Reacting to World Fantasy Award Winners

[@mint-pumpkins]

The subgenre I think you were trying to explain for jonathan strange and mr Norrell is “fantasy of manners” :) The Goblin Emperor is also a good example of it

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense

[@MrOpotamus]

That is such a perfect label

[@TheKris47]

The City & The City was my first China Mieville and I think it worked perfectly fine as an entry point for his work, since it’s a standalone and everything. It definitely still has the unsettling new weird vibe he’s known for but still approachable imo

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Thanks for letting me know! Might make this one my first one by him

[@Lekktu]

@@LiteratureScienceAlliance The tv series is also very good.

[@charoi9659]

The Sudden Appearance of Hope is faced paced, weird and beautiful ... like a thriller with magical realism. One of the first books that fell into my hands when I really started reading again. Your video really stacked up my TBR , thanks for that! ;D

[@devlyn873]

I loved this book.

[@charoi9659]

@@devlyn873 it was definitely special, and 6 years later I still think about it.

[@tammietriestoread]

i've had the winged histories by sofia samatar on my tbr for YEARS now because CL clark said it was one of their favourite books! a stranger in olondria is the first book in that world but i've been told they can both be read as standalones

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Ok so now I am 10 times more interested in stranger in olondria!

[@Bl0ndeKittenb00ks]

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is one you should definitely check out. Based on your description it isn't what you think it is going to be. It is the most historically accurate fantasy book I have ever read. The author did so much research and it is noticeable. The whole book manages to feel exactly how you expect rural England to be. The portrayal of magic is traditional and so realistic that at times it feels like you are reading an engaging historical account rather than a fiction book. I can't recommend it enough.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I might try it one day, but I am not sure if your description has made me more excited or nervous. Historical fantasy is not traditionally my favorite subgenre, but never say never and tastes always change!

[@Bl0ndeKittenb00ks]

@@LiteratureScienceAlliance it reads more like a Jane Austin novel than a typical historical fantasy book. There is a great emphasis on the characters and character development that I think you would really enjoy.

[@storyorc]

@@LiteratureScienceAlliance Just wanted to warn you it's definitely not a Holmes & Watson dynamic; Strange & Norrell are like cats that are one wrong move away from hissing at each other. The story gets pretty high magic as the book goes on too, it's just very soft magic and not many people can work it.

[@BemuzedBookworm]

JS & Mr N feels more Dickensian I would say. and it is more like a rivalry between two wizards with a very different view on magic (or studying): one believes only in its theoretical study and the other in practical use. There is also a dark fae storyline. I struggled for the most and then was hooked for the final 300 p. Do with that comment what you want

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

This makes me even more nervous but now I know just the friend to recommend it to

[@readingwithrebeccanicole]

I'm starting to pay more attention to awards and this video convinced me to add this one to the list of ones I watch!

[@random_reader11]

bone clocks is a good place to start with David Mitchell. it's probably his most fantastical book, even more so than Cloud Atlas. i wrote my undergrad thesis on that book so I've reread it more than any other book even though it's not even my favorite mitchell book. i find it fascinating that he seems to be one of those authors that are more popular among literary fiction readers than SFF readers (just like Ishiguro).

[@petiolereads]

I've read both The Golem and the Jinni and A Stranger in Olondria. I liked them both, but I can totally see why it won and also why it's a harder sell for general readers (and therefore less known now). It does bring up the question for me: is the goal of a literary award to find the things that will stand the test of time? Is the test of time a test of quality or of popularity or of popular quality?

[@MrRorosuri]

I LOVE the goblin emperor ❤❤

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

So many people say this and make me curious about trying it out!

[@rukbat3]

@@LiteratureScienceAlliance The Goblin Emperor kind of crept up on me! For most of the book, I was kind of thinking to myself, "Yeah, this is pretty good," but by the time I finished it and I was looking back on the whole experience, I realized I absolutely loved it!

[@GwenCooper-l1b]

I liked The City & The City. Very cool concept. I recommend giving it a try. Aleef the Unseen sounds very interesting, i might have to give it a try!

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I am hearing many good things about the city and the city so its for sure going on the never ending tbr!

[@SarahAsYouWish]

Ok, World Fantasy Award, I see you. I think you just made a compelling case for me to read all of the books nominated for this award each year. These nominees stand heads and shoulders above many of the other six-fi/fantasy awards.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Yea its a very interesting spread!

