List: hugo-award

American Gods is a polarising book, and I belong to the people enchanted by it. Gaiman does wonderfully dirty, touching things with language, and mythology, and just drew me in.

The Dispossessed

by Ursula K. Le Guin · published 1974 · read 2018-02-12

Anarchist SciFi by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's a bit slow, but the content made me forget all about that.

The Obelisk Gate

by N.K. Jemisin · published 2016 · read 2018-10-28

The Obelisk Gate is the second part of N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, and it's brilliant. It continues the heavy character building we got in the first volume. Some characters grow, some change a lot, some change just in our eyes by virtue of being seen through different eyes, for example, our protagonist, Essun, is very different when seen by her daughter. Seeing the kid grow into her own character arc was beautifully done.

The Fifth Season

by N.K. Jemisin · published 2015 · read 2018-09-10

There was nothing about The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin that I didn't like. It's a bit short, but we have two more volumes to balance that.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

by Amal El-Mohtar · published 2019 · read 2019-09-21

This Is How You Lose the Time War was written by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. They must be magic. They can't just write like this without magic. Trust me.

Doomsday Book

by Connie Willis · published 1992 · read 2019-11-20

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is the best book about time travel that I know of, with the notable exception of "This is how you lose the time war". It's started out good, and then proceeded to kick me in the feelings. Repeatedly.

The Mountains of Mourning

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1989 · read 2018-11-23

The Mountains of Mourning is a very touching Vorkosigan novella by Lois McMaster Bujold. It's deeply impressive to me how very emotional and touching this novella gets in under 150 pages, while still maintaining the character and tone of the overall series. Our favourite hero, Miles, confronts a backwater village while investigating a child murder. The crippled man confronting a society where killing crippled children is more than just tolerated – and at no point Bujold goes for the easy way out. No good vs evil here, oh no, just heartbreak.

Barrayar

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1991 · last read 2020-08-19

Update: This book is a perfect read after Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. Sadly, Gentleman Jole is also the perfect read after Barrayar, somebody send help, please?

A Canticle for Leibowitz

by Walter M. Miller Jr. · published 1959 · read 2022-03-28

Damn, rating this book is hard! The first part had me thinking that it was just standard (though not standart then, of course!) far-future post-fallout sci-fi where humanity lives in its own ruins. And then the second part was alright, eh. And then the last part was suddenly really fucking intense and painful in a good way. So there's that. Look, I have a tag called "Space Monks", of course I'm a fan. It goes without saying. What doesn't go without saying? The description of quasi-medieval monks holding on to knowledge and literacy in a post-fallout world (picturing the Fallout as a monster lurking in shadows of history) is drawn so well I took it for granted at first. This book is sci-fi that understands religion and treats it with both respect and humour, and I can count the books that manage both without losing integrity on one hand. There is actual Latin in there (I'm an asshole about bad Latin). There's an O Antiphon for the fallout. And that's just backdrop, of just the first part! Along with clever observations about ("pre-Deluge") English, and Dominicans fighting New Rome on questions of not even theological significance, and orders trying to wrangle a beatification or even canonisation for their own. (And the Wandering Jew, tantalising, in between all this.) I didn't remember much of the second part, with its politics and its people rediscovering electricity. It was alright, but didn't amuse me (like the first part) or punch me in the face (like the last one). The last part was great. Painful, and great. The believable modernity, with the eye for detail shown in the other two parts. The consequences. The humans with actual human feelings. I got full on shivers and a Pale Blue Dot kind of feeling from the things that happened there. … And then I wished the book had ended a bit earlier, on account of the Big Yikes. When I first read Josef Pieper's theological work, I loved it. Later on I read his autobiography, which tainted his entire work with a shadow, and I haven't been able to enjoy it fully since. The same thing happened here: When towards the end of the third part the topic of assisted dying comes up, Miller reveals parts of his soul that I cannot quite forgive, and that made me re-think the book in its entirety. (This weighs even more heavily on my mind thinking of Miller's life, and death.) (You'll notice it's still a five star read, but now it's a grudging, uncertain rating rather than a fiery, convinced one.) This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.

