Curated by JJ: Since last year’s Hugo Finalist review roundups seem to have been appreciated by, and useful to, Filers, I’ve done another round for this year. This is intended to provide Filers with a way of stimulating and clarifying their own personal responses to the finalist works, as an aid to Hugo voting. One possible methodology is to read or view a work, then read the reviews for it, to see if that provokes additional lines of thought or an altered perspective on a work. Another is to read or view all the works in the category, rank them, and then read the reviews and see whether the additional perspectives prompt a re-thinking of the ranking.
I’ve tried to select a good balance of positive and negative reviews, from a wide selection of reviewers, which were substantive and actually provided analysis of, and commentary on, the work, rather than merely summarizing the plot. The goal here is to provide a representative summary in a manageable, readable form for Filers, not a complete listing of every review done for every work. So if you posted a review but it’s not listed here, please do not feel slighted: for every 1 review I chose to include, I read 2 or 3 more which I did not include.
You are welcome to post a comment with a link to your review, or to a review by someone else which you think is especially incisive, but whether any links will be added (or not) to the main post will be at my discretion. Wine, lemon tarts, masseuses, and superfluous Commonwealth “R”s forwarded to my home address may or may not sway my judgment on that.*
Be Aware that many of these Reviews contain Spoilers!!! Don’t click on them if you don’t want to be Spoiled!
Each category begins with links to articles that review all the nominees collectively, and follows with links to reviews of individual works.
If you wish to read the works, but are not a Worldcon 75 member, you can find links to the full text, or excerpts, of some of these works in the Where to Find the 2017 Hugo Finalists For Free Online post. If you are a Worldcon 75 member, most of the works can be downloaded from the packet links on the Hugo voting page.
If you find any incorrect links, please mention it in a comment, and I’ll get it fixed.
Overall
Novel
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
- Mark Yon, SFF World
- Bridget McKinney, SF Bluestocking
- Ira, LadyBusiness
- Samantha Holloway, NY Journal of Books
- Marion Deeds and Katie Burton, Fantasy Literature
- Thomas M. Wagner, SF Reviews
A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers
- James Davis Nicoll Reviews
- Russ Allbery, The Eyrie
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Maggie Clark, Strange Horizons
- Steve J. Wright
- Niall Alexander, Tor.com
Death’s End, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu
- Mark Ciocco, Kaedrin Weblog (a detailed summary of all 3 books in the series)
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog
- David Rodriguez, Strakul
- Rob Weber, Val’s Random Comments
- Bart Borgmans, Schicksalgemeinschaft (Common Destiny)
- Steve J. Wright
- Niall Alexander, Tor.com
Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee
- James Davis Nicoll Reviews
- Eneasz M. Brodski, Death is Bad
- Stephenie Sheung, Speculative Herald
- Russ Allbery, The Eyrie
- Kevin Wei and Stuart Starosta, Fantasy Literature
- Bart Borgmans, Schicksalgemeinschaft (Common Destiny)
The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog (a detailed summary of both books in the series)
- James Davis Nicoll Reviews
- Eneasz M. Brodski, Death is Bad
- Andrea Johnson, Little Red Reviewer
- Kam Martinez, Occasionally Random Book Reviews
- Niall Alexander, Tor.com
- Tammy Sparks, Speculative Herald
Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog
- Cheryl Morgan, Cheryl’s Mewsings
- Matt Hilliard, Yet There Are Statues
- Mark Ciocco, Kaedrin Weblog
- D Franklin, Intellectus Speculativus
- Standback, Medium
Novella
- Rich Horton, Strange at Ecbatan: Novellas
- Peter J. Enyeart, Stormsewer: Novellas
- Marco Zennaro: Novellas
- Joe Sherry, nerds of a feather: Novellas
- Charon Dunn, The Blog: Novellas
The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle
- Bridget McKinney, SF Bluestocking
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Vajra Chandrasekera, Strange Horizons
- Jonathan Thornton, Fantasy Faction
- Tammy Sparks, Speculative Herald
- Marion Deeds, Fantasy Literature
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, by Kij Johnson
- Cheryl Morgan, Cheryl’s Mewsings
- Jesse Hudson, Speculiction
- Liz Bourke, Tor.com
- Duncan Lawie, Strange Horizons
- Steve J. Wright
- Ana Grilo, Kirkus Reviews
Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
- Aaron Pound, Dreaming About Other Worlds
- Cheryl Morgan, Cheryl’s Mewsings
