Reading the 2025 Hugo Finalists

My Best Novel Vote Ordering

1. Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
2. Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
3. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
4. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
5. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
6. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradely

Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell deals with themes that most other Hugo winners I have read do not (or do little): dependence, pain, family, parenting, "otherness", self. It is a challenging read, yet has some good dark humor and a lot of action and adventure packed in.

The opening paragraphs set up the world of the novel splendidly and makes one eager to read more (quickly, in my case). From her very birth, in memory, of Shesheshen to her hibernation and immediate peril there is action and interest in her experiences -- I felt on "her side" right away and carried that relationship through the whole novel.

Then the introduction of Homily and slow unrolling of her life and relationship with Shesheshen made for an amazing story that was times silly and other times difficult to read and face. Homily's dependence on her family and Shesheshen's confusion over her feelings about Homily mixed so well even while keeping a pretty fast action pace with the Wulfyre's hunt for the wyrm.

The ending was satisfying and my only real knock on the story was in the penultimate Part Seven. Shesheshen's confusing (even in the state she was in) with her sister felt a little unbelievable and predictable as it was playing out. And to some degree I lost the path of the Baroness in this section -- she seemed to kind of fade away inexplicably (OK, so a bomb had something to do with it) and then reappear in a much less favorable position for herself. That is, after her encounter with Shesheshen I would've expected her to seek out Epigram and Homily instead of allowing Homily and Shesheshen to connect again.

Wiswell's dry, dark humor in places reminded me of Connie Willis and Martha Wells. And reading the acknowledgments at the end made it clear that Wiswell poured a lot of himself and his experiences in to the novel. That was surely no small task and I'm thankful he was able to make it work so well.

Service Model

Reading Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky was neither good nor bad. It was just something I did. I was excited going in to this one given some favorable reviews comparing the writing to John Scalzi and Martha Wells (for Murderbot). The first few chapters dealing with Charles's crime, the doctor's visit, and the investigation of the detective was silly and downright hilarious at parts. From there the novel felt repetitive and tedious as Uncharles traveled along with "the Wonk" and learned about the post-apocalyptic state of the world.

My mental image through most of the novel used characters straight out of Futurama. In my teens and twenties I was a huge fan of Futurama and a lot of the situations and scenarios Unchales and the Wonk encounter would have fit perfectly in to any season. From silly logical quips to obsessions with efficiency, the ridiculousness of bureaucracy, and the non-perfect functioning of systems that are meant to make human lives easier Service Model pokes fun at many of the same things that Futurama did. In this respect, Service Model was hindered by a much smaller "main cast" in Uncharles and the Wonk. Other characters came and went, but none stuck around or made much of impression (except perhaps the short-lived Inspector Birdbot and Doctor Namehere) as the giant cast of Futurama.

After that, the farm, library, wasteland, and courthouse were more serious, less silly, and not well enough developed to really get in to. The dark humor lost a lot of it's edge as things got more serious along the way and none of the other secondary characters stood out as much. I also could never quite place how I felt about Uncharles not being unable to recognize that the Wonk was human. This led to a lot of amusing little anecdotes and did build up nicely in the end, but it was clear enough to the reader very early on that the revelation felt somewhat hollow and uninteresting when it (finally) happened.

The Tainted Cup

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is just as massive as the leviathans it portrays, which are only a secondary aspect of the plot! The scope of the novel reminded me of the first time I read The Fifth Season and I suspect that the next book in Bennett's planned series will show up as a Hugo finalist next year as well (much like the Broken Earth series). One key difference that I like about The Tainted Cup is the the first person POV (as opposed to Broken Earth's third person POV). I assume this is more common for murder mysteries anyway (I don't read many), but it helped pull me deeply in to the mystery and share confusion and excitement with Din (who is an excellent storyteller).

The first few chapters were pretty heavy on the world-building and that paid off as the murders piled up and the plot thicken. The background of the leviathans and the forced deadline for Din and Ana's work was just as intriguing as the main storyline. I hope top read more in the series in the future.

