For best novel:
- The Algebraist, Iain M. Banks (Orbit)
- Iron Council, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
- Iron Sunrise, Charles Stross (Ace)
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
- River of Gods, Ian McDonald (Simon & Schuster UK)
It's a mark of how far I've slipped that I haven't read any of them. Oh, I own one, and have plans to acquire at least another three, but I'm a long way from the good old days when I'd have read the majority and many of the short nominations as well.
Oh, and if you're wondering why there's so many Brits nominated for an award traditionally dominated by Merkins, it's because the con is being held in Glasgow.
We now return to your regularly scheduled politics...
Oh, you definitely should read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell...It's extremely good and a lot of fun also.
ReplyDeleteThat's the one I own - it's currently near the top of the queue, but I haven't been doing enough reading recently.
ReplyDeleteThe three I've read were well-written by authors who place each word with care. As in all good fantasty and SF they exploit the advantages of the genre by creating conventions and cultures and that are thought-provoking and interesting. But while they were good, they weren't what I'd praise as one of the best novels I'd read.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Strange & Norrell but the attempt to write it in a fake C19 style palled well before page 500.
The Algebraist was well crafted Iain Banks - very clever indeed - about time, timing, and what it is to be civilised. I found the post-civilisation much more convincing (less pleasant, and yet less sinister) than the Culture ever was.
Iron Council is about ideals, and heroes, and the need for them, and the impossible burden of embodying or being them. But still I think it's the weakest of China's three novels set in the world of Perdido St Station.
Icehawk