glynhogen

Novel:

We all agree it's The Stone Sky, right? I mean, aside from the deliciousness of this particular three-peat, it's sticking the landing after putting a few more balls in the air. And this is a good year for a Should We Burn It Down Y/N? book to win. 

In the same sub-category is Raven Stratagem, which was my #1 Thing I Liked More Than Is Entirely Reasonable, and I will be curious to see the numbers a few months from now to see if Seven Surrenders and The Will To Battle cannibalized their support, because the ballots have been quite sequel friendly and, again, Should We Burn It Down Y/N? is geisting the zeit; but it's also not in series so maybe people are sick of it or waiting for book 4?

I enjoyed Provenance and Six Wakes, despite the fact that the mysteries were a bit weak and the pairings ended up feeling a tad perfunctory despite groundwork; so they both ended up feeling a bit light weight. (On a side note, I think I mostly isolated some things that bugged me in Provenance that are completely different from my newly-diagnosed things that bugged me in the Ancillary books, and figuring out why I like Ann Leckie but don't like her like her is one of my hobbies.)

I vaguely keep meaning to read Kim Stanley Robinson (I bounced off short fiction in high school) but now I'm on the fence because I think he was talking about overpopulation recently, so if he's eugenicsy it'll be an active pass and I haven't been inclined to spend the time to dig into it (because, well, I've been passively passing for a quarter of a century). I'm disinclined to pick up Scalzi, mostly because meh.

Novella:

I've read the Wells, Yang, and Pinsker, enjoyed them all quite a bit, and think I would rank them in that order. (Think because the endings of the first two were slightly off--in the case of Murderbot, it felt slightly more like an artifact of series setup than lack of groundwork for expectations/desires re: changes in ownership; with the Yang, emphasizing the familial conflict over the political conflict felt like a self-indulgence that wasn't called out--and I listened to the Pinsker but still haven't quite worked out if I process podcasts differently from things I've read.)

Novelette:

"Children of Thorns, Children of Water" was good; "Extracurricular Activities" was meh; "Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time" squicked me out but given venue and some chatter I gather I probably don't need to feel squicked out on behalf of anyone else.

Short story:

"Carnival Nine" was knife-twisty outside of the fantasy elements, but neither the carnival thing in general nor the worldbuilding in particular sucked me in. "Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand" was very good (though again, I am trying to work out podcast versus reading). "Fandom for Robots" was my #2 Thing I Liked More Than Is Entirely Reasonable (so I guess my happy place is partially inhabited by robots who are always up for hanging out with their friends, watching shows of dubious quality, and happy to help with space naziing or fanfic writing or whatever, it's all good. ETA: And since the properly-not-on-this-ballot Prey of Gods was #3, also add robots willing to cede memory and become mecha components if you suddenly find yourself in need of a mecha). "Sun, Moon, Dust" was sweet.

Series:

This is mostly interesting because Bujold is there again in the new category. (Despite liking the Chalion books--which oh, look, can almost vote, because I am old--I'm deeply ambivalent about her appearance because of the suck fairy in general.) I am reminded that the Raksura books have been on my list to go on the TBR pile.

Related work:

I assume this is going to Le Guin. Maybe Quinn on the outside? Banks, Ellison, and Butler all warrant books (I've heard good things about the first, nothing about the other two) and an essay collection feels like it would be in a lower weight class (though I've generally liked the ones I've read at Tor.com, despite the site having trained me to ignore its nonfiction). 

Long form dramatic:

Wonder Woman was much better than expected, and did some things it needed to do, but it was three movies compressed into one and the last one wasn't very good at all. Blade Runner 2049 was very pretty and quite impressively inverted the original's recognition of the humanity of replicants, and managed to not only be more sexist but also kind of gaslighty. Still haven't seen Grinding Nemo, in part because I gather there are multiple layers of problems on the disability front. (Cf. Blade Runner, where admittedly the press about Leto's performance was absolute trash, but I was ultimately kind of amused by the fact that the character was also just a douche cripping up.) Despite enjoying Thor, I am annoyed that the last few minutes of the movie failed to remember they were part of the same movie that answered Should We Burn It Down Y/N? with a Y. I'd love to see some genre love for Get Out (insert something uncomplimentary about Gary Oldman), but I'd be fine with The Last Jedi, too.

Short form dramatic:

I love that there's a Clipping faction. 

I am here. I don't know how much time I will spend here, but here I am.