Hugo Nominee Reactions and TBR _ 2023
# Hugo Award Nominees 2023: A Deep Dive into This Year’s Shortlists and Predictions
## Introduction to the Hugo Awards
Hello, everyone! It’s Sam, and today I’m diving into this year’s Hugo Award nominees. If you’re unfamiliar with the Hugo Awards, they are one of the most popular—and let’s say *prestigious*—Science Fiction and Fantasy awards out there. While I use air quotes around “prestigious” because who really decides that?—they are indeed a significant recognition in the genre. The Hugo Awards are held annually at Worldcon, one of the biggest Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions. This year, it’s taking place in China, following last year’s event in Chicago. I’m hopeful to attend next year when it moves to Glasgow!
The reason I started this project is because attending the Hugo Awards gives you the privilege of voting for the winners. Unlike other awards, the Hugo list is shaped by those who are deeply invested in the genre—attendees who have a stake in Science Fiction and Fantasy. This makes the nominees a mix of popular and influential works from the year. However, I feel this year’s list feels a bit “mid” compared to previous years, which has made me consider exploring other awards in the future. But for now, let’s dive into the nominees and my thoughts on them.
---
## Novella Nominees: A Glimpse into This Year’s Shortlist
### 1. *Even Though I Knew the End* by CL Polk
This novella is a soft love story set in a fantastical Chicago with an Espionage element. One of the characters is a magical detective, while another sold her soul to the devil. They’re trying to navigate their relationship while taking down a vampire. The premise sounds lovely, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a strong contender.
### 2. *Into the Riverlands* by Nevra Love
This is the third book in a beloved Novella series that takes place in a Fantastical World reminiscent of Imperial China. It follows an Empress-to-be and her handmaiden as they navigate arranged marriages, political intrigue, and fantastic elements. While I’ve heard great things about this series, I plan to read them in order: *Empress of Salt and Fortune* first, followed by *When the Teller Came Down the Mountain*.
### 3. *Amir Mended* by Alex E. Harrow
This is the second book in Alex E. Harrow’s twisted fairy tale series. The first novella, about a girl with a chronic illness discovering she’s a Sleeping Beauty variant, was nominated last year. This continuation explores villain variants like the Evil Queen, blending dark fairy tales with modern-day Multiverse themes. I’m curious to see if this one lives up to the hype.
### 4. *Ogres* by Adrian Chakowski
Adrian Chakowski’s *Elder Race* was a favorite of mine last year, and I’m excited to see what he does with ogres in this novella. The synopsis is unclear—ogres are landlords?—but I’m hoping for something as sci-fi and fantasy blended as *Elder Race*. This one might surprise me!
### 5. *What Moves the Dead* by T. Kingfisher
A horror Novella inspired by *The Fall of the House of Usher*, this story follows friends visiting a friend who’s fallen ill in a fungi-infested, eerie house. The cover alone gives me chills, and I’m excited to dive into Kingfisher’s twisted take on classic literature.
### 6. *Where the Drowned Girls Go* by Seanan McGuire
This is part of the *Wayward Children* series, which follows kids who travel through portals to fantastical worlds. This one focuses on Cora, a character we’ve met before, as she tries to transfer schools to a more brutal environment that forces students to forget their portal fantasy lives. I’m curious how this installment builds on the series and whether it includes familiar characters.
---
## Novel Nominees: My Thoughts on the Shortlist
### 1. *The Daughter of Dr. Moreau* by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This retelling of *The Island of Dr. Moreau* is set in Mexico near the Yucatan Peninsula. While I admire Moreno-Garcia’s themes, I found this one slower and less engaging compared to her other work, like *Mexican Gothic*. It feels more like a nod to diversity in Hugo history than a standout nominee.
### 2. *The Kaiju Preservation Society* by John Scalzi
I read this earlier this year and enjoyed its lighthearted take on an alternate dimension where Kaiju ( Godzilla-like creatures) need protection from breaching our world. While fun, it feels like “fine” rather than award-winning material.
### 3. *Legends and Lattes* by Travis Baldry
This cozy fantasy novel follows Liv, an ogre who loves coffee and wants to open a café after her adventures. It’s a charming, low-stakes story about building a community—something I appreciate but feel is too fluffy for a Hugo win.
### 4. *No to the Ninth* by Tamsin Egerton
This is the third installment in a series known for its complexity and depth. While I found it less engaging than the first two books, *Gideon the Ninth* and *Harrow the Ninth*, I still think the series as a whole has Hugo-winning potential.
### 5. *Nettle & Bone* by T. Kingfisher
Another Gothic fairy tale in the *Wayward Children* universe, this one follows a girl trying to help her sister escape an abusive Prince’s clutches with the help of a grave witch and a possessed chicken. I’m excited to dive into this one and hope it lives up to the hype.
### 6. *The Spare Man* by Mary Robinette Kowal
Set in the 1950s-’60s, this historical fiction novel follows a woman whose husband is suspected of murder while on his honeymoon between the moon and Mars. It’s a unique blend of retro sci-fi and mystery—I’m curious to see how it stacks up.
