For the sixth straight year, I have read and reviewed the finalists for four print fiction categories in the Hugo Awards for the best of the year in science fiction and fantasy. It feels a little different this year, because I am a Hugo finalist (for Best Fan Writer), and my reviews suddenly feel a bit more visible. Now I’m here as a reviewer, and I’m going to keep reviewing, even if that means I criticize a book pretty strongly. But in the past, I’ve publicly explained the placement of No Award on my ballots, and I’ve decided to keep those thoughts to myself this year. I’m still ranking things and explaining my opinions, and you may be able to make educated guesses, but I do aspire to be kind in my reviewing, and what that means changes as the expected audience changes.

Enough preamble, let’s start talking about the actual list. Unlike in the past, I only have two tiers this year, as I found this year’s shortlist to be a fairly deep one. Not everything screamed “book of the year,” but every entry did something interesting and at least partially justified its popularity. As always, I’ll start at the bottom and work up. Links in the headers go to my full review of the novels in question.

Tier Two

Sixth Place: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

As I said in the opening, I at least partially understand the popularity of everything on the list, but I admit that this is one where I don’t quite understand the demographic spread of popularity. It is exceptional for the way it keeps the reader flipping pages, offering plot twists and turns and interpersonal drama aplenty to ratchet up the tension and keep it high. This is the longest book on the shortlist and it absolutely does not feel like it. That takes skill, and it’s the sort of thing that can generate viral popularity. But The Raven Scholar isn’t breaking new ground from a fantasy perspective, and the quality of the mystery and characterization isn’t particularly exceptional. The characters are fairly archetypical and remarkably immature, and the plot consistently demands a whole lot of not thinking about it too hard. A fun read? Yes. Something I would expect to be lauded as the best of the year by seasoned genre readers? No.

Fifth Place: A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

My Hugo ballots usually follow my personal ratings pretty closely, but this one is a major exception. On enjoyment, it would be three places (and one tier) higher on my ballot. But it’s a sequel to the novel that won the Hugo last year, and it doesn’t offer a whole lot that wasn’t already present in The Tainted Cup. I’ve placed sequels to Hugo-winners first on my ballot before, but only in situations where the sequel moved beyond its predecessor. It feels to me like everything A Drop of Corruption does well has already been rewarded, and while it’s still good, it’s not impressive enough to award twice.

Fourth Place: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

Once again, it’s very easy to see why people liked this one. The magic school setting is a popular one, and The Incandescent offers a clever inversion by telling the story from the perspective of a teacher and administrator. Never mind that Tesh is a good writer (and like Bennett, already a Hugo-winner) and was bound to deliver an entertaining tale. But even while it gestures at important themes, it’s a book that feels remarkably safe at every turn. The characters are all exactly what the reader expects them to be, the plot offers few surprises, and the social commentary feels accurate but never truly challenging. Once again, the result is a book that’s good but doesn’t challenge for the top of my ballot.

Third Place: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Like The Incandescent, The Everlasting is an entertaining book by a talented writer that delves into important themes but doesn’t explore them in a truly challenging way. I found The Everlasting a bit more consistent; Harrow’s prose is lovely, the historiography points are well-taken, and the story weaves various timelines together to make a cohesive and satisfying whole (or as cohesive as one might expect from a time travel story–incoherence comes with the territory). It also misses the opportunity to deliver a truly compelling villain, and it may lean on the time travel mechanics a bit more than they can bear. It’s good, but it didn’t wow me.

Second Place: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

This was far and away the hardest book to place on my ballot, delivering some of the best scenes of anything I read from this year’s shortlist but also slogging through extended stretches that failed to keep my attention. The inconsistency keeps it out of my top tier, but it shows more flashes of brilliance than anything I’ve ranked below it. Even if my overall enjoyment might’ve been lower, I respect the ambition, and I want to reward it. The family drama is outstanding, as is the exploration of the parasocial relationship between an author and her fans–especially a disabled author of color whose fans argue about exactly how she should be expected to behave but don’t hesitate to excoriate her when she fails to live up to those expectations. If the story-within-a-story elements were anywhere near the quality of the rest, this would be in my top tier. Instead, it heads the second group.

Tier One

First Place: Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky has been exploring similar themes for several years now, but unlike Robert Jackson Bennett, he hasn’t already won Best Novel for it. And unlike A Drop of Corruption, Shroud puts it together in a way that rises above many of his previous offerings. Tchaikovsky’s calling card is xenobiology, and Shroud explores a truly alien race in a fascinating way. He’s done that before, but the pacing is more consistent here, driven by a survival tale that ratchets up the tension early and keeps it there. The leftist social commentary is also a Tchaikovsky staple, but here it’s folded into the broader narrative in a way that delivers full impact while allowing the xenobiology elements to fully shine. This made my own nominating ballot, and it’s far and away my favorite of the shortlist. I hope to see it rewarded.