Ancillary Justice

by Ann Leckie · published 2013 · read 2018-03-13

by Charles Stross · published 2013 · read 2015-08-04

Wow wow wow.

Equoid

Of course Unicorns are terrifying when CStross himself writes about them. Short, but enjoyable, if a bit gory.

The Concrete Jungle

by Charles Stross · published 2004 · read 2015-07-03

I love Detective Inspector Josephine Sullivan. And Basilisks. And everything cstross thinks about firmware, public sector management and Angleton.

The Graveyard Book

by Neil Gaiman · published 2008 · read 2015-04-15

I would have loved this book as a child, and I still love it as a grownup (Gaiman tends to write like that). It is paced well, written wonderfully and rings true (in a very similar way American Gods does, but a bit toned-down to the way children see the world). Technically it is a coming-of-age story. I spent a long afternoon reading it and feel a lot better for the time spent.

A Study in Emerald

by Neil Gaiman · published 2003 · read 2017-11-28

Sherlock + Cthulhu is a very Gaimanishly Gothic mix.

The Word for World is Forest

by Ursula K. Le Guin · published 1972 · read 2018-02-21

I enjoyed it a lot. While I would have liked to get to know the alien culture (and its language!) even better, I was given a lot of context. Also, the story is told as seen by an alien, a nice human anthropologist, and a horrible, vicious, self-righteous human soldier, which was well done.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

by Ursula K. Le Guin · published 1973 · read 2018-02-02

by N.K. Jemisin · published 2017 · read 2019-02-13

Infinitely referenced.

The Stone Sky

The Stone Sky is a great ending to a great trilogy. I dislike books where the ending is clear ahead of time, but the amounts of good storytelling and additional context we got made up for it. Nassun's development felt a bit heavy-handed at times, but she still makes a good character, and contrasts well with her mother Essun. I enjoyed getting the true backstory for the breaking of the earth!

Speaker for the Dead

by Orson Scott Card · published 1986 · read 2014-03-01

I prefer this book to the first, more famous one. It's deeper, and more powerful, and doesn't rely on one cheap trick.

Ender’s Game

by Orson Scott Card · published 1985 · last read 2020-08-01

Rereading Ender's game six years later, I found it better than I remembered it. Sure, you'll never see the twist coming the way you saw it the first time, and when I read it the first time I didn't know about OSC's personal politics. But regardless: The book sucked me in, dragged me through a story as relentlessly cruel as it was enjoyable, and then spit me out three hours later, not without delivering a last minute kick straight to the feelings.

Among Others

by Jo Walton · published 2011 · read 2020-05-10

Among Others worked super well for me, especially considering that there is little-to-no plot and the whole book is a well-dressed bibliography. But the protagonist's (diary author) voice is super strong and realistic, and … okay, let's be honest here: I felt very pandered to in the best way. This book is in some way a modern equivalent to Gaudy Night, intellectual+atmospheric pandering to an in-group, and I'm in the in-group, and that's all there is to it.

The secret life of robots

by Suzanne Palmer · published 2017 · read 2018-08-09

This is for us robot lovers: The Secret Life of Bots is an utterly charming novella by Suzanne Palmer. I can't really say much without spoiling parts of it, but the protagonist is lovely without being humanised, the personal dynamics are sweet and witty, and the time reading it was very well spent.

Redshirts

by John Scalzi · published 2012 · read 2014-10-01

Often, I'm a reader of simple tastes. This is a drabble, a writing exercise, 320 pages long, that cheerfully tears into bad TV show scifi. It enjoys itself, it spends most of its time not punching down. It's not high art, it's not deep, it's just straight-up fun – if you're into the meta underpinnings. Otherwise, it's probably 300 pages of tedious jokes. It made me laugh, a lot.

