mission accomplished

[mamajoan]

I have accomplished my goal of reading all six Hugo-nominated novels! Yay! Now all I have to do is figure out in the next two days which one to vote for. Groan!

Non-spoilery summaries of my opinion on each:

Lois McMaster Bujold, Curse of Chalion -- Great world-building and plotting, interesting if sometimes two-dimensional characters, fairly satisfying ending.

Neil Gaiman, American Gods -- Interesting but not very original concept, good writing, nice ending twist, but ultimately just an okay story. I didn't care as much about the characters as I would have liked to.

Ken MacLeod, Cosmonaut Keep -- Decent concept, interesting world-building, only moderately interesting characters, lots of plot holes and poorly resolved/constructed plot-threads. (I wrote a more complete review, with spoilers, here.)

China Mieville, Perdido Street Station -- Fabulous writing, very intriguing plot, very horror-movie-esque. But with a very unsatisfying ending.

Connie Willis, Passage -- Extremely interesting concept, great writing and pacing, typical interesting/amusing/sympathetic Willis characters. But I'm deeply ambivalent about the ending.

Robert Charles Wilson, The Chronoliths -- Interesting concept, decent writing, poor pacing, and an ending that made me want to yell, "But wait, you didn't RESOLVE anything!!!"

I pretty much have it narrowed down to the Mieville, the Willis, or the Bujold. I may end up flipping a coin or something. It's a hard decision!!

I'd love to discuss any of these books. If I have time, maybe I'll do some spoilery posts later on, in case anyone reading this is interested in discussing.

Comments

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I can discuss The Curse of Chalion and American Gods with you, since I've read those.

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to work American Gods into my schedule (it's been sitting by my bed for a couple of weeks), but I'm up to speed on The Curse of Chalion. Major props for world building -- a fictional religion (two, actually *g*) that makes sense, stays consistent, is relevent to the inner and outer lives of the characters, and is neither so concrete as to remove all spirituality nor so abstract as to defy understanding.

[tiggrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey, that reminds me, I have a commission for you at WorldCon. If you should be able to find, in the dealers' room, an official B5 Ranger pin (not one of the cheap European knockoffs, but one of the ones with the B5 shield badge on the back) I will reimburse you for it any essentially any price (if it's over $100, call me first). devafall's got stolen (along with his jacket) a while back and I can't track one down for love or money. The sad thing is that his is probably either adorning the shoulder of the jerk who stole the jacket or in the jewelry tray at a second-hand store where they have no idea what they've got. grrrrrr

[drownedangel.livejournal.com]

I know I couldn't change your mind with an opinion, and I haven't read all of them, only American Gods, but I do love Neil Gaiman and I really think you should vote for that book.

Incidentally, I found you on a list of moxy fruvous fans. Yay for fruvous.

cheerses,
drownedangel