BooktubeSFF Awards discussion

Very cool!

Are you all going to let the authors and publishers know they're nominated? I'm sure at least some of them would be honored to know, and it'd bring a little industry attention to the Booktube community. :)

Nice to see a good balance between fantasy and science fiction on this list.

I've already spoken with Tor, who have 3 of the 5 novel nominees, and will be speaking to the others as well.

Thomas wrote: "I've already spoken with Tor, who have 3 of the 5 novel nominees, and will be speaking to the others as well."
I should have known you'd be on the case!

I'm pretty happy with that short list. Good mix of books. =)

Nice list. Happy to see some of my nominations make it! I've already read The Martian once and listened to it on audio once. Can't wait for the movie to come out!

Also really enjoyed Rat Queens, and I need to get into Saga. After seeing Fiona Staples work on the rebooted Archie comic, I'm even more determined to see more of her work.

I'm really happy with how the shortlist turned out as well. I've read all the graphic works and all the Best Novels except Words of Radiance. For the short works, I own The Slow Regard and The Strange Library, but haven't read the yet so it'll be a good push to get around to them.

The Best Novel nominations were really volatile in the last week of nominating with Lock In, Station Eleven, The Goblin Emperor, Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy, and Ancillary Sword all finishing very close together. Despite it screwing up our planning a little bit, I'm kind of happy about the tie as it allows us to read more of those books together and discuss.

Really nice list - I agree with the ones I've read being worthy of a place and I'm looking forward to reading the ones I haven't.

Thanks for organising this!

I love the list...it is so very helpful...

I find it a bit unfair that two volumes of the same title (SAGA) are in the shortlist especially on such a short one as this - the volume with the higher vote count should go in and the other thrown out to make room for something else (or combine votes?). And while Saga has been on my wishlist forever and it may deserve its over-hype, there are OTHER comics worthy of attention. You cannot just read Saga and clap your hands together and be done exploring other graphic works esp. for nominations. I realize this is an assumption/generalization on my part but I feel like Saga gets recommended as THE non-superhero comic suggestion but then they don't read anything else after. =/

Some other thoughts:

-Figures that in my latest comics haul, Rat Queens is the one I didn't buy and yet here it is on the shortlist!
- I am pleased that on the Best Novels shortlist, only one of the five is part of a series. Easier to catch up and all.
- Speaking of series, it cannot be said of the YA shortlist but thankfully I've read Heir of Fire and Cress already (although I did not nominate either). Phew! My sympathies that the judges have to read 2 books each before reading Heir of Fire or Cress. You guys are going to be busy (at least YA goes by fast?).

The Sanderson book is the one that intimidates me the most too. I started the audiobook for the first one this morning - 45hours and then book two is the same again. I usually listen to books as I do chores and go for walks - my house will be spotless and my legs will be several inches shorter after this

I feel like I have a decent head start. I've read The Strange Library, Rat Queens, The Martian, Station Eleven, The Goblin Emperor, and even Cress, though that is an extreme outlier. I dislike most YA so much I don't feel like I can vote in that category.

I have not read either Words of Radiance or Way of Kings, so I guess I have my work cut out there.

I've only read three of the nominated works, but several of the others are on my wishlist, so I'm happy about that. The only one I really have no interest in reading what-so-ever is Lock In, so I haven't decided what to do about that one. :/

It would be total awesome sauce if the list included links to the goodreads pages for the books.

Only have read two that are on the shortlist and a few have been on my TBR for a while so I'm looking forward to the getting to them.

My thoughts on the best novels:

Read:
Station Eleven - Fantastic book that deserves the recognition it gets. I loved it but it is the least SFF out of all the books. Well written. 4 star

The Martian - One of the most fun reads of last year. I really liked it. However, I think that the writing quality isn't up to the level of the other books. 4 star

The Goblin Emperor - I liked The Goblin Emperor, Maia is one of my favorite characters that I've read last year. The actual political intrigue just wasn't complex enough for me though. 4 star

Lock In by John Scalzi - My personal favorite on this list and what I voted for. Fun book and a book that made me think about marginalized individuals in society more deeply. 5 star

Unread:
Words of Radiance - I haven't gotten around to reading The Stormlight Archive. Maybe I'll get to it before the awards. Knowing my taste in books I'll love it.

I want to read Half a King by Abercrombie but I won't read the other 2.

Graphic novels aren't my thing, so hopefully the best one wins.

Kressel's short story is a favorite of mine. I'd like to read both the Rothfuss and the Sanderson novellas before the awards.

