Worst novels and novellas that were given a Hugo or Nebula award and didn't deserve it in the least.

See Hugo & Nebula Awards history here:

http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=6

http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php...
1

by
4.57 avg rating — 4,158,858 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.03 avg rating — 64,503 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.89 avg rating — 361,830 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.86 avg rating — 88,333 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.87 avg rating — 117,168 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.27 avg rating — 295,696 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.10 avg rating — 217,860 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.87 avg rating — 254,000 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.60 avg rating — 7,301 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.95 avg rating — 33,074 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.72 avg rating — 80,095 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.14 avg rating — 179,636 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.99 avg rating — 118,762 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.37 avg rating — 3,259 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.05 avg rating — 35,399 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.10 avg rating — 987,768 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.96 avg rating — 40,770 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.12 avg rating — 183,069 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.80 avg rating — 13,866 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.54 avg rating — 6,224 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.75 avg rating — 22,699 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.84 avg rating — 11,022 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.77 avg rating — 18,909 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,467,763 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.24 avg rating — 4,561 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.18 avg rating — 98,146 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.71 avg rating — 25,764 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.59 avg rating — 234,037 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.06 avg rating — 58,814 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 17,636 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.94 avg rating — 17,287 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.10 avg rating — 44,119 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.66 avg rating — 6,425 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.26 avg rating — 149,210 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.59 avg rating — 48,638 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.73 avg rating — 16,594 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.06 avg rating — 47,359 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.92 avg rating — 325,939 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.90 avg rating — 12,558 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.86 avg rating — 27,314 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.69 avg rating — 5,862 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.57 avg rating — 2,135 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.99 avg rating — 118,287 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.67 avg rating — 2,761 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.11 avg rating — 270,146 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.19 avg rating — 27,047 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.04 avg rating — 44,265 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.01 avg rating — 1,370 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.80 avg rating — 298,051 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.62 avg rating — 6,238 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.13 avg rating — 66,337 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.72 avg rating — 11,542 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.33 avg rating — 165,250 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.08 avg rating — 485,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.48 avg rating — 1,658 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.68 avg rating — 3,680 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.74 avg rating — 4,512 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.15 avg rating — 565,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.89 avg rating — 28,298 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.27 avg rating — 27,040 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60 books · 78 voters · list created July 16th, 2009 by useFOSS (votes) .
4 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


useFOSS 1663 books
7 friends
Greyweather 2660 books
65 friends
John 855 books
53 friends
Pequeniosaltamontes 8762 books
41 friends
Randy 140 books
2 friends
Krzysztof 1727 books
80 friends
Xiro 757 books
16 friends
Bill 6641 books
391 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Eric (new)

Eric I actually agree with you about Man in the High Castle and Neuromancer - I really liked both of those. However, I thought Rendezvous with Rama was a boring, overrated novel with no suspense, character development, or even interesting ideas. It's also quite possibly the most anti-climactic novel I've ever read. Had Clarke's name not been attached to it, I question whether it even would have been noticed.

Or maybe it's truly great and I'm too "stupid" to realize why.


message 2: by Defaeco (new)

Defaeco Could be.
Man in the High Castle is a personal favorite for me and IMO his best book.
No mean to offending, good day



message 3: by Bryan (new)

Bryan I really think the Connie Willis novel Doomsday Book is one of the better winning novels - not only is it very fine SF, and very well-written, it's also very accessible to a wide audience.

Just my 2 cents worth, but Doomsday Book would be worth 6 stars on my shelf if Goodreads added an extra star.


message 4: by Peregrine (new)

Peregrine The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, and Doomsday Book are three of my favourite books.


message 5: by Jim (new)

Jim I've got to give this list a big thumbs down. Some of my all time favorite books are listed, it's missing my personal "worst Hugo winner" pick and some of the listed books are NOT Hugo winners.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads It's pretty easy to add books to lists. At the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."

What non-winners are on?


message 7: by Tetrachromat (new)

Tetrachromat agree with and second message 6.


message 8: by Mary JL (new)

Mary JL "The Dispossesed" by Le Guin is on the list twice---#18 and #32!


message 9: by Benjamin (new)

Benjamin Atkinson Whomever placed Hyperion and Rendezvous with Rama in any list for worst novels to win any award does not understand good writing. Hyperion is a flat-out masterpiece and Rendezvous with Rama is the best of the Big Smart Object novels(tie Peter Watts Blindsight). Occasionally, I read these list and my jaw drops. Whomever voted for Hyperion please tell me why you thought this novel did not deserve the Hugo. I would love to hear your argument. Please


message 10: by Will (new)

Will This list has to be a joke. An unfunny joke.


message 11: by Benjamin (new)

Benjamin Atkinson I know right. I sometimes disagree with awards voting and it is easy to tell that certain authors are the "darlings" of the award voting; two examples are Orson Scott Card and KSR. However, this list is outrageous. I cannot believe that people actually read some of these masterpieces.


message 12: by [deleted user] (new)

This is typical.
Put people to name the worst bands and they'll name mostly bands that wrote memorable songs but they're "cool" to hate.
Many people seem to have no idea what "worst" means.

This are probably books that received high praises but the reader didn't find them to his taste, so they hate that book because it "wasted their time".
Very childish.


message 13: by Greg (new)

Greg Sheppard What a pathetic list. Absurdly wrong as well.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads You could, of course, help make the list "more accurate" by adding your own votes. That's all any Listopia is - an opinion poll.


message 15: by Sam (new)

Sam Will wrote: "This list has to be a joke. An unfunny joke."

Shut up, Will. No one cares.


message 17: by Mitchell (last edited Jul 12, 2025 09:41PM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman of books on this list for which I have a posted review
2 - 5 stars
17 - 4 stars
10 - 3 stars
4 - 2 star
2 - 1 star


back to top



Related News

For devoted bookworms, the new year is an exciting time. Specifics on the year’s upcoming books start making the rounds, along with release...

Anyone can add books to this list.