---
## Reflections: Why This Year’s Hugo List Feels Mid
I’ve read four out of six novels this year, and none have stood out as award-winning material to me. While I enjoyed some, like *The Kaiju Preservation Society* and *Legends and Lattes*, they feel more like “fine” reads rather than groundbreaking. This makes me question whether the Hugo voters leaned too heavily on fan favorites this year.
Authors like Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal, and John Scalzi have been nominated nearly every year, which feels a bit repetitive. While their work is excellent, I’m craving more diversity in the nominees—books that push boundaries and introduce fresh voices.
Looking ahead, I’m considering exploring other awards with more varied lists, like the Nebulas or the Ignite Awards. These might offer a broader range of perspectives and stories outside the Hugo’s fan-favorite bubble.
---
## Final Thoughts: What to Read Next
While I have mixed feelings about this year’s Hugo list, there are still plenty of books worth exploring. If you’re looking for something eerie, gothic, or simply groundbreaking, I’d recommend *What Moves the Dead* and *Nettle & Bone* by T. Kingfisher. For cozy fantasy fans, *Legends and Lattes* is a charming choice.
As for my predictions? I’m rooting for *Nettle & Bone* to sweep the Novella category, and I hope *No to the Ninth* gets some love in the Novel category. But ultimately, I’ll leave the final word to you—what do **you** think of this year’s Hugo nominees? Let me know your thoughts below!
Thank you for joining me on this journey through the Hugo Awards. Stay tuned for more updates as I read and review these nominees—I’ll be back with my full ratings and predictions soon!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's Sam and today I'm going to talk about this year's Hugo Award nominees as well as my TBR for reading them if you're on familiar with the hugos they are one of the more popular and I would say prestigious and I say that with air quotes because who really decides that Science Fiction and Fantasy awards that are held yearly and they are held at Worldcom which is one of the big Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions every year this year it is in China last year it was in Chicago so I went and I'm hoping to go next year when it's in Glasgow but the whole thing here and why I started doing this little project was because if you attend or if you attended a previous year then you could like nominate but if you attend you get to vote in the Hugo so the hugos is sort of a popular it is a popular vote based on who attends the Hugo's has the privilege to attend the hugos but also if you are attending the Hugo's you probably have more of a understanding and stake in science fiction fantasy to an extent and so you end up getting this list of like popular sci-fi fantasy picks for the year but I I do want to talk about the Hugo list this year uh in addition just in general in a more meta way because it's kind of mid in my opinion um and other awards that I might want to look at a little more in the future and possibly do a project like this for in the future because I really like reading the hugos because I felt like I was getting introduced to new things potentially or things maybe I was interested but what wasn't hurting to read or whatever this year I don't necessarily feel that way so I'm kind of thinking about expanding my uh following of different Awards but anyway that's different let's get into the Uno nominees and my thoughts on them and my predictions and my TBR of what I still have to read off of the list so we'll start with novellas and I have to read all the novellas by contrast I have to read like two of the novels which is wild because last year I had to read a ton of novels and this year I don't because I read most of what's on the list which I was shocked by so the first Novella nominated is even though I knew the End by CL Polk this is what I've been sitting around and it's a soffic love story set in a sort of like there's there's an Espionage element to it one of the characters is a magical detective they are in a Fantastical Chicago another one previously sold her soul to the devil and both of them still want to spend their lives together and so they're trying to sort of work out how to do that while taking down like a vampire potentially it sounds lovely honestly and I think this is one Awards already so hi Contender on the list but not something that was necessarily gonna read like right away but this will force me to which is again why I like things like the egos then we have into the riverlands by Nevo now I've read other Nevo things well just one the the like great guests we were telling that they did a while ago uh but this Novella series is something that people have been loving and what's interesting about this is you can enter the novella series at any point like any of the novellas this is the third one that's out but they're all sort of companiony I guess I have the first two so I am still planning on reading these in order of how they came out that's my preference anyway for most books but it's set in a Fantastical World reminiscent of Imperial China and follows primarily this Empress or sort of like Empress to be her handmaiden and her wanting to like break out of the confines of her arranged marriage in the political situation whatever with a ton of fantastic elements so again I've been hearing really good things about this in general I'm gonna read it in order so into the riverlands is the one that's nominated which is the third book but the Empress of salt and Fortune was the first one that was published and when the teller came down the mountain I think I think that's the order right um so yeah they're all technically standalones but I have them and I want to so that's what I'm gonna do then we have Amir mended by Alex e Harrow this is the second book in her like fairy tale Novella Twisted fairy tales series the first one was nominated last year so I read that one and this is again the second in that series but the first one was about a girl with a chronic illness who finds out that she is sort of like a Sleeping Beauty variant for like a better term the second book uh it's just the continuation of that where you find out that there are not only Sleeping Beauty variants but like villain variants so like evil queen for example and so like that kind of story continuation so this is like a combination of again sort of dark dark fairy tale Twisted fairy tale modern day with parallel Worlds the Multiverse kind of stuff that's so popular right now I don't think this will be my favorite of all of them I will talk about how I think all of these are gonna rank for me at the end um but okay I've heard people like this one more than the first one I'm pretty sure so we'll see next is ogres by Adrian chakowski this is one that I'm like what I had didn't hear