Once the background was establish I settled in to Din's voice and perspective. The unveiling of his special abilities and his fears about his shortcomings is well paced to the events of the novel. His relationship with Strovi could have used more development and felt a bit "tacked on", but presumably (and hopefully?) that will built upon somehow in upcoming novels in the series (if not with Strovi specifically). Din's relationship with Miljin was much better addressed given it's important to the story and although it seems unlikely, I'd love to see more of Miljin in the future.

Ana's eccentricities are often silly and fun to read. Her Sherlockian attributes are clear even at the very end of the novel when Din gifts her a box of "moodies", making her happy as can be. Bennett does an excellent job providing the clues and pacing her revelations about each of the various murders. I recalled wondering at one moment about late in the novel what the title of has to do with anything only to have it revealed within a couple of pages. This felt random, but was actually well set up by the development of the plot and the big reveals in the final few chapters.

The Ministry of Time

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradely imagines a depressing future where time travel is possible and the furthest known future is only a few hundred years away and in dire straits. So much so that the perceived "villains" of the first half of the novel end up seeming to me like the most redeemable characters in the novel. It does not end well for them in the novel's present or future and mostly I just felt bad for them by the end of the book.

To Bradely's credit, the narrator is an excellent example of a unreliable narrator. I spent much of the novel not trusting her and not liking her. The last few chapters just made that dislike even more intense -- to the point that I didn't much care about her (or the main plot) at all. In a way, that's an impressive achievement. Unfortunately for me, it made reading the novel quite unenjoyable.

In the end, as the narrator continues to selfishly pursue her singular goal with no regard for the potentially devastating side effects, I mostly felt I had read a cautionary tale about the climate future of our planet. It felt real and depressing. I need something to anchor on in the novel and it just wasn't there. The expats were certainly likeable and fun to read at times, but ultimately they were only props to the inevitable storyline that never really piqued my interest.

Aside from the time travel aspect, I struggled to think of this even as speculative fiction. It felt more like a very slow burning spy thriller that just happened to include some time travel (i.e., most of the story could have remained roughly the same without anyone walking through a time door).

A Sorceress Comes to Call

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a character-driven story of deception and sorcery that builds slowly as all the pieces come together for an intense and violent finale. Most of the characters are well developed, there is lots of dark humor peppered throughout, and by the end I felt invested in the outcome.

Cordelia's difficult relationship with her mother is established quickly in the first few chapters, but feels like the least developed relationship overall -- Evangeline is terrible to Cordelia and seems to see only her as an extension of herself. That doesn't change much throughout the novel. Cordelia is extensively developed through her relationships with all the other characters while Evangeline seems to remain mostly static.

Hester and Lord Evermore's romantic subplot was, by comparison, deeply complex and well developed. I often found myself more interested in the development of that relationship than what was happening with Cordelia and Evangeline, possibly just because of the slow pacing of the novel overall.

The various secondary characters were fun to read. Alice and Cordelia's relationship felt so vital to Alice's development. And Willard delivered some absolutely hilarious lines in the last stretch of the novel.

Overall, I felt left just wanting to know more; about Evangeline primarily. But also about Falada, and Hester and Lord Evermore before Cordelia came into their lives. This novel read to me like a portion of a larger work and the slow development made it hard to just sink in to and read quacky.

Alien Clay

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky is exciting mix of broad, creative sci-fi, black humor, and political intrigue that perhaps feels a bit too close to current day politics. From the very beginning I am taken by Daghdev's plight and ridiculous ability to survive his arrival on Kiln and unfold the story of how he was sent there. The combination of a vast, highly imaginative sci-fi world and a fast-paced political action plot is something I am always drawn to. Tchaikovsky is an excellent in these regards.

Daghdev's constant foreshadowing and examination of the situation and environment on Kiln is engaging for it's mix of serious and silly elements. I found myself really wanting the first revolt to succeed even though it was pretty clear it would fail. Tchaikovsky's exploration of how and why movements against entrenched fascist regimes ultimately fail feels accurate (and frustrating!).

Tying this thesis to Kiln's very nature and the second revolt is expertly done and makes for an enjoyable, but also deep read. It was hard to put down in the final chapters and is one of the better novel endings I have read in a while for how well it wraps up all the loose ends and provides an tantalizing setup for the character's next steps (even without necessarily making it feel like a series is needed).