[@booksvsmovies]

Given that so many winners for the World Fantasy are much less popular that their fellow nominees I get the sense that voters are drawn to picking lesser known titles to win to elevate their presence.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Yea I get that sense too, although the last few years have felt pretty inline with mainstream popularity (atleast in my small circle of the internet)

[@novelideea]

I’ve Tried many of the books on the lists, but I can’t say that any of them have been favorites. (Several have been DNFs) But! I did write down some authors I haven’t tried, so I’ll see if I can get them from the library 🤗

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Yea I think a fair few of these would be misses for me but when it hits it picks some of my absolute favorites!

[@paulwilliams6913]

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is very rich with magic. A personal favorite for me-it inspired my dissertation topic :) The WFA is a bit odd to me. Some of my absolute favorite books (JS&MN; Little, Big; Shadow of the Torturer; Forgotten Beasts of Eld; Galveston; Declare; etc), but also has many winners that I think are kinda weak, at least as fantasy (eg. Antelope Wife), and has a reputation for favoring horror. It’s a peculiar award and one I always watch out for, but I have found the Crawford and Mythopoeic Awards tend to align closest with my tastes.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Yea its interesting how many horror/dark fantasy have made it to finalists, but that's also been aligning with how my tastes have shifted, which is why I have decided maybe I should start paying attention to it more!

[@paulwilliams6913]

A few more thoughts: Alif the Unseen is a really fun and wild novel. The City & The City was my first China Mieville and found it a good book. I’ve heard it’s really different from most of his books-less eldritch and creepy. I LOVE A Stranger in Olondria. I’m glad it won the WFA, which helped me discover Samatar, who I consider one of the best stylists in the genre! Her writing is gorgeous and lush! Bone Clocks was my first David Mitchell book. I found it kinda cynical about people and I actually think the fantasy plot is the weakest part of the novel. I was told it wasn’t the best entry into Mitchell, and when I read Cloud Atlas I caught some items that I think could have enhanced Bone Clocks for me. (Or maybe it actually worked just fine in reverse?) I will never understand how Jade City beat Crowley’s Ka. I’m ok with Changeling winning (though I like Ka a lot more), but we had a tie that year and one was Jade City? The WFA has, in the last handful of years, seemed to increasingly favor less known books/authors (eg. Trouble the Saints beating Piranesi and Only Good Indians; I’m curious if maybe ADJ is a writers writer?). Though last week The Reformatory won, and Jasmine Throne won in its year, and both have been quite popular. Go figure.

[@bookschocaholic]

Who fears death is one of my favourite standalones ever

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Have you read its prequel?? But this bodes well for me in terms of being my next Nnedi Okorafor

[@bookschocaholic]

@ I haven’t actually! But I need to get to it! I read Binti and liked it okay but I love the characters and female friendships in Who Fears Death

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Good to know since I also liked Binti ok

[@bookschocaholic]

@@LiteratureScienceAlliance I look forward to your thoughts if you get to it!

[@JohnSaxon-vw5vi]

I totally agree with you as in that I have no idea how this works at all and I have tried to understand it ❤❤prayers and blessings for you and your family love your Aussie family friend John ❤❤❤

[@sphinxinherhat]

Alif the Unseen was my favorite book the year it came out. The bookstore clerk thought it was going to be the most important fantasy publlshed that year, so of course I had to read it, I really enjoyed its nontraditional setting and the taste of Middle Eastern folklore that it gave me.

[@lisaswartz4633]

Great content. 🎉 I have added so many to my list. For awareness I am reading The Only Good Indians right now. Immersion reading per your suggestion ❤❤

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Hope you continue to enjoy it!!

[@marcjohnson5991]

The city and the city involves two overlapping cities where the populations are not allowed to interact It’s probably an easier entry point than the weirder tales e.g. Perdido Street Station (and loosely related series)

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Good to know, maybe this will be my first one I try by him

[@mattkean1128]

🌍Sounds like an interesting award to watch out for! I adored Stranger in Olondria this year. I like it to Strange the Dreamer mixed with Gene Wolfe. And I can't believe you haven't read Piranesi yet 🙈 I didn't love Cloud Atlas, but did really like his Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I'm reading Claire North's First 15 Lives of Harry August next month actually. Still haven't read Spear, but loved Griffith's Hild. Still need to read Strange & Norrell, and Golem and the Jinni I anticipate really enjoying.

[@Jillybeanzxo]

I second Ryan’s opinion, I preferred The Bone Clocks over Cloud Atlas too. I really hope you pick it up! & The audio is a great experience! I keep picking up and putting down the Jasmine Throne. I need to push myself through it because I keep hearing its praise. 🌍

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

This is good to know about the Bone Clocks, thanks for letting me know!