anything about it I loved so for context last year Adrian jackowski's um Elder race was the one that I wanted to win for Novella last year I loved it between that and prayer for the crown or uh song for the wild which is what I actually won but I loved Elder race this is I don't know if the synopsis is very unclear it's a world of ogres and ogres are in charge and ogres are a thing and ogres are landlords and ogres like literally that is the synopsis go and look at it so I don't really know what this is about um what I really liked about Elder race last year was that it was this combination of sci-fi and fantasy and like it was very cool this might be a similar thing I don't really know what he does with these kind of novellas um but this is definitely not one that I would like ever have picked up if it weren't for this but I get I was I didn't know about the one last year that I ended up like loving so who knows I could be really surprised um but I have no idea what I'm gonna get into with this and we have what moves the dead by T Kingfisher this is one that was already on my TBR so I'm excited to get to this this is a horror Novella uh basically a retelling of The Fall of the House of uh Usher Usher or whatever um and it has I mean as you can sort of telling the cover uh friends go to see another friend who's apparently like Fallen ill and their house is surrounded by like fungi infested wildlife and just like creepy creepy uh and can't wait so they're sort of having to unravel like what is going on here I think this will be lovely and then we have where the drown girls go by seanan McGuire which is one of the many I think but what book eight I don't even know the list um in this Novella series of the wayward children series which is all about children that go through portals and then return uh and every other book either follows a kid's sort of origin story um or like what's going on sort of like present day um sometimes they go into their own like worlds and stuff but typically it's like all of them sort of together so this is the one of them all together books but does primarily follow Cora who's someone we've met in previous books um a lot of has happened to her and she is wanting to transfer schools to the other school that sort of handles this portal fantasy problem that is more stripped and basically wants you to forget so that is where she's trying to go and then figures out like oopsie maybe I should have done this so the poor girl is probably gonna get traumatized even more uh but I actually just started this one um and I'm very curious how I feel about this because it's not including some of the well at least I don't think some of the characters that we already sort of know because she is going to this different location so while it is in line with the like we're gonna see some of the repeating characters it might not so much because she's taking a little bit of a deviation but we will see how I feel about this one I typically really love the way we're children's books so I'm thinking based on just not knowing a lot about a number of these my contenders what I think will end up being my favorite I'm not sure about where the Drone girls go um I think that's gonna be I don't know because it is sort of that deviation but I do really like the way we're children series but I am a little bit like and I'll talk about this at the end um some authors are so popular in the Hugo landscape but I'm like guys pick another author to love so there's a little bit of that with Shannon who's nominated for something like literally every year even though I knew the end sounds very intriguing um we love a Sapphic tale like that and it isn't Chicago where I live uh so that could be really fun but I think the one that's gonna end up being my favorite is what moves the Dead we have nature corrupting things I've heard great things about t Kingfisher I think this is going to be solid for me now we have the novels of which I've read four of the six already so I kind of have an idea a little bit more than I did maybe last year about where things will land however I find the novel selection to be incredibly mid I will talk about that at the end um I liked a number of these books but none of them that I've read thus far do I think are really like award-winning quality so I'm a little bit like uh yes a thing can be enjoyable but like there's probably so many other books out there that I would have thought that the like heavy sci-fi fantasy readership would have known about to nominate that they didn't like maybe it was just bad selection this year I don't know like and again none of these are horrible but just I'm like a little surprised to see these on the list and other things left off the list so first is the daughter of Dr Moreau by silver Romano Garcia this is a retelling of the island of Dr Moreau story uh but this is following the daughter of Dr Moreau in this tale um taking place in Mexico like um near like the Yucatan in the Yucatan Peninsula um and this was fine uh what I really like about silver and meta Garcia what I've read of her so far is like I really like her themes and what she explores but sometimes the execution does not like quite live up to my expectations a little bit like I want like slightly more but I also haven't read some of her like most popular books either I've read well I've read Mexican Gothic and I've read this so of the two and not the things we should be comparing but of the two I prefer Mexican Gothic so this one being on there like I found this be much slower I found the fantasy elements of it to be like like didn't really care that much so while it's exciting that Sylvia Moreno Garcia is I think I've heard that like the first latinx author to ever be nominated for Hugo it's sort of one of those like for this one you know like it's one of those like is this almost like a nod in a you're you've had so many things and it hasn't made the list and like here you go here's your here's a chance with this thing that isn't even the best thing I don't know but like yeah this is just like a solid three star for me then we have the Kaiju preservation Society by John scalzi this I read earlier this year already and again enjoyed it this is following a guy who takes a job with the Kaiju preservation society which is essentially a group of people that go to an alternate dimension of Earth and there are Kaiju so like Godzilla E-Type creatures and they have to like preserve them take care of them uh make sure they don't break through and cause destruction in our Earth essentially short little thing nothing of like I don't know it was fun I still do think about it um in the way that it was fun like not a ton of substance let's say like I feel like award-winning stuff in my opinion should be some doing something sort of new with the genre um thematically should be really interesting like has some a little more just judge to it right