Book log July 2013 Part 2 - Hugo novellas
May. 31st, 2014 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julesjonesI read four of the novellas on the 2013 Hugo ballot. Two of them in particular I think are worth explicitly recommending: Aliette de Bodard''s "On a Red Station, Drifting", and Brandon Sanderson's "The Emperor's Soul".
43) Aliette de Bodard - On a Red Station, Drifting
Blurb: For generations Prosper Station has thrived under the guidance of its Honoured Ancestress: born of a human womb, the station’s artificial intelligence has offered guidance and protection to its human relatives.
But war has come to the Dai Viet Empire. Prosper’s brightest minds have been called away to defend the Emperor; and a flood of disorientated refugees strain the station’s resources. As deprivations cause the station’s ordinary life to unravel, uncovering old grudges and tearing apart the decimated family, Station Mistress Quyen and the Honoured Ancestress struggle to keep their relatives united and safe. What Quyen does not know is that the Honoured Ancestress herself is faltering, her mind eaten away by a disease that seems to have no cure; and that the future of the station itself might hang in the balance…
A consequences-of-war story set on a space station that's part of a large interstellar empire, one that's descended from an ancient Asian empire back here on Earth. Not an uncommon theme, but what makes this story different is that although it's inspired by a Chinese story, the empire's ancestor is Ancient Vietnam, and it's written by a Franco-Vietnamese.
de Bodard has built a world full of rich detail, and peopled it with strongly drawn characters, most of whom are coping with being the ones left tending the home front. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
More information on the author's own website: http://aliettedebodard.com/bibliography/novels/on-a-red-station-drifting/
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/on-a-red-station-drifting
Amazon UK
Amazon US
44) Jay Lake -- The Stars Do Not Lie
I finished it, but I found it hard going for personal reasons, and did not like it. Which is a shame, because I like Jay, and I've liked other work of his.
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-stars-do-not-lie
45) Nancy Kress - After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall
While I enjoyed this one and could see why it made the ballot, I find that a year on I don't remember much about it and don't feel any urge to re-read it, unlike the de Bodard and Sanderson novellas.
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/after-the-fall-before-the-fall-during-the-fall-a-novel
46) Brandon Sanderson -- The Emperor's Soul
Blurb: When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.
Shai is given an impossible task: to create—to Forge—a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days while trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood.
This was absolutely stunning, one of the best things I read all year. I've never read any of Sanderson's work before, but going from this I need to find some more. It's a beautifully constructed story which demonstrates the strength of novella length. The soulstamp magic system is fascinating, and Sanderson's exploration of the philosophical implications about identity makes for a complex story with a great deal of depth. It deservedly won the Hugo. If you like fantasy and you haven't read this yet, check out the excerpt posted at Tor.com: http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/10/the-emperors-soul-excerpt
More information with buy links for various formats in various countries at the author's website:
http://brandonsanderson.com/books/elantris/the-emperors-soul/
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-emperor-s-soul-1
Amazon UK
Amazon US
43) Aliette de Bodard - On a Red Station, Drifting
Blurb: For generations Prosper Station has thrived under the guidance of its Honoured Ancestress: born of a human womb, the station’s artificial intelligence has offered guidance and protection to its human relatives.
But war has come to the Dai Viet Empire. Prosper’s brightest minds have been called away to defend the Emperor; and a flood of disorientated refugees strain the station’s resources. As deprivations cause the station’s ordinary life to unravel, uncovering old grudges and tearing apart the decimated family, Station Mistress Quyen and the Honoured Ancestress struggle to keep their relatives united and safe. What Quyen does not know is that the Honoured Ancestress herself is faltering, her mind eaten away by a disease that seems to have no cure; and that the future of the station itself might hang in the balance…
A consequences-of-war story set on a space station that's part of a large interstellar empire, one that's descended from an ancient Asian empire back here on Earth. Not an uncommon theme, but what makes this story different is that although it's inspired by a Chinese story, the empire's ancestor is Ancient Vietnam, and it's written by a Franco-Vietnamese.
de Bodard has built a world full of rich detail, and peopled it with strongly drawn characters, most of whom are coping with being the ones left tending the home front. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
More information on the author's own website: http://aliettedebodard.com/bibliography/novels/on-a-red-station-drifting/
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/on-a-red-station-drifting
Amazon UK
Amazon US
44) Jay Lake -- The Stars Do Not Lie
I finished it, but I found it hard going for personal reasons, and did not like it. Which is a shame, because I like Jay, and I've liked other work of his.
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-stars-do-not-lie
45) Nancy Kress - After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall
While I enjoyed this one and could see why it made the ballot, I find that a year on I don't remember much about it and don't feel any urge to re-read it, unlike the de Bodard and Sanderson novellas.
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/after-the-fall-before-the-fall-during-the-fall-a-novel
46) Brandon Sanderson -- The Emperor's Soul
Blurb: When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.
Shai is given an impossible task: to create—to Forge—a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days while trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood.
This was absolutely stunning, one of the best things I read all year. I've never read any of Sanderson's work before, but going from this I need to find some more. It's a beautifully constructed story which demonstrates the strength of novella length. The soulstamp magic system is fascinating, and Sanderson's exploration of the philosophical implications about identity makes for a complex story with a great deal of depth. It deservedly won the Hugo. If you like fantasy and you haven't read this yet, check out the excerpt posted at Tor.com: http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/10/the-emperors-soul-excerpt
More information with buy links for various formats in various countries at the author's website:
http://brandonsanderson.com/books/elantris/the-emperors-soul/
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-emperor-s-soul-1
Amazon UK
Amazon US