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...
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17

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3.55 avg rating — 6,350 ratings
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3.75 avg rating — 22,907 ratings
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22

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3.85 avg rating — 11,165 ratings
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22

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3.77 avg rating — 19,026 ratings
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22

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25

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4.19 avg rating — 99,511 ratings
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3.71 avg rating — 25,938 ratings
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28

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3.59 avg rating — 237,712 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 60,228 ratings
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30

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4.01 avg rating — 18,199 ratings
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3.93 avg rating — 17,423 ratings
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4.10 avg rating — 44,605 ratings
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33

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3.66 avg rating — 6,460 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 153,864 ratings
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34

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3.59 avg rating — 48,979 ratings
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36

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3.73 avg rating — 16,734 ratings
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4.05 avg rating — 47,759 ratings
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38

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3.92 avg rating — 327,527 ratings
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3.90 avg rating — 12,692 ratings
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3.86 avg rating — 27,576 ratings
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42

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3.57 avg rating — 2,146 ratings
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3.99 avg rating — 120,041 ratings
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3.67 avg rating — 2,803 ratings
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4.11 avg rating — 272,447 ratings
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4.19 avg rating — 27,375 ratings
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47

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4.04 avg rating — 44,795 ratings
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47

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3.01 avg rating — 1,381 ratings
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49

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3.80 avg rating — 310,964 ratings
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50

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3.63 avg rating — 6,419 ratings
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51

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4.13 avg rating — 67,186 ratings
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51

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3.72 avg rating — 11,645 ratings
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4.33 avg rating — 169,512 ratings
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3.69 avg rating — 3,730 ratings
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4.15 avg rating — 567,540 ratings
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3.88 avg rating — 28,609 ratings
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60

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4.27 avg rating — 27,333 ratings
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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 870 books
53 friends
Pequeniosaltamontes 8902 books
34 friends
Randy 140 books
2 friends
Krzysztof 1754 books
80 friends
Xiro 756 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


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