like a little more um and this was just fine like I gave this like a 3.75 to four stars like enjoyable but and this is already won some other Awards too which I was like are the Pickens just slim this year I don't know uh but just fine then we have Legends and lot Days by Travis baldry a fan favorite across the board right um but another one that I'm just like like I don't know before any of you get all of an arms in the comments it's not that I don't think cozy fantasy is something that could win Awards like they're I'm gonna get to another one that's kind of deemed cozy fantasy that's on this list as well it's just that this was just like again not not anything major like was cute fluffy your base you're building a coffee house you know so if you're not familiar with them which I'm sure you are this is a story of a um adventurer who uh Liv who is an ogre loves coffee and when she's done doing her adventuring she wants to make a coffee shop and she does in this town and she has like a little sort of found family found co-workers depending on how you want to label it a little group who helped her do that and it's super cute and the stakes are super low and yeah but it's a lot of just like building and decorating and Aesthetics and whatever in a way that I'm like okay maybe it's sort of a nod to Travis baldry being one of the people that really jumped off the genre this year but it's cute I give it four stars I don't dislike it I just want something a little bit more a little more meat to my award-winning books you know so I wouldn't be shocked with this one this was like so wildly popular um but it is still a bit like anyway it's a popular vote so we'll see then we have no to the ninth by Tams and mirror this is a series that does have the oomph does have the the judge does have the extra meat I think however this installment I'm like of the three this is the installment you nominate um one I think nominating a book you know that's like third in a series in Milwaukee anyway but two I think Gideon and Harrow the first two books in the series were way better than this even for someone that's been reading the series this felt like like I get it it's very hella complicated this is uh lesbian necromancers in space it's very complicated people have whole charts for it like it's a lot it's it's a a mind grinder um again I do think quality wise yeah Hugo award winning for sure and the series itself is nominated for um the Hugo as well which I will maybe mention just the series Noms even though I'm not going to read all of those uh and opinions about that at the end too uh but this is one of those where I'm like sure however this one was just like I'm not gonna even they're all confusing this one was just felt like such a segue intentional but I think Harrow and Gideon had more of that like meat and maybe people are taking a while to get into the series and this is the first year people are really recognizing it I don't know as far as like the Hugo votership um but this felt like you didn't nominate Harrow you nominated this what um so yeah this this one was fine to me this was a three star I think the final book and that one is kind of like I hope you nominate that one if that one like knocks out of the park because this one I feel like is probably going to be the weakest installment personally the last two are books that I haven't read yet one that I wanted to anyway so yay and that is nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher T Kingfisher really in both categories this year that's very fun and amazing uh but this is a essentially Gothic fairy tale but cozy uh where a main character is trying to help her sister get away from the clutches of like an abusive partner abusive Prince has to uh complete a Quest from like a grave witch um there are a bunch of people whose paths she like crosses including a possessed chicken which I think is very funny um and it sounds great so at this point really pulling for the T Kingfisher me to love it but this is a book that I had planned on reading anyway and now I like have to ASAP for the hugos which voting happens in like October I don't I can't vote because I'm not a attending member this easier um but I'm still gonna like read it as if I am vote and lastly is the spare Man by Mary Robinette kowal uh this is a like historical fictiony like she sets her book sort of in like the 50s 60s ish and uh this is following a woman I think who is a detective but maybe not uh who's going on her honeymoon with her husband going between like the moon and Mars I believe and he is suspected like someone dies and he's suspected of being the Killer and so she has to solve the murder mystery so that like she can basically get him back does a little bit of this like funny um retroy sci-fi like very popular in the space but this is one that I like didn't hear anything about um apparently people who have read it have really mixed opinions so let me do my sort of predictions for the novels and then talk about this a little bit this list I think Kaiju and Legend and lattes both have pretty good odds and again they were books that I enjoyed but I just don't feel like necessarily are award-winning I'm really hoping for a nettle and Bone situation even though I haven't read it yet I've heard like nothing but amazing things and that sounds like something a little bit more intriguing so kind of kind of voting for a tea Kingfisher sweep a little bit um we will see again none of those I've read just based on what people have said so once I do read all these I will be doing a video coming back and saying like here's my lineup here's what all the uh my ratings are for everything I'll do like I think probably a vlog about it um and here's what I hope wins and all that as a final this is just prediction stuff but yeah that's what I'm thinking right now not having read everything yet now I mentioned this a little bit uh earlier too I think this list again is just mid um I think some of these books were fine but not award-winning quality in my opinion like was a little bit surprised by that and I've noticed Now by following the Hugo's a little bit the last couple of years that Hugo voters have like fan favorites of certain authors that they nominate all the time which I find to be like a little irritating so Mary Urban at koala is like a fan favorite she's very brilliant she it works with like actual NASA like yes cool however it's like really there wasn't anyone else uh that you could nominate Sean McGuire gets talked about like every single time like always has a nominee granted she puts out a book like basically every year but like is always on the list uh another person who um is on the y a list which I'm not reading the YA books um but Charlie Jane Anders is only ever shows up in Hugo spaces from what I've seen of talking about their books like why like there's just certain fan favorites and so it's starting to get like