The 2019 Hugo Awards will be presented at Worldcon 77 in Dublin, Ireland, on August 18. The Hugo Award finalists are chosen by readers who are voting members of Worldcon. This week we’ll talk about the finalists for Best Series, Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. We discussed other categories in previous columns.
Click the title links below to read our reviews and on the author links to visit our page for the author. We’ve included the cover art for our favorites.
Who do you think will win the Hugo Award in these categories?
Answer below for a chance to win a book from our stacks.
BEST SERIES
- XUYA by Aliette de Bodard, Subterranean Press
- THE CENTENEL CYCLE by Malka Older, Tor.com
- THE LAUNDRY FILES by Charles Stross,
Tor.com/Orbit - OCTOBER DAYE by Seanan McGuire, DAW
- MACHINERIES OF EMPIRE by Yoon Ha Lee, Solaris
- WAYFARERS by Becky Chambers, Hodder & Stoughton/Harper Voyager
LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK
- The Invasion by Peadar O’Guilin,
David Fickling/Scholastic - The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, Little, Brown
- Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman,
Random House/Penguin - The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, Freeform/Gollancz
- Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi,
Henry Holt/Macmillan - Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, Balzer + Bray
CAMPBELL AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER
Which stories and authors have you read? Who do you predict will win? Who do you want to win?
Give us your thoughts and predictions in the comments. One random commenter with a USA mailing address will win a book from our stacks.
Good luck to all the finalists!
Best Series:
– MACHINERIES OF EMPIRE by Yoon Ha Lee
Best YA
– Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Best New Writer
– S.A. Chakraborty
My Selections (based on practical, not desired, outcome):
Best Series: most likely to be Becky Chambers
Best YA: “Children of Blood and Bone”
Best New Writer: Either R.F. Kuang, or S.A. Chakraborty
I’ve been wrong (and right) before.
I enjoyed “The Belles” by Dhonielle Clayton because I thought it was original and fun, so I will guess that it will win the Lodestar Award!
Series – October Daye
YA – Children of Blood and Bone
Campbell – Katherine Arden
I’d vote for Octpber Daye, I haven’t read the other categories
I’m going to go with The Laundry Files for Series, Dread Nation for Young Adult Book, and S.A. Chakraborty for Best New Writer.
Series: I would go for Laundry over Machineries. Those are the only two where I’ve read all books. Have read one book in each of the Xuya and Wayfarers series, and they were okay but didn’t knock me out. Guessing that October Daye will win it, because everyone seems to love that one.
Lodestar: only have read The Invasion and The Cruel Prince, both good but didn’t seem like best in class type tales.
Campbell: only one I’ve read was Jeannette Ng, and just her one novel (which has lots of exotic description, gothic angst and atmosphere, but a fairly underwhelming story). They must be nominating these based on more than one work, surely? Melissa Caruso has come out with a whole series beginning in the same month Ng’s novel was published, so why she didn’t make the list is a puzzle. Fonda Lee, John Schoffstall and Arkady Martine all had very good first novels later in that span also.
Am becoming more and more of an awards cynic as time goes on (including the non-SF ones).
Guessing Series: Machineries of Empire, Lodestar Award: The Cruel Prince, and Campbell Award: R.F. Kuang.
I enjoyed the Cruel Prince by Holly Black.
Noneof yourbusiness, if you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks.
Please contact me (Marion) with your choice and a US address. Happy reading!