Binti

by Nnedi Okorafor · published 2015 · read 2018-06-07

I liked Binti a lot more than Akata Witch, which I enjoyed very much. Binti was impressive and creative scifi, and the tha fast pace (du to the <100 pages) was refreshing and very well executed. Binti is a wonderful protagonist, and the culture and belief system sketched out in the book made me hungry for more. (Also: living ships?! Living ships!)

Every Heart a Doorway

by Seanan McGuire · published 2016 · read 2018-10-06

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire is a nice little fantasy tale of the place where children go after going through a Door to Another Place (Fairylands, for example), and then coming back. It's short, and sweet, and sad, and gruesome. It's about real children, not a list of characters from other books, either. The gruesome part is the murder mystery half of the book, but that's really only window dressing for the exploration of the characters and worlds. It's short, and I'd have liked to see more exploration of both the children and their worlds – but that's what the sequel is there for.

Artificial Condition

by Martha Wells · published 2018 · read 2018-10-19

The Artificial Condition is the second volume of Martha Wells' Murderbot series, and it's definitely better than the first one. I see why people love Murderbot, now – they, and their interaction with both humans and other bots, are bittersweet and relatable. In this second volume, Murderbot has to figure out what to do with their freedom, and they use it well – to examine their past, and work on ways to live their future. I enjoyed that while the protagonist is snarky, the snarkiness isn't overdone at all, and leaves spaces for cleverness, and vulnerability, and all kinds of connections to other people.

The Calculating Stars

by Mary Robinette Kowal · published 2018 · read 2019-08-07

The Calculating Stars by Marie Robinette Kowal is a book I enjoyed tremendously, and I have started recommending it to a bunch of friends. It is set in the US in the 50s, just shortly after a meteorite drops into the sea next to Washington, kills millions, and starts what might be an extinction level event. Our protagonist is a woman with a PhD in maths, who flew planes in WW2 for WASP (officially never saw combat, but, y'know …), and whose husband is lead engineer for the NACA/IAC.

To Say Nothing of the Dog

by Connie Willis · published 1998 · read 2020-02-22

This book as good as advertised – even better than that, because part of it is targeted at people who had their heart broken by Gaudy Night, which I just had two weeks ago. I'm very happy I didn't accidentally read this one before Gaudy Night, that would've ruined the reading experience.

Mirror Dance

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1994 · read 2019-03-17

Mirror Dance was yet another really good entry in the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. I disliked the protagonist (mildly at first, strongly in the middle, barely at the end), and yet the book worked wonderfully for me. I felt afraid for Miles, scorn, compassion, and pity for his brother, and a whole range of things for everybody else. We get to see new and brilliant parts of Cordelia, and seeing the world from the eyes of Miles brother definitely shows a good perspective on our favourite hero (and reflects well on Miles' growth over the series so far!).

The Vor Game

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1990 · last read 2020-08-20

The Vor Game is another Miles book in the Vorkosigan Saga, and as usual, it is a lot of fast-paced fun. I was lost over the first third or so, where it wasn't clear where the plot was going, and every time I thought I had it figured out, it switched to an entirely new track. I spent a good amount of time wondering how those threads would be tied back together, and the story did not disappoint at all – but it does turn out that the first third was a standalone novella at first, explaining the break.

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

by Ken Liu · published 2016 · read 2018-03-16

A heart-breaking short story about belonging, and families, and a tiny bit of magic. But mostly heartbreak.

Rainbows End

by Vernor Vinge · published 2006 · read 2018-03-23

Well, this was great scifi. It was focussed on a not very likeable, but very real character, and a completely informationally connected world. I enjoyed that it focussed so much on where and how information flowed, and the implications of VR. Lots of fun!

A Fire Upon the Deep

by Vernor Vinge · published 1992 · read 2019-03-03

A Fire Upon the Deep was very impressive scifi! The scope ranges across the complete universe, complete with medieval worlds, advanced civilisations, up to god-like transcended entities, their interactions, and wildly alien races. And at the same time, the story gets up close to humans and aliens alike, and lets the reader live epic events at a comprehendable scale.