a little Bland for me wanting to maybe Branch out into other spaces for awards and stuff I have heard that um the ignite Awards which is just like a three-year-old Awards right now has a little bit more variety um I also might look more the nebulas a little bit there's usually some Hugo nebula crossover a little bit but the nebula seemed to be a little bit different as well um I'm a little more intrigued about like awards that might have a bit of a combined way of voting like either a popular vote no no I think I think my idea would be judges nominate a short list and then the popular vote for the short list kind of thing or judges all the way but like I sort of want a like judge quality to this um and for the award to have like a standard um and some awards don't even say like what they're rewarding some do say like excellence in science fiction fantasy you know groundbreaking whatever like so I sort of might be looking a little bit more in the future at awards that have more of that of like we have sort of a marker of what we're nominating a little bit doing something different with a genre like that's what I think out of an award so I might be paying more attention to the ignites um possibly the uh nebulas I have looked at like the British science fiction fantasy Awards the bsfas um and the uh World science fiction fantasy um I don't know like I've looked at basically what I did is I looked at a bunch of awards and sort of looked at their previous list to kind of see like hey are these things that I do think are up there in award quality are they things I've even heard of whatever and trying to kind of see like which Awards might align best with me but also let me know down below if any of you follow certain Awards and you think certain ones like really back out of the park all the time would love to know but yeah even with series um there's some like sort of fan favorites that pop up children of time by Adrian chakowski I want to read that it also looks like Adrian chakowski gets nominated for Stuff a lot so seems to be a little bit of a fan favorite um but I have not read this series but I've heard great things the founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett I would love if that one I thought that did some really cool stuff uh with the blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy that it was like it almost used sci-fi elements as magic which I thought was very cool the lock tomb series by Tams and mirror again as a whole series love that idea of that winning that is doing some really groundbreaking stuff I love that the October day series by Sean McGuire again they love their Sean McGuire why that is just like a urban fantasy series that's probably really great however like really I don't know rivers of London by Ben aranovic another urban fantasy series that I don't mean people talk about anymore and it's just another like Urban fantasies urban fantasy again there can be some groundbreaking within the genre this is I read urban fantasy I love it but because I read it and know it I'm kind of like what is that doing so different uh it just feels like again fan favority and then the scholar Man series by Naomi novik which I do really love there's some controversy around that because knowing novik that series keeps getting nominated for the y a award here uh and the hugos which again I'm not even really going to talk about besides this and it's an adult series and she keeps not turning down the nomination and people are really annoyed at the second book one last year um so I think that's making people a little sour towards this series but I think if you take that out of the equation which is hard to do but um I do really like that series however I think lock tomb or um Founders series are the two that should win because you're doing something extra cool and maybe children of time because I also haven't read that but I've heard good things so yeah that is my TV and right now those are my potential predictions comment down below let me know your thoughts on the Hugo Awards and just this year's list just being or maybe you love this year's list and that's fine too uh and if you plan on reading some of these things and what you think is going to win let me know all your thoughts Hugo related down below so thank you all for watching and I'll see you guys soon byehey guys it's Sam and today I'm going to talk about this year's Hugo Award nominees as well as my TBR for reading them if you're on familiar with the hugos they are one of the more popular and I would say prestigious and I say that with air quotes because who really decides that Science Fiction and Fantasy awards that are held yearly and they are held at Worldcom which is one of the big Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions every year this year it is in China last year it was in Chicago so I went and I'm hoping to go next year when it's in Glasgow but the whole thing here and why I started doing this little project was because if you attend or if you attended a previous year then you could like nominate but if you attend you get to vote in the Hugo so the hugos is sort of a popular it is a popular vote based on who attends the Hugo's has the privilege to attend the hugos but also if you are attending the Hugo's you probably have more of a understanding and stake in science fiction fantasy to an extent and so you end up getting this list of like popular sci-fi fantasy picks for the year but I I do want to talk about the Hugo list this year uh in addition just in general in a more meta way because it's kind of mid in my opinion um and other awards that I might want to look at a little more in the future and possibly do a project like this for in the future because I really like reading the hugos because I felt like I was getting introduced to new things potentially or things maybe I was interested but what wasn't hurting to read or whatever this year I don't necessarily feel that way so I'm kind of thinking about expanding my uh following of different Awards but anyway that's different let's get into the Uno nominees and my thoughts on them and my predictions and my TBR of what I still have to read off of the list so we'll start with novellas and I have to read all the novellas by contrast I have to read like two of the novels which is wild because last year I had to read a ton of novels and this year I don't because I read most of what's on the list which I was shocked by so the first Novella nominated is even though I knew the End by CL Polk this is what I've been sitting around and it's a soffic love story set in a sort of like there's there's an Espionage element to it one of the characters is a magical detective they are in a Fantastical Chicago another one previously sold her soul to the devil and both of them still want to spend their lives together and so they're trying to sort of work out how to do that while taking down like