Reviewing the 2022 Hugo Award Finalists: Best Novella
THE 2022 HUGO AWARD FINALISTS: NOVELLA
RATED 83% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE = 3.83 / 5
6 STORIES: 2 GREAT / 3 GOOD / 0 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
As is common these days, the winner of the Best Novella category is Tor.Com. By publishing novellas as stand-alone books, they are exposing this story-size to the novel-reading population instead of the short fiction community. As the novel-readers are a much bigger group, they throw their weight around during Hugo Award season. Often this results in the award ignoring the great novellas that are published in other markets such as Asimov’s Science Fiction.
While I feel there are at least two novellas worthy to replace the bottom two Hugo Awards Finalists on this list, (A Blessing of Unicorns by Elizabeth Bear and The Realms of Water by Robert Reed), I still enjoyed reading them and have two that I strongly recommend.
Best Novella
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
Great. There is a beautiful trope from Golden Age Science Fiction in which two characters illustrate the differences between human and alien thought through a series of conversations. This story is a modern take on that idea and does it exceptionally well. Our main character is a nonbinary monk who feels lost and leaves to become a Tea Monk, but finds that unfulfilling and starts exploring deeper into the Wild, painting an interesting picture of this world. Halfway through the tale, they will meet the other main character [which I won’t spoil] and there is a beautiful shift in the story’s tone. Chambers has created a warm and comfortable science fiction novella that does everything right.
The Past Is Red, by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
Great. The FuckWits destroyed civilization. The oceans rose. Humanity lives on a floating island of trash - GarbageTown. This is a raw, violent, profane, and deeply interesting story of a young woman’s life in and around GarbageTown. It is dense with the branded vulgarity of its setting, but never loses humanity. Also, it is brutally funny.
A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)
Good. A dying girl is obsessed with Sleeping Beauty. At her birthday party, she pricks her finger and travels to an alternate universe where she meets Sleeping Beauty. Together, they are off to find the witch and end this for good, but of course that isn’t the end. The adventure is just getting started. Feels fantasy, but is technically SF because of multi-verse and mathematics.
Elder Race, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
Good. A low-ranking princess travels to the outpost to recruit the ancient magician that helped her great grandmother. He knows that he is merely a scientist who was sent to observe the citizens of this planet, but not to interfere. She wants his help to slay a demon. He knows that demons aren’t real, but this is something very strange. Told in alternating chapters that show her “Fantasy” worldview and his “Science Fiction” worldview.
Across the Green Grass Fields, by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
Good. A pleasant bit of middle grade portal fantasy where a intersex girl walks through a doorway and ends up in the Hoofland — living with centaurs. The opening chunk of this story - which focuses on the petty issues of school-children - really drags this down. Should have been condensed into a couple paragraphs.
Fireheart Tiger, by Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
DNFed at 55%. Everything I dislike about Fantasy as a genre. Lots of superfluous world building delivered in info dumps. Intrigue that doesn’t intrigue. Romance between enemies. I am not the audience for this.