A Memory Called Empire

by Arkady Martine · published 2019 · last read 2021-03-26

A junior ambassador from one alien nation and planet to another, which boasts of a highly complex language and culture? Finding herself scrambling to catch up with her predecessor (rudely murdered, instead of being in her brain as would be appropriate), trying not to share his fate? Sudden conspiracies, even more complex cultural games, plus an assistent she's very much into? Hell yes.

Lord of Light

by Roger Zelazny · published 1967 · read 2021-03-15

Lord of Light is hard to describe without spoilers up to the last third of the book, so I won't even try. You have been warned: hic sunt ~~dracones~~ spoilers. Even adding this book to my "space monks" list is technically a spoiler.

The Star

by Arthur C. Clarke · published 1955 · last read 2022-03-05

A solid scifi short story. I probably shouldn't be surprised at Clarke's knowledge of the Jesuits. At only four pages, it felt well-written (but not quite as moving as it wants to be). This book is part of the 2022 Backlog Incident.

Bloodchild

by Octavia E. Butler · published 1984 · read 2020-01-24

I first read Bloodchild last year, I think, and re-read it now. It's a very Octavia Butler story – aliens cohabitating with humans and making ties that touch on reproductive and life cycles is a thing she does. But she does it well, and it's not a repeated shtick. I didn't enjoy the story as such, but it was expertly written, and viscerally stuck in my memory. (Also: ew.)

The Emperor’s Soul

by Brandon Sanderson · published 2012 · read 2017-11-29

Wow. It's not only the soulstamp concept that drew me in, it's the mechanics of plausibly altering the past, and the basic assumption that everything has a soul, an understanding of self, and a dream. Love it. At the same time, it's very much a one-gimmick story, so if you can't get into the gimmick, you won't like it – but at under 200 pages, you also won't have lost much time. I'd recommend giving it a shot.

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer

by Neal Stephenson · published 1995 · read 2020-05-31

My relationship with Neal Stephenson is marked by frustration and enjoyment alike. I liked Anathem a lot despite it's many flaws, because it hit the perfect sweet spot in subject matter for me. Diamond Age did not, so it's flaws stood out more.

The Girl Who Was Plugged In

by James Tiptree Jr. · published 1973 · read 2021-11-01

James Tiptree Jr., predicting influencers in a world where advertising is forbidden. Interesting worldbuilding, but the story felt repulsive, maybe because it was so intentionally superficial? I don't like superficiality any more just because there's a meta.

Dune

by Frank Herbert · published 1965 · read 2018-07-09

Dune is a classic scifi novel, which can mean it's anywhere between breathtaking genius and hardly accessible anymore. I found it a bit difficult to get into at first, similar to Ancillary Justice. Once I grew used to the storytelling device of an aggressively all-knowing narrator (frequently giving both/all inner views to all sides of a conversation), the world-building was fascinating, and despite the extensive narrator-explanations the reader is forced to make connections themself. My only misgiving was that large parts of the plot were too laid-out: the Mary-Sue protagonist, the evil antagonists, the good Fremen warriors etc. I hope that further parts in the series alleviate the clear-cut morals and abilities of the characters a bit. I'm looking forward to it – the world-building was exemplary. (Also, I can finally watch the movie now.)

Flowers for Algernon

by Daniel Keyes · published 1966 · read 2018-07-25

I liked Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes – even though the ending in itself felt predictable, it was very clear that the journey to that ending was the core of the book. It's not an easy question: How much does intelligence determine who we are, and what would happen if our intelligence were to rapidly in- or decrease? While I liked the concept of the book, I can't say that I enjoyed it though … it felt too stressfull with a hint of the kafkaesque for that.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

by Nghi Vo · published 2020 · read 2021-02-26

High fantasy novella, vaguely Chinese-plus-Inuit (shush, it makes sense). After the Empress has died, a young monk – monks are enby in this world, which is neat – travels to her old castle, that has been off limits for decades. They explore the house and chronicle the stories of various things they find. It turns out to be vastly different than expected.