- Skye Walker and Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
- Jonathan Thornton, Fantasy Faction
- Liz Bourke, Tor.com
- Alex Bledsoe, Tor.com
Penric and the Shaman, by Lois McMaster Bujold
- James Davis Nicoll Reviews
- Lis Carey, Lis Carey’s Library
- Marlene Harris, Reading Reality
- Stephenie Sheung, Bibliosanctum
- Kat Hooper, Fantasy Literature
- Steve J. Wright
A Taste of Honey, by Kai Ashante Wilson
- Catherine Grant, NY Journal of Books
- Liz Bourke, Tor.com
- Steve J. Wright
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Katie Burton, Fantasy Literature
- James Davis Nicoll Reviews
This Census-Taker, by China Miéville
- Jake Bible, NY Journal of Books
- Christina Scholz, Strange Horizons
- Thomas M. Wagner, SF Reviews
- Theresa DeLucci, Tor.com
- Marion Deeds and Ryan Skardal, Fantasy Literature
- Steve J. Wright
Novelette
- Rich Horton, Strange at Ecbatan: Novelettes
- Peter J. Enyeart, Stormsewer: Novelettes
- David Steffen, Diabolical Plots: Novelettes
- Charon Dunn, The Blog: Novelettes
- Andrew Hickey, Head of State: Novelettes
- Marco Zennaro: Novelettes
- Katharine Stubbs, Ventureadlaxre: Novelettes
- Tsana Dolichva, Tsana’s Reads: Novelettes
- Extra Penguin: Novelettes
- Joe Sherry, nerds of a feather: Novelettes
“Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex”, by Stix Hiscock
“The Art of Space Travel”, by Nina Allan
- Andreas Grumbach, Reißwolf
- Tadiana Jones, Fantasy Literature
- Steve J. Wright
- Ken Richards, GoodReads
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Brad, GoodReads
“The Jewel and Her Lapidary”, by Fran Wilde
- Aaron Pound, Dreaming About Other Worlds
- Steve J. Wright
- Aidan Moher, Tor.com
- Bridget McKinney, SF Bluestocking
- DJ, Speculative Herald
- Alasdair Stuart, The Man of Words
“The Tomato Thief”, by Ursula Vernon
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Steve J. Wright
- Carol Siewert, book reviews forevermore
- Imyril, x+1
- Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews
“Touring with the Alien”, by Carolyn Ives Gilman
- Tadiana Jones, Fantasy Literature
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Levana Taylor, Short Story Squee and Snark
- Steve J. Wright
- A.J., GoodReads
- Ronnie Catcus, GoodReads
“You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay”, by Alyssa Wong
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Melody Simpson, Hollywood the Write Way
- Standback, Short Story Squee and Snark
- Imyril, x+1
- Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews
- Steve J. Wright
Short Story
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog: Short Stories
- Katharine Stubbs, Ventureadlaxre: Short Stories
- Rich Horton, Strange at Ecbatan: Short Stories
- Tsana Dolichva, Tsana’s Reads: Short Stories
- David Steffen, Diabolical Plots: Short Stories
- Extra Penguin: Short Stories
- Peter J. Enyeart, Stormsewer: Short Stories
- Andrew Hickey, Head of State: Short Stories
- Marco Zennaro: Short Stories
- Joe Sherry, nerds of a feather: Short Stories
- Coffee Archives, reddit
“The City Born Great”, by N. K. Jemisin
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Standback, Short Story Squee and Snark
- Charles Payseur, nerds of a feather
- Jonathan, My Tsundoku
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Tadiana Jones, Fantasy Literature
“A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers”, by Alyssa Wong
- Charles Payseur, Quick Sip Reviews
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Melody Simpson, Hollywood the Write Way
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- SeiShonagon, reddit
- ambyr, GoodReads
“Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies”, by Brooke Bolander
- J. M. Melican, collected musings, scratchings, drafts, and writings
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Christina Vasilevski, Books and Tea
- Steve J. Wright
- J.C. Hoskins, Strangely Charmless
- Skye Walker, Fantasy Literature
“Seasons of Glass and Iron”, by Amal El-Mohtar
- Steve J. Wright
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
- Standback, Short Story Squee and Snark
- Jenn, GoodReads
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Brad, GoodReads
“That Game We Played During the War”, by Carrie Vaughn
- Tadiana Jones, Fantasy Literature
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Nandakishore Varma, GoodReads
- Nenia Campbell, GoodReads
- Steve J. Wright
- Greg Hullender, Rocket Stack Rank
“An Unimaginable Light”, by John C. Wright
- Steve J. Wright (no relation)
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog
- Brad, GoodReads
- Jenn, GoodReads
- A.J., GoodReads
Related Work
The Geek Feminist Revolution, by Kameron Hurley
- James Davis Nicoll Reviews
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Steve J. Wright
- Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
