Re: Nebula finalist 2014

jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
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2014: American President Obama's sanctions end the Russian threat forever,
Scottish voters resolve to remain tied to the plunging anchor that is
England, and Toronto's Mayor Ford makes Toronto, a Canadian community
home to more than one hundred people, world-famous.
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Most importantly, James Nicoll Reviews launched this year. Can you
tell I don't generally review anthologies or magazines unprompted?
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Which 2014 Nebula Finalist Novels Have You Read?
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
Fire with Fire by Charles E. Gannon
Hild by Nicola Griffith
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
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Just the Leckie, the Samatar, and the Nagata.

It seems pointless to reply to just list what you have read without
comment. So.
March 2014
Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie 5 stars
Where ancillaries are androids forming group minds. One mind survives
when a ship mind is destroyed by a division of the group mind ruler and
seeks answers and justice. There is adventure, violence, subterfuge and
page-turning intrigues. The rest of the trilogy is as good apart from
the final conclusion; only a minor annoyance.
April 2015
The Red: First Light Linda Nagata 2 stars.
Mediocre with some interesting technology but struggled to read and
stopped at about 80%.
May 2014
The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 2 stars
A child's fairy tale.