opinion. The world Jemisin builds is rich and deep, and the telling is excellent. (It's clear early on that she's playing games with the time sequence, but the precise connection between the three plot lines didn't come clear to me until about halfway through.) It's obviously heading for a sequel, which is fine by me - there's a lot of stuff that I'd like to see expanded on. I enjoyed the Kingdoms trilogy, although it seemed a bit disjointed and a bit derivative; The Fifth Season is a long jump better.
Right now, then, my five picks, in order, are The Fifth Season, Ancillary Mercy, The Affinities, The Dark Forest, and The Mechanical. There are still several more I ought to check out, but the deadline for nominations is only a couple of weeks away, so I may have to go with this list.