- Elan Samuel, The Warbler Books
- Angel Cruz, Women Write About Comics
The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher
- Lis Carey, Lis Carey’s Library
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Fiona Sturges, The Guardian
- Steve J. Wright
- Anthony Breznican, Entertainment Weekly
- Amanda Ward, Making Star Wars
Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg, by Robert Silverberg and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
- Steve J. Wright
- Russell Letson, Locus Online
- Charon Dunn, The Blog
- Paul di Filippo, Locus Online
- Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
- Andy Sawyer, The Future Fire Reviews
The Women of Harry Potter posts, by Sarah Gailey
Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016, by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Steve J. Wright
- Carrie S., Smart Bitches, Trashy Books
- Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
- Ted Gioia, The Dallas News
- Charles Dee Mitchell, GoodReads
The View From the Cheap Seats, by Neil Gaiman
- Bill Jones, AV Club
- Emily Nordling, Tor.com
- Jason Heller, NPR
- Steve J. Wright
- Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
Graphic Story
Black Panther, Volume 1: A Nation Under Our Feet, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, illustrated by Brian Stelfreeze
- Benjamin Bailey, Nerdist
- Christian Holub, Entertainment Weekly
- Isaac Butler, The Guardian
- Aaron Pound, Dreaming About Other Worlds
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Steve J. Wright
Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening, written by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda
- Tsana Dolichva, Tsana’s Reads
- Jeff Lake, IGN
- Etelka Lehoczky, NPR
- Toussaint Egan, Paste Magazine
- Britt, Pikes Peak Library District
- Michael Cheang, Star2
Ms. Marvel, Volume 5: Super Famous, written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa
- Steve J. Wright
- Tsana Dolichva, Tsana’s Reads
- Aaron Pound, Dreaming About Other Worlds
- bonnie, The Universe Disturbed
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
Paper Girls, Volume 1, written by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Cliff Chiang, colored by Matthew Wilson, lettered by Jared Fletcher
- Laura Hudson, Slate
- Monica Johnson, The Comics Journal
- Brian Raftery, WIRED
- Caitlin Rosberg, AV Club
- Hope Kim, The Daily Geekette
- Daryl Sztuka, The Mary Sue
Saga, Volume 6, illustrated by Fiona Staples, written by Brian K. Vaughan, lettered by Fonografiks
- Aaron Pound, Dreaming About Other Worlds
- Erica McGillivray, 6’7″ & Green
- Stuart Starosta, Fantasy Literature
- Hillary Brown, Paste Magazine
- Steve J. Wright
- Tsana Dolichva, Tsana’s Reads
The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man, written by Tom King, illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez Walta
- Bonnie McDaniel, Red Headed Femme
- Tsana Dolichva, Tsana’s Reads
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Meg Downey, Women Write About Comics
- Steve J. Wright
- Aaron Pound, Dreaming About Other Worlds
Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
Arrival, screenplay by Eric Heisserer based on a short story by Ted Chiang, directed by Denis Villeneuve
- Jaymee Goh, Strange Horizons
- Ana Grilo, Kirkus Reviews
- Andrew Hickey, Head of State
- Alex Acks, Sound and Nerdery
- Karin L Kross, Tor.com
- Imyril, x+1
Deadpool, screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick, directed by Tim Miller
- Alex Acks, Sound and Nerdery
- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
- Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
- Paul Asay, Plugged In
Ghostbusters, screenplay by Katie Dippold & Paul Feig, directed by Paul
- Kate Tanski, Women Write About Comics
- Alex Acks, Sound and Nerdery
- John Scalzi, Whatever
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
- Jonathan Pile, Empire Online
- Peter Debruge, Variety
Hidden Figures, screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, directed by Theodore Melfi
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog
- A.O. Scott, The New York Times
- Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter
- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- Tara Brady, Irish Times
- Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
Rogue One, screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, directed by Gareth Edwards
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog
- Aaron Pound, Dreaming About Other Worlds
- H.P., Every Day Should Be Tuesday
- Zachary A. Matzo, Fantasy Faction
- Stephen Williams, Swillblog
- Kat Overland, Women Write About Comics
Stranger Things, Season One, created by the Duffer Brothers
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog
- Mark Yon, SFF World
- Erik Kain, Forbes Magazine
- Lenika Cruz, The Atlantic
- Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
- Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)
Black Mirror: “San Junipero”, written by Charlie Brooker, directed by Owen Harris
- Zack Handlen, AV Club
- Laura Bradley, Vanity Fair
- Jackson McHenry, Vulture
- Todd VanDerWerff, Vox
- Alex Mullane, Digital Spy
- Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog
Doctor Who: “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Ed Bazalgette
- Cameron K. McEwan, Observer
- Teresa Jusino, The Mary Sue
- Scott Collura, IGN
- Hanh Nguyen, IndieWire
- Phil Sandifer, Eruditorum Press
- Simon Brew, Den of Geek
The Expanse: “Leviathan Wakes”, written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, directed by Terry McDonough
- Bridget McKinney, SF Bluestocking
- Chris Carabott, IGN
- Elena Zhang, Pop Matters
- Zach Handlen, AV Club
- Marion Deeds, Fantasy Literature
- Diane Selburg, Three If By Space
Game of Thrones: “Battle of the Bastards”, written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, directed by Miguel Sapochnik
- Brandon Nowalk, AV Club
- Laura Prudom, Variety
- David Crow, Den of Geek
- Spencer Kornhaber, Lenika Cruz, and Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
- Alan Sepinwall, UPROXX
- Laura Bogart, Salon
Game of Thrones: “The Door”, written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, directed by Jack Bender
- Myles McNutt, AV Club
- Matt Fowler, IGN
- Jen Chaney, Vulture
- Ron Hogan, Den of Geek
- ScreenCrush
- Emily Yoshida, The Verge
Splendor & Misery [album], by clipping. (Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes)
- Ruben Ferdinand, Medium
- Mehan Jayasuriya, Pitchfork
- Will Butler, Clash Music
- A. Noah Harrison, Pop Matters
- Mark Grondin, Spectrum Pulse
- Camestros Felapton, Timothy The Talking Cat’s Blog
* I’m just joking, Camestros. No quantity of superfluous “R”s would persuade me to post Timothy’s review of Rogue One. Or his review of Ghostbusters.
Some additional odds-and-ends:
Andrew Hickey, Head of State: Fan Writers
Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog: Chuck Tingle
Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag, Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog: Fan Artists
Joe Sherry, nerds of a feather: Fancasts
For some reason, there’s a line break problem after Tegan’s reviews. Mike will fix these when he’s back online; no need to report them.
Wow, great work JJ. I’m particularly impressed that you found more than one review for “Alien Stripper…” 🙂
(Is it going to be okay to be spoilerific in comments in this thread, or would people prefer rot13 here?)
Mark-kitteh: I’m particularly impressed that you found more than one review for “Alien Stripper…”
Yeah, I finally had to give up on that one. There were a lot of comments about it, but very few actual reviews. 😉
Mark-kitteh: Is it going to be okay to be spoilerific in comments in this thread, or would people prefer rot13 here?
I suppose we’d better use rot13 for anything really spoilery, since some people will have not read all the works yet, but may want to check out the comments for the things they have already read. Thanks for pointing that out.
Wow. I think I’m going to go with the rule that I’m not going to spend more time reading reviews than I did reading the actual story…
Ticky
Thumbs-up, JJ!
Handy stuff.
I’m doing nnovvellettess tomorrow or sunday.
Thanks for the “(no relation)”! And I must check out the other review of “Alien Stripper”….
Thanks for gathering all these up! Wow 😀
A self-serving correction: The SSS&S links are, alas, broken. They seem to be substituting a “%23” for a “#” symbol.
Thanks, JJ!
JJ, this is great! Thank you!
My review of Vellitt Boe.
My running thoughts on the Best Novel category are here.
Regards,
Dann
Thanks for all this work!
Did you have this in previous years? I don’t recall seeing one. It’s really useful. Please continue in future years!
I write a review on Goodreads of pretty much everything I read. Seeing two of those reviews linked here makes me think that it’s worth doing.
The rest of my reviews can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3941101-a-j?order=d&sort=date_read&view=reviews
Awesome compilation, thank you JJ!
I Googled up my own review of “San Junipero.” That episode has dozens of hits from mass-market sites, so it penetrated the public consciousness more than most. My spoilery review.
I can’t help but notice that Timothy is taking credit for reviews by Camestros – methinks he’s been bribing people as part of his alt-marketing strategies 🙂
Mark-kitteh: I can’t help but notice that Timothy is taking credit for reviews by Camestros – methinks he’s been bribing people as part of his alt-marketing strategies.