The City & the City

by China Miéville · published 2009 · read 2018-11-14

The City & the City is a very impressive scifi book, but while I can appreciate its coolness and weirdness, and I can't point to a single flaw, somehow the story didn't quite grip me, although the concept of the two cities was introduced beautifully.

Neuromancer

by William Gibson · published 1984 · read 2017-03-10

Not quite sure what to think of this one. It's fast paced, but I think it tries too hard. I liked how it plays with multiple realities, or layers of reality, but both the plot and the pacing felt so … forced.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

by J.K. Rowling · published 2000 · read 2001-03-01

This was the first Harry Potter book that I read while it was still new. That was a novel experience for me: Most of my books up to that point had been old, or at least definitely not new. Reading an ongoing series was exciting. I don't remember much speculation about what would happen next, except for some recurring "Is Snape good or evil" debate.

The Forever War

by Joe Haldeman · published 1974 · read 2016-11-09

Very Scalzi-ish (although, of course, the other way around). Took some getting used to the terse style, after that very well thought through and enjoyable. Especially all the implication of time dilation by long distance space jumps.

All Systems Red

by Martha Wells · published 2017 · read 2018-09-02

It's hard to judge All Systems Red on account of it being so short – it's fast-paced and engaging though, and I felt invested in the story. But after reading it, I was more interested in reading the next part and finding out more about the world and the protagonist – the whole book felt like it just provided a backdrop for the further series. As the series is generally well-liked though, I trust that things will pick up from here.

The Little Prince

by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry · published 1943 · read 2002-04-01

The adorable faux-philosophical book with delightfully whimsical moments was something I enjoyed a lot as a kid. I would imagine that much of its charm is due to my age when reading it though, and if I had read it for the first time now, I wouldn't be nearly as enchanted by the rose and the sheep and so on.

Hyperion

by Dan Simmons · published 1989 · read 2018-11-16

I think my problem with Hyperion were my expectations. The book is touted as one of the best scifi books out there, and it didn't live up to that. Apart from this, though, it's a fine scifi book – relatable characters, each presenting themselves over and their (mostly tragic) history over the course of an equally tragic main plot. Then, just when we're supposed to get some resolution, it simply stops. WHAT? Yes. The entire book is giving the cast background to make us understand the stakes, and then leaves us hanging on a cliffhanger. I'll read the next one, but I'll do it grudgingly.

Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury · published 1953 · read 2013-01-01

Book burners are prime "are we the baddies?" material, but it still was an impressive book – particularly compared to other 50s scifi. The firemen whose job it is to start fires were a nice touch.

“Repent, Harlequin!” Said the Ticktockman

by Harlan Ellison · published 1965 · read 2018-07-13

This is a tricky one: Repent, Harlequin!, Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison is a metaphor against an over-reglemented world. It's old, and I'm afraid to my eyes it hasn't aged too well. It's got an important message, and the scenario isn't bad either, and the language is poetic, but it didn't capture me at all.

The Three-Body Problem

by Liu Cixin · published 2006 · read 2018-08-10

I came into the first volume of Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past with high expectations, as there was somewhat of a hype surrounding the book. It's nearly as good as (and too me, evocative of) Subjective Cosmology by Greg Egan. It's very nice physics (and physicists) scifi. The characters were irritatingly flat a lot of the time (a common hard scifi illness), and often felt over the top to me. The beginning of the book was slow, and compared to that, the ending felt sudden (not rushed, mind, only sudden), and I missed some information and worldbuilding there – I can't be more specific without heavy spoilers. I appreciated the somber ending (although the very final scene was over the top for me). The translation was decent. There remained occasional phrases that sounded weird/unidiomatic, but it happens, especially if there's so much culture to translate.

The Lifecycle of Software Objects

by Ted Chiang · published 2010 · read 2018-10-31