One of the Kindles here in the house is in use by my stepson, Brian. When he isn't busy wearing out the five-way on the K2 playing Monopoly, he is reading (seriously, it's even putting a dent into his paperback habit and he only reads hours and hours a day!). One of the reasons I sign up to support the Hugo Awards each year has been to get the voter's packet of books and I put him in charge of reading the lot before I send in my vote. Here is his review of the novels that have been nominated this year. I've added links to the Kindle editions (one is paper only), for those of you that might want to check out one or two (and probably in a better formatted editions, since the voter packet often includes PDFs).
The Hugo Novels
Having taken the time to read the Hugo award nominees for best novel here is a short review and a rating of them by my favorite to least favorite.
The best of a very good group of books is Feed. Not being a big fan of Zombie books myself this was a rollicking ride of a book that left you commenting, cheering and laughing all through it while making an almost believable twist on near future history. 5 stars all the way.
I keep going back and forth on the next 2. In the end I think Cryoburn should get the nod for 2nd as it stands alone better. This may be the best Miles Vorkisigan novel yet in what is a very fun series, but the thing Bujold has always done with this series is make sure that if this is the first one you have read it doesn't mean you have to go back and start over and when your done if she never wrote another in the series you can live with that to. Blackout on the other hand is also excellent and if this is your first introduction to this series that is fine but at the end of Blackout you are immediately in need of All Clear because your left at such a bad spot in the story, so if you get Blackout get All Clear at the same time.
Next is the one fantasy novel on the list, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Note that although I will read fantasy it is not my go to. This is a well written story with some very nice twist and well worth the nomination it received.
Then finally we come to what I call the art book. The Dervish House is one of those books in which the author is so busy looking at relationships and creating pretty pictures that he forgets this is Science Fiction and not a chick flick. It is a pretty book and at least one book every year is in this category but it doesn't mean I have to like them, I don't.
In conclusion four out of five of the nominated novels are very readable which is a great score and if you only get to read one of them, then pick Feed.
The Step Son (Brian)
Yes, he really did sign it that way! LOL! I know he really enjoyed Feed, as he has been reading the next one in the series when we visit Barnes & Noble (thanks to their Read in Store feature - I'm about done with Hit List that way, as well).