a vampire potentially it sounds lovely honestly and I think this is one Awards already so hi Contender on the list but not something that was necessarily gonna read like right away but this will force me to which is again why I like things like the egos then we have into the riverlands by Nevo now I've read other Nevo things well just one the the like great guests we were telling that they did a while ago uh but this Novella series is something that people have been loving and what's interesting about this is you can enter the novella series at any point like any of the novellas this is the third one that's out but they're all sort of companiony I guess I have the first two so I am still planning on reading these in order of how they came out that's my preference anyway for most books but it's set in a Fantastical World reminiscent of Imperial China and follows primarily this Empress or sort of like Empress to be her handmaiden and her wanting to like break out of the confines of her arranged marriage in the political situation whatever with a ton of fantastic elements so again I've been hearing really good things about this in general I'm gonna read it in order so into the riverlands is the one that's nominated which is the third book but the Empress of salt and Fortune was the first one that was published and when the teller came down the mountain I think I think that's the order right um so yeah they're all technically standalones but I have them and I want to so that's what I'm gonna do then we have Amir mended by Alex e Harrow this is the second book in her like fairy tale Novella Twisted fairy tales series the first one was nominated last year so I read that one and this is again the second in that series but the first one was about a girl with a chronic illness who finds out that she is sort of like a Sleeping Beauty variant for like a better term the second book uh it's just the continuation of that where you find out that there are not only Sleeping Beauty variants but like villain variants so like evil queen for example and so like that kind of story continuation so this is like a combination of again sort of dark dark fairy tale Twisted fairy tale modern day with parallel Worlds the Multiverse kind of stuff that's so popular right now I don't think this will be my favorite of all of them I will talk about how I think all of these are gonna rank for me at the end um but okay I've heard people like this one more than the first one I'm pretty sure so we'll see next is ogres by Adrian chakowski this is one that I'm like what I had didn't hear anything about it I loved so for context last year Adrian jackowski's um Elder race was the one that I wanted to win for Novella last year I loved it between that and prayer for the crown or uh song for the wild which is what I actually won but I loved Elder race this is I don't know if the synopsis is very unclear it's a world of ogres and ogres are in charge and ogres are a thing and ogres are landlords and ogres like literally that is the synopsis go and look at it so I don't really know what this is about um what I really liked about Elder race last year was that it was this combination of sci-fi and fantasy and like it was very cool this might be a similar thing I don't really know what he does with these kind of novellas um but this is definitely not one that I would like ever have picked up if it weren't for this but I get I was I didn't know about the one last year that I ended up like loving so who knows I could be really surprised um but I have no idea what I'm gonna get into with this and we have what moves the dead by T Kingfisher this is one that was already on my TBR so I'm excited to get to this this is a horror Novella uh basically a retelling of The Fall of the House of uh Usher Usher or whatever um and it has I mean as you can sort of telling the cover uh friends go to see another friend who's apparently like Fallen ill and their house is surrounded by like fungi infested wildlife and just like creepy creepy uh and can't wait so they're sort of having to unravel like what is going on here I think this will be lovely and then we have where the drown girls go by seanan McGuire which is one of the many I think but what book eight I don't even know the list um in this Novella series of the wayward children series which is all about children that go through portals and then return uh and every other book either follows a kid's sort of origin story um or like what's going on sort of like present day um sometimes they go into their own like worlds and stuff but typically it's like all of them sort of together so this is the one of them all together books but does primarily follow Cora who's someone we've met in previous books um a lot of has happened to her and she is wanting to transfer schools to the other school that sort of handles this portal fantasy problem that is more stripped and basically wants you to forget so that is where she's trying to go and then figures out like oopsie maybe I should have done this so the poor girl is probably gonna get traumatized even more uh but I actually just started this one um and I'm very curious how I feel about this because it's not including some of the well at least I don't think some of the characters that we already sort of know because she is going to this different location so while it is in line with the like we're gonna see some of the repeating characters it might not so much because she's taking a little bit of a deviation but we will see how I feel about this one I typically really love the way we're children's books so I'm thinking based on just not knowing a lot about a number of these my contenders what I think will end up being my favorite I'm not sure about where the Drone girls go um I think that's gonna be I don't know because it is sort of that deviation but I do really like the way we're children series but I am a little bit like and I'll talk about this at the end um some authors are so popular in the Hugo landscape but I'm like guys pick another author to love so there's a little bit of that with Shannon who's nominated for something like literally every year even though I knew the end sounds very intriguing um we love a Sapphic tale like that and it isn't Chicago where I live uh so that could be really fun but I think the one that's gonna end up being my favorite is what moves the Dead we have nature corrupting things I've heard great things about t Kingfisher I think this is going to be solid for me now we have the novels of which I've read four of the six already so I kind of have an idea a little bit more than I did maybe last year about where things will land however I find the novel selection to be incredibly mid I will talk about that at the end um I liked a number of these books but none of them that I've read thus far do I think are really like award-winning quality so I'm a little bit like uh yes a thing