Two days ago, I finished Ilium, the final Hugo nominee, at least for me.
It also means it is time to cast my vote for novel of the year and, this
year, Retro Hugo. By lucky or happy coincidence, I received NOREASCON
4Progress Report 6 in the mail the next day. It has the Hugo and Retro Hugo
voting forms inside, though I will vote online.
The nominees are:
"Blind Lake" Robert Charles Wilson
"Singularity Sky" Charles Stross
"Ilium" Dan Simmons
"Humans" Robert J. Sawyer
"Paladin of Souls" Lois McMaster Bujold
This is tougher this year as none of these really stand out. It is like the
NBA draft this year, no Lebron James sure thing. Just several good books
that, IMO, don't measure up to previous year's groups. Nevertheless . . . I
think I'll go with "Blind Lake." It is Wilson's ("Darwinia", "The
Chronoliths") best book to date. He is getting better at creating
characters. He has never had trouble with imagining new things. He has
however, in past books, kind of petered out at the end, leaving you thinking
he didn't really have a way out. I was dissatisfied with the conclusions in
his pervious works. "Blind Lake" is different and I think the best of what
is just a good class of 2004.
I wrote earlier about "Singularity Sky"; not bad, just not Hugo. Stross HAS
made a name for himself in short fiction.
"Ilium", just finished, is a pretty good story. I said in an earlier post
to brush up on Homer and your Greek mythology. This one may win because of
its scope and Simmon's is such a damn fine writer ("Hyperion", etc.). I
thought there were a couple of places where the pacing could've been better
and the (hope I'm not spoiling) section with Caliban and Prospero (not the
McBride robots) could've been tighter or more clearly explained. I'm still
not sure what happened there or when and I read that section twice! Still,
this is my second choice.
Sawyer's "Hominids" won last year; deservedly so (IMO) in spite of his
grandiose, self-promoting website. I've read many, many of his works and
never been disappointed. "Humans" is the second in his Neanderthal Parallax
trilogy and is almost as good as the Hugo winner. I notice that book three,
"Hybrids", also eligible this year didn't make the nominee list. The
nominators probably made the right choice, as "Hybrids" was not as good. I
would recommend the trilogy however--overall very good stuff.
Lois McMaster Bujold can write. "Paladin of Souls" is the sequel to "The
Curse of Chalion", which is, IMO, a better book. "Curse" was a more
interesting story with more likeable character; the sequel is just a notch
below in both cases. I won't vote for "Paladin" because it is fantasy and I
have self-imposed bias toward fantasy works being included in the Hugo
process.
Overall, all five book are readable and entertaining, but as a group, this
is a down year. There is no "Ringworld"-class book.
Retro Hugos:
"More Than Human" Theodore Sturgeon
"Mission of Gravity" Hal Clement
"Childhood's End" Arthur C. Clarke
"Fahrenheit 451" Ray Bradbury
"The Caves of Steel" Isaac Asimov
This is much more difficult-three acknowledged classics by Asimov, Bradbury,
and Clarke. Maybe four as several on the list have lauded "Mission of
Gravity", which I have yet to read. I haven't read Sturgeon's book either.
However, for me, this is a no-brainer. "Childhood's End" is on my short
list of the best ever. It gripped me when I first read it as a teenager and
the grandeur and philosophical implications have given me cause to think
each of the numerous times I have re-read it.
I suspect "451" will win, and I have no problem if that happens.
George A
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