The 2017 Hugo Award Finalists have been announced, and as usual I find myself both excited and conflicted. The Conflicted part is because there are so many excellent favorites in some categories that I find myself in the strange position of wishing there could be multiple winners because I know they all deserve the award, but of course it doesn’t work like that. Let me give an example of that; in the Best Series category they include The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, and The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. I have read every book in both series, they are all good and many of them are brilliant, but the series as a whole are truly marvelous examples of world building, creating entirely fleshed out universes. Picking between the two is difficult, although being an official Space Cadet (and I have the certificate to prove it) I am cheering on Miles just a tiny bit more often than Lawrence. But, of course, it isn’t that simple. Also in the finalist list for best series are The Expanse by James S.A. Corey, and the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch; I have read a single book in each of those (and am watching the TV series they made from The Expanse), and based on my limited sample set I have to believe they are also serious contenders for the prize. The Excited part of my reaction is obvious; I have the rest of the books in the latter series still to read, plus I have to believe The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone and The October Daye Books by Seanan McGuire may be every bit as good, since they also made the finalists list. And that’s just a single category; I can’t wait to discover how many other reading and viewing adventures await me tucked away in these lists!