I have a semi-related question: I've never read any Sanderson (I know, I know). I see that Words of Radiance is the second in a series. Would this series be a good place to start with if I'm a Sanderson newbie? Or would one of his shorter works like Sixth of the Dusk be a better place to start?

I'm really happy about this shortlist! I was curious what would shake out on top for Best Short Work. But Best Graphic Work - no surprises there! :-D

I've already read: The Martian, Lock In, Goblin Emperor, Half a King, Rat Queens, both volumes of Saga, and "The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye" (which I nominated - very pleased to see that made it to the list!).

I'm definitely going to attempt Station Eleven once again, but I'm not sure about Words of Radiance. I will start the series by Marissa Meyer since I own Cinder, and will see if I want to catch up to Cress. I also want to read The Strange Library, and probably Sixth of the Dusk.

Joss wrote: "I have a semi-related question: I've never read any Sanderson (I know, I know). I see that Words of Radiance is the second in a series. Would this series be a good place to start wi..."

We can all relate to your predicament. If you wanted to start shorter with something like Dusk or The Emperor's Soul no one would blame you. The Way of Kings is an ambitious attempt by Sanderson to level up his epic fantasy game, successful in a lot of ways but not as strong as the Mistborn trilogy and l-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-g. Radiance is better but still asks a lot of the reader.

I went to Barnes and Nobles today and I bought "The Martian" by Andy Weir. This is the first book in the Best Novel List for the month of August. I will start out reading this one for August.

This way it will give me time to buy the other books for the month of August and get them read for August.

I am so happy that most of the nominated books are already sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read.

And I just ordered Lock In, The Strange Library and Scarlet (2nd in the Luna Chronicles).

As many of you I am not sure what to do about Way of Kings and Words of Radiance because normally I wait until a bunch of books are already out before starting such a long series. :(

Well, look at it this way, the two books are as long as six normal books already :p

I'm a bit OCD about reading things in order, so my question is: what is the ultimate, überperfect reading order for the Cosmere universe? Short stories included of course. I assume such an order exists, unlike, say, Babylon 5.

I am so happy about the shortlist ! The only problem is that I just read two books from it (Heir of Fire and the Globlin Emperor) which I nominated so it means that I a lot of book buying to do...

A great list, but I've only read The Goblin Emperor, The Slow Regard of Silent Things and the graphic novels!

I want to read all the novels and short stories at least, but like others I don't know if I have the stamina to get through both Way of Kings & Words of Radiance on time.

I'm also bit hesitant about reading the YA category works, because two of them are the third in a series. But let's see if I have time to get to them after the adult novels.

Linnea wrote: "I'm a bit OCD about reading things in order, so my question is: what is the ultimate, überperfect reading order for the Cosmere universe? Short stories included of course. I assume such an order ex..."

Personally I don't think there is any such reading order, as the works are separate. So you need to read The Way of Kings before Words of Radiance, because those are books one and two in the Stormlight Archive series, but it doesn't matter if that's your first Sanderson book, because it's totally separate from the Mistborn series and the standalone novels. The Cosmere universe is very subtly linked together and I really don't it matters how you read the books.

Katherine wrote: "Linnea wrote: "I'm a bit OCD about reading things in order, so my question is: what is the ultimate, überperfect reading order for the Cosmere universe? Short stories included of course. I assume s..."

Oh, that's great! I was afraid the overarching story wouldn't make sense to me if I read them in the wrong order. (And I wouldn't want to start with a series that makes a lot of references to a previous series I haven't read yet.)

Thanks for your answer!

Linnea wrote: "I'm a bit OCD about reading things in order, so my question is: what is the ultimate, überperfect reading order for the Cosmere universe? Short stories included of course. I assume such an order ex..."

Most books don't matter the order but I'd say if you want to read them in the most spoiler-free way and the order they're intended then make sure to read Mistborn before Stormlight and if you don't have time for that then definitely Warbreaker before Words of Radiance as they have direct crossovers whereas the rest are much more subtle.

Linnea wrote: "Katherine wrote: "Linnea wrote: "I'm a bit OCD about reading things in order, so my question is: what is the ultimate, überperfect reading order for the Cosmere universe? Short stories included of ..."

It doesn't make references but reading Warbreaker before Words of Radiance is strongly advised as they have direct and obvious crossovers where as the rest of the crossovers and hints and links are much more subtle and not essential to the storyline :)

Adding to what Kaitlin is saying, I would also advise reading Warbreaker and the original Mistborn trilogy before Words of Radiance if at all possible. I think it will make your reading experience quite different (in a good way) if you've read them. :)