can be enjoyable but like there's probably so many other books out there that I would have thought that the like heavy sci-fi fantasy readership would have known about to nominate that they didn't like maybe it was just bad selection this year I don't know like and again none of these are horrible but just I'm like a little surprised to see these on the list and other things left off the list so first is the daughter of Dr Moreau by silver Romano Garcia this is a retelling of the island of Dr Moreau story uh but this is following the daughter of Dr Moreau in this tale um taking place in Mexico like um near like the Yucatan in the Yucatan Peninsula um and this was fine uh what I really like about silver and meta Garcia what I've read of her so far is like I really like her themes and what she explores but sometimes the execution does not like quite live up to my expectations a little bit like I want like slightly more but I also haven't read some of her like most popular books either I've read well I've read Mexican Gothic and I've read this so of the two and not the things we should be comparing but of the two I prefer Mexican Gothic so this one being on there like I found this be much slower I found the fantasy elements of it to be like like didn't really care that much so while it's exciting that Sylvia Moreno Garcia is I think I've heard that like the first latinx author to ever be nominated for Hugo it's sort of one of those like for this one you know like it's one of those like is this almost like a nod in a you're you've had so many things and it hasn't made the list and like here you go here's your here's a chance with this thing that isn't even the best thing I don't know but like yeah this is just like a solid three star for me then we have the Kaiju preservation Society by John scalzi this I read earlier this year already and again enjoyed it this is following a guy who takes a job with the Kaiju preservation society which is essentially a group of people that go to an alternate dimension of Earth and there are Kaiju so like Godzilla E-Type creatures and they have to like preserve them take care of them uh make sure they don't break through and cause destruction in our Earth essentially short little thing nothing of like I don't know it was fun I still do think about it um in the way that it was fun like not a ton of substance let's say like I feel like award-winning stuff in my opinion should be some doing something sort of new with the genre um thematically should be really interesting like has some a little more just judge to it right like a little more um and this was just fine like I gave this like a 3.75 to four stars like enjoyable but and this is already won some other Awards too which I was like are the Pickens just slim this year I don't know uh but just fine then we have Legends and lot Days by Travis baldry a fan favorite across the board right um but another one that I'm just like like I don't know before any of you get all of an arms in the comments it's not that I don't think cozy fantasy is something that could win Awards like they're I'm gonna get to another one that's kind of deemed cozy fantasy that's on this list as well it's just that this was just like again not not anything major like was cute fluffy your base you're building a coffee house you know so if you're not familiar with them which I'm sure you are this is a story of a um adventurer who uh Liv who is an ogre loves coffee and when she's done doing her adventuring she wants to make a coffee shop and she does in this town and she has like a little sort of found family found co-workers depending on how you want to label it a little group who helped her do that and it's super cute and the stakes are super low and yeah but it's a lot of just like building and decorating and Aesthetics and whatever in a way that I'm like okay maybe it's sort of a nod to Travis baldry being one of the people that really jumped off the genre this year but it's cute I give it four stars I don't dislike it I just want something a little bit more a little more meat to my award-winning books you know so I wouldn't be shocked with this one this was like so wildly popular um but it is still a bit like anyway it's a popular vote so we'll see then we have no to the ninth by Tams and mirror this is a series that does have the oomph does have the the judge does have the extra meat I think however this installment I'm like of the three this is the installment you nominate um one I think nominating a book you know that's like third in a series in Milwaukee anyway but two I think Gideon and Harrow the first two books in the series were way better than this even for someone that's been reading the series this felt like like I get it it's very hella complicated this is uh lesbian necromancers in space it's very complicated people have whole charts for it like it's a lot it's it's a a mind grinder um again I do think quality wise yeah Hugo award winning for sure and the series itself is nominated for um the Hugo as well which I will maybe mention just the series Noms even though I'm not going to read all of those uh and opinions about that at the end too uh but this is one of those where I'm like sure however this one was just like I'm not gonna even they're all confusing this one was just felt like such a segue intentional but I think Harrow and Gideon had more of that like meat and maybe people are taking a while to get into the series and this is the first year people are really recognizing it I don't know as far as like the Hugo votership um but this felt like you didn't nominate Harrow you nominated this what um so yeah this this one was fine to me this was a three star I think the final book and that one is kind of like I hope you nominate that one if that one like knocks out of the park because this one I feel like is probably going to be the weakest installment personally the last two are books that I haven't read yet one that I wanted to anyway so yay and that is nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher T Kingfisher really in both categories this year that's very fun and amazing uh but this is a essentially Gothic fairy tale but cozy uh where a main character is trying to help her sister get away from the clutches of like an abusive partner abusive Prince has to uh complete a Quest from like a grave witch um there are a bunch of people whose paths she like crosses including a possessed chicken which I think is very funny um and it sounds great so at this point really pulling for the T Kingfisher me to love it but this is a book that I had planned on reading anyway and now I like have to ASAP for the hugos which voting happens in like October I don't I can't vote because I'm not a attending member this easier um but I'm still gonna like read it as if I am vote and lastly is the spare Man by Mary Robinette kowal uh this is a like historical fictiony like she