(wipes lemon tart crumbs from mouth, then takes a swig of wine)
I don’t know what you’re talking aboot, eh?
DB: Did you have this in previous years? I don’t recall seeing one. It’s really useful. Please continue in future years!
Yes, I did this last year, for the first time.
2016 Hugo Finalist Review Roundup
1941 Retro Hugo Finalist Review Roundup
I wasn’t originally planning to do it this year because of all the other stuff I’ve got going on, and it’s time- and energy-intensive (this project took about 26 hours total, a little more than last year’s two roundups together, because I decided to do double the categories this year). But I finally decided that I thought I felt up to it. Whether I will feel up to it in subsequent years is unknown. Of course, Mike always has the option to publish one that he or someone else creates.
I would like to salute Steve (no relation) Wright for reading everything (!) and posting all these reviews.
Now Timothy is a Noted Critic!
Thanks to JJ for all their hard work.
lurkertype: I would like to salute Steve (no relation) Wright for reading everything (!) and posting all these reviews.
Please note that there are a lot of people on this list who have also read all or most of the Finalist works and posted reviews of them; that I did not include all of their reviews was out of a desire to get a good mix of reviewers.
The vast majority of the reviews I looked at were 1-paragraph synopses, followed by “I loved it!” or “I hated it!” — which I don’t think are helpful, but a lot of review sites and blogs follow that format.
I also left off the list a lot of lengthier reviews which were what I call “hagioreviews” — massively gushing reviews which talked about everything the reviewer liked, but which didn’t really critically engage with the work (Tor.com, and a couple of other prominent review sites which will be notable by their absence from my list, tend to have a high proportion of those).
I also discarded any review containing “SJW”, “politically correct”, “virtue-signalling”, or similar terms, as not being credible (but I have to admit that some of them were pretty hilarious, although the authors no doubt meant them to be taken seriously).
For the two shortest story categories, I found maybe half to a dozen reviews that I felt were substantive. Making decisions in those categories wasn’t too hard.
But for the other six categories, I ended up with one to two dozen “keepers” which I had to cull down to 6 — a difficult undertaking. And I found that I was tending to want to keep a lot of Steve’s reviews, so I started looking for categories where I could replace his review with someone else’s.
And what I found was that his reviews were pretty consistently “here are the good aspects, here are the not-so-good aspects” balanced reviews, and that I was having a hard time finding reviews which I thought were as well-done (never mind better). So I ended up keeping a lot of them, anyway.
‘S good to be The King. 😉
Thanks for the time and effort on putting this together, JJ, much appreciated.
I’m most of the way through Shorts and novels, I read Steve (no relation!) Wright’s reviews, and am in fairly close agreement – though he’s too kind to JCWrong and I disagree on the Boolander short. But his reviews definitely seem to get to the essence of the story in a compact format.
I note that it was not possible to find a positive review of JCWrong.
Chris
Chris S.: I note that it was not possible to find a credible positive review of JCWrong.
There, FTFY. 😉
Standback: A self-serving correction: The SSS&S links are, alas, broken. They seem to be substituting a “%23” for a “#” symbol.
Thanks for pointing these out; they have now been fixed. 😀
Wow, thanks for including my little capsule review things. To whole lot of them can be found under the Hugos 2017 Reviews tag on my blog. I’ve also been trying to summarize my current rankings every Saturday in an update post: Update One, Update Two.
I’ve finished Raven Stratagem! Maybe we can get a post so we can discuss it in all its spoilerrific glory?
lurkertype, JJ – thanks for the kind words! I’ll try to keep my standards up.
::bowing to @JJ’s awesomeness::
::bowing to @Mike Glyer’s awesomeness::
Now to find the time to read some of this! 😉 ::bookmarking for soonish::
Great work, JJ. Thanks for this.
I reviewed it, too, but in German and only for my Mom. Reading English language fiction is not easy her, so I’m doing reviews of all the fiction finalists to help her make her decision. I initially debated whether to include any info about the author, but it turns out that she hated the JCW story even without knowing who he is.
Most of my review of “Alien Stripper” was a) explaining that dinosaur and monster erotica is a thing and b) explaining just what the hell a story like that is doing on the Hugo shortlist.
Regarding Raven Strategem, I just started reading it and it struck me that Raven Strategem is basically an SF take on The Captain of Köpenick featuring Shuos Jedao.