[@mariareadsssf]

I hope you will read "Piranesi" my favorite book of all times and the book thaf got me into Fantasy. I always return to "Piranesi" when I need to be comforted. I reread it at least 8 times. Also the narrator for the audiobook is absolutely brilliant.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I do think of Clark’s works this is more likely to be my first read by her!

[@ThatsSoPoe]

What an interesting mix of things I've heard about and things I've never heard about! So curious the many of the winners fall into the latter category. I really enjoyed Sofia Samatar's memoir, so I've been meaning to read A Stranger in Olondria. Not sure if it's your type of thing, but if you ever felt like buddy reading it, let me know.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I have heard C.L. Clark really likes it so its now higher on my radar, maybe next year!

[@MultiWar22]

I don't know how the voting for the winner of the World Fantasy award goes either, but Dan Simmons mentioned Dean Koontz, I think, being in the panel in the year his novel Song of Kali won and that he advocated for Dan Simmons's work, so the judges do have at least some say on the matter of what the winning novel is, I guess. Or did until 1986 or 87 when Song of Kali won. I haven't read ANY of the winners of this award, though, apparently, lol. Not from 2005 onwards, at least. But I'm interested in many of the books, both winners and shortlisted. Mainly The City and The City, because I'm curious about China Miéville, Piranesi and Jade City

[@lauras9071]

I heard of A Stranger in Olondria from Kalanadi at one point and had it on a list of things to read (and didn't). She is also the reason I read Goblin Emperor (and have become one of those Goblin Emperor fans). I am surprised Queen of the Conquered made it on here. I am one of the people that read the first book and not the second because I heard the second gets even darker and doesn't have a good ending. The first book was good, although dark and a complicated subject on its own. I also just read Saint Death's Daughter in September as an audiobook and I feel like the pacing of it kind of defies traditional story telling. It's weird and twisty and I had to be patient in the beginning because it felt like it was dragging (although I am less patient than you as far as pacing goes) but I loved Laney by the end way too much.

[@MrRorosuri]

The city beautiful is YA . It's so cool that it was stacked with adult books It was my favorite YA that year BTW

[@AccipiterF1]

I actually think the Latro books is Gene Wolfe's most approachable series. It's a mix of historical fiction mixed with Greek, and in the case of A Soldier of Sidon, Egyptian mythology told by a man who loses his memory every time he goes to sleep who uses a scroll as an external memory. Similarly, The City and the City is one of Mieville's most approachable books, though I think I would recommend for you Embassytown instead.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Ooo why do you think Embassytown would be a better fit for me??

[@buriedinbooks3847]

I think Saint Death’s Daughter is so underhyped. You should definitely try it. The sequel, Saint Death’s Herald, comes out early next year.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Maybe I will read it right before the sequel!

[@thiadesg]

One of my favourite books won the World Fantasy in 2003: Tooth & Claw by Jo Walton. It's pitched as Jane Austen with dragons. Trigger warning for cannibalism. It's great fun!

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Good to know!

[@anix670]

Amazing book, one of my favourites and a comfort read. Excellent.

[@kid5Media]

I couldn't get past about three chapters in the Clarke. Absolutely soporific.

[@anne-marie339]

I’ve only read one China Miéville - Perdido Street Station - and really enjoyed it. It was one of the densest book I have ever read and one of the few that I’ve needed to look up multiple words (which is rare for me!). I tried the first chapter of Un Lun Dun and hated it haha 🌏

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Is Un Lun Dan also by him?

[@ReinReads]

It’s a YA Fantasy of his. Definitely a different vibe than his other works I’ve read. An interesting & entertaining read for what it is.

[@natasagajic1061]

I just checked the whole list and for most of it I thought I wasn't particularly intrigued by it, until I saw they nominated The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss in 2018 and I adore that trilogy (The Athena Club) - female friendships and adventures let's gooooo 🥰 I am very sad the author hasn't published any other full length novel. The only other 2 books that I have read on this list are Piranesi, which I didn't particularly care about - emotionally detached writing, some plot similarities to Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Amber Spyglass, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, tho I liked better both The Northern Compass and The Subtle Knife. I was also quite pleasantly surprised to see Diana Wynne Jones on the list, albeit with a book I have never heard of. The only book from the list that I am currently interested in reading is The Midnight Bargain 🤔 But I would be quite curious to hear your thoughts on the cyberpunk fantasy one 👀

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Some people in the comments have me excited about Alif!