sets her book sort of in like the 50s 60s ish and uh this is following a woman I think who is a detective but maybe not uh who's going on her honeymoon with her husband going between like the moon and Mars I believe and he is suspected like someone dies and he's suspected of being the Killer and so she has to solve the murder mystery so that like she can basically get him back does a little bit of this like funny um retroy sci-fi like very popular in the space but this is one that I like didn't hear anything about um apparently people who have read it have really mixed opinions so let me do my sort of predictions for the novels and then talk about this a little bit this list I think Kaiju and Legend and lattes both have pretty good odds and again they were books that I enjoyed but I just don't feel like necessarily are award-winning I'm really hoping for a nettle and Bone situation even though I haven't read it yet I've heard like nothing but amazing things and that sounds like something a little bit more intriguing so kind of kind of voting for a tea Kingfisher sweep a little bit um we will see again none of those I've read just based on what people have said so once I do read all these I will be doing a video coming back and saying like here's my lineup here's what all the uh my ratings are for everything I'll do like I think probably a vlog about it um and here's what I hope wins and all that as a final this is just prediction stuff but yeah that's what I'm thinking right now not having read everything yet now I mentioned this a little bit uh earlier too I think this list again is just mid um I think some of these books were fine but not award-winning quality in my opinion like was a little bit surprised by that and I've noticed Now by following the Hugo's a little bit the last couple of years that Hugo voters have like fan favorites of certain authors that they nominate all the time which I find to be like a little irritating so Mary Urban at koala is like a fan favorite she's very brilliant she it works with like actual NASA like yes cool however it's like really there wasn't anyone else uh that you could nominate Sean McGuire gets talked about like every single time like always has a nominee granted she puts out a book like basically every year but like is always on the list uh another person who um is on the y a list which I'm not reading the YA books um but Charlie Jane Anders is only ever shows up in Hugo spaces from what I've seen of talking about their books like why like there's just certain fan favorites and so it's starting to get like a little Bland for me wanting to maybe Branch out into other spaces for awards and stuff I have heard that um the ignite Awards which is just like a three-year-old Awards right now has a little bit more variety um I also might look more the nebulas a little bit there's usually some Hugo nebula crossover a little bit but the nebula seemed to be a little bit different as well um I'm a little more intrigued about like awards that might have a bit of a combined way of voting like either a popular vote no no I think I think my idea would be judges nominate a short list and then the popular vote for the short list kind of thing or judges all the way but like I sort of want a like judge quality to this um and for the award to have like a standard um and some awards don't even say like what they're rewarding some do say like excellence in science fiction fantasy you know groundbreaking whatever like so I sort of might be looking a little bit more in the future at awards that have more of that of like we have sort of a marker of what we're nominating a little bit doing something different with a genre like that's what I think out of an award so I might be paying more attention to the ignites um possibly the uh nebulas I have looked at like the British science fiction fantasy Awards the bsfas um and the uh World science fiction fantasy um I don't know like I've looked at basically what I did is I looked at a bunch of awards and sort of looked at their previous list to kind of see like hey are these things that I do think are up there in award quality are they things I've even heard of whatever and trying to kind of see like which Awards might align best with me but also let me know down below if any of you follow certain Awards and you think certain ones like really back out of the park all the time would love to know but yeah even with series um there's some like sort of fan favorites that pop up children of time by Adrian chakowski I want to read that it also looks like Adrian chakowski gets nominated for Stuff a lot so seems to be a little bit of a fan favorite um but I have not read this series but I've heard great things the founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett I would love if that one I thought that did some really cool stuff uh with the blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy that it was like it almost used sci-fi elements as magic which I thought was very cool the lock tomb series by Tams and mirror again as a whole series love that idea of that winning that is doing some really groundbreaking stuff I love that the October day series by Sean McGuire again they love their Sean McGuire why that is just like a urban fantasy series that's probably really great however like really I don't know rivers of London by Ben aranovic another urban fantasy series that I don't mean people talk about anymore and it's just another like Urban fantasies urban fantasy again there can be some groundbreaking within the genre this is I read urban fantasy I love it but because I read it and know it I'm kind of like what is that doing so different uh it just feels like again fan favority and then the scholar Man series by Naomi novik which I do really love there's some controversy around that because knowing novik that series keeps getting nominated for the y a award here uh and the hugos which again I'm not even really going to talk about besides this and it's an adult series and she keeps not turning down the nomination and people are really annoyed at the second book one last year um so I think that's making people a little sour towards this series but I think if you take that out of the equation which is hard to do but um I do really like that series however I think lock tomb or um Founders series are the two that should win because you're doing something extra cool and maybe children of time because I also haven't read that but I've heard good things so yeah that is my TV and right now those are my potential predictions comment down below let me know your thoughts on the Hugo Awards and just this year's list just being or maybe you love this year's list and that's fine too uh and if you plan on reading some of these things and what you think is going to win let me know all your thoughts Hugo related down below so thank you all for watching and I'll see you guys soon bye\n"