Congrats to all the Hugo Award winners and everyone who was nominated!
Astounding Award for Best New Writer
What would you sacrifice for your own ambition? Through dual POV narratives, this book tells the stories of Zhu and Ouyang, two survivors who suffered tragic losses and ruthlessly clawed their way into positions of power through manipulation and bloodshed. When they are set against each other as generals of rival armies, the threads of fate that bind them are set ablaze with their burning for power and their lives will never be the same.
This enthralling epic fantasy that swept me from burning monastery to burning battlefield crushed my open heart in its brutal searing palms and I felt blessed to be present for the entire journey. Heartbreaking, lovely, bloody, and burns with a radiance of ten thousand suns. An unmissable historical fantasy debut! - Jessi
Best Novel
Best Novella
Dex is a traveling tea monk, and although they love making people smile, they are still struggling to feel fulfilled. They seek solitude in the wilds, mysterious lands where robots were set free hundreds of years ago to roam.
When Dex encounters Mosscap, a robot with a childlike sense of wonder for human behavior, and deadly insects, the last thing they want to do is embark on an adventure with it-after all, they are the first person to encounter a robot in two hundred years! However, Dex has no idea that Mosscap will actually be teaching Dex what it means to be human.
Warm, lush and as cozy as a Studio Ghibli film, this book made me want to wander into the woods with my friends and build a yurt commune and never return. This book was the equivalent of talking to a friend about life over coffee and feeling like the world may just end up ok in the end. Dex and Mosscap are the new friendly faces of hopeful sci-fi! - Jessi
Best Related Work
Best Graphic Story or Comic
Best Series
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
The second installment of the Scholomance is just as intriguing as the first, as El and her friends prepare themselves to face an army of mals on graduation day. El and Orion's savior complex gets a little out of hand when they both vow to save every last senior.
But the school has a mind of its own, and when mals mysteriously stop attacking everyone except El, she is forced to figure out what the school wants from her and give it to them.
Orion Lake might have other plans, however.
Darkly funny, tense, and heart wrenching with a great group of friends who struggle with trauma and emotional availability but would stop at nothing to save each other, this book is the dark magic school series I've always dreamed of.
Also the cliffhanger ending stopped my heart completely and I demand book 3 NOW. That is all.