[@BemuzedBookworm]

I actually really liked The Chimes which I read for some reason (maybe a book prize). don't remember anything about it

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I am still pretty curious about it so might give it a shot one day

[@MrRorosuri]

The Cloud Atlas movie is such a cool watch

[@themusicsnob]

This is such an interesting breakdown. It is cool to see how some books have really flown under the radar after winning, while some that didn’t win have basically become recent favorites (the year with Mexican Gothic and The Only Good Indians is wild!). The City and The City is one that my dad has been encouraging me to read this year because he has said the ideas in it really relate to things like the apartheid in Israel.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Yea and people in the comments have really been hyping it up so I might need to get to it sooner rather than later

[@themusicsnob]

@ yeah! I need to finally get to it too

[@zan8152]

Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year is great - very coming of age small town horror in the vein of Stephen King. Probably like it more than most I've read in that subgenre, though it's not really my thing. But it's worth a shot if that sounds at all interesting. I didn't love love Stranger in Olondria, but it was close - its writing is *incredibly* good, very vivid realization of beautiful world. Mostly the plot is very.... there. Sorta similar feelings towards The Chimes - it's well written but goes a little too generic-ya-dystopia to really be that interesting? I wouldn't recommend against it though! (Definitely not over Fifth Season though, that's crazy XD) ... all this selection is pretty surprisingly good though, I like a lot of the lists here more than I often do for these awards, plus a lot of stuff I've genuinely not heard of. maybe I should look into this one more often!

[@esmayrosalyne]

Okay yeah so this has to be the first award that doesn't make me feel like a fake and ignorant reader 🤣Would be very curious to hear your thoughts on some of those surprising winners, they did indeed win from some very exciting and strong books!

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Yea its an award that makes me feel like a part of the community!

[@JashanaC]

goddang I really wish I loved more Nghi Vo... UGH

[@lissavanhouten6628]

Tigana was beautifully written, but I didn't like where the story went, particularly for the female protagonist. It felt like kind of a Stockholm Syndrome situation...maybe abusive.

[@pallor17]

I DNFed the Lies of LL. Couldn't get into it. Lol

[@MsWOCReader]

🗺

[@marieeuzen7324]

I loved Queen of the Conquered but the sentence at the top is very misleading! The second one has pacing issues but I think people are kept from reading it because they have been warned it is very very very dark. I read it and concurr it's the darkest thing I've read, and I think it's perfectly fine to stop with the first one (it is not really self-contained but you still have the answer for the whodunnit at the heart of it).

[@RodgersReads]

🗺🌍🌎🌏🗺

[@Octobig]

🌏🌏🌏

[@jenb3672]

🌎

[@dandelions_97]

🌍

[@chrisalluna6733]

🌎🌏🌍

[@ozsaur6655]

🗺🗺🗺

[@CityGirlWriter]

🗺️🗺️🗺️

[@sgaston3969]

🌐🌍🌎

[@Efi-Mnt]

🌍🌏🌎

[@marisagettas]

Alif the Unseen was so good and it brought us the beginning of G. Willow Wilson, aka the author of my favourite run of Ms. Marvel! Jonathon Strange will not be for you. Don’t do it. I did and it was a huge waste of my time. It basically reads like Dickens, with a smattering of magic and these two, white, horrible to each other characters. Certainly doesn’t earn its length. Edited to add: the writing in the second Kacen Callendar book really, really falls down according to a friend who loved the first book but had to DNF the second.

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

Too bad about Callender’s sequel, I wonder if they were rushing to push it out and didn’t give it the editing resources it deserved. Good to know about Alif!

[@marisagettas]

@@LiteratureScienceAlliance I also don’t think many people “got” the first book. It goes hard at pointing out some very real truths we need to see about ourselves (I’m speaking as a white person here) and our ‘liberal’ politics. Here we have a mixed race child getting some power and when she gets it, she uses it for revenge only, not to pull others up with her. The book makes the reader complicit throughout the story to the point where we feel this MC is in the right. Then the book rips that safety away. And you’re left facing your complicitness in the real world. Many people were slamming it, but I suspect they were slamming how it made them feel. I’ve always wanted to read it, but became less enthused when I heard about book 2.

[@marisagettas]

I can easily see a publisher give the sequel no help. My friend wondered if the publisher was happy to take a first or second draft to conclude a publishing deal both sides wanted out of??? I don’t know, and tbh, I totally forgot about all of this until you showed the book on screen. Edited to add: Ashley of @RealmofComics just finished The Reformatory and said “5 stars, the perfect book” in case you needed more encouragement to read The Reformatory ❤

[@faazde9924]

🌎

[@hannahandherstories]

🌍

[@YukiiReads]

🌎🌍🌏

[@MrRorosuri]

🌎

[@manolitita_gafotas]

🌍