I finished Translation State at the beginning of the month, which finishes out the entire shortlist. Here’s an update, presented in the order of my current personal rankings.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Read in April 2024; 4.5 stars. Wow was this great! Kyr, the protagonist, goes on a pretty incredible journey of personal/character development, which also serves as very effective world-building. There’s big plot point that’s left in the abstract, but to me it makes sense given the context and POV.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Read in August 2023; 4 stars. This was such a fun concept and a really enjoyable story overall. I loved Amina as a character, she felt very relatable. And I enjoyed the relationships between her and her crew; you really got a sense of how well they knew one another.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Read in February 2024; 5 stars. This was hilarious. I have no idea if all the machinations of the plot actually make sense, but IMO that’s not really the point with a book like this. The characters were great, and I appreciated the way it ended. Someone please option this for a movie! And actually make it!

Translation State by Ann Leckie

Read in July 2024; 4 stars. There was some political stuff in this one that I didn’t quite follow, though I think it was explained pretty well. (I’m just not interested so it doesn’t stick in my brain.) There are a couple of plot points that I thought needed a bit more explanation, but overall this was a fun read. And somehow despite having some body horror, also had some cozy sci-fi vibes? Not quite sure how Leckie pulled that off but here we are.

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Read in June 2024; 3.75 stars. I liked this, but there’s a lot going on. There are some long, sidebar-ish passages, and while they do contribute to the world-building, I kind of struggled to pay attention. (This also contributed to some pacing issues that really slowed down the first half or so.) There’s also some political stuff going on with religious groups that I couldn’t really keep straight, and I’m not sure how important it was to the story. But it was beautifully written, and I did enjoy the story. Note that this recently won the 2023 Nebula award for Best Novel.

Witch King by Martha Wells

Did not finish in September 2023. I’ve enjoyed so much of Wells’ other work, I was ready to like this but found it to be pretty slow. There was a lot of worldbuilding, which is great, but for me it felt a little info-dumpy. There’s also some political situation that I think was going to become important, but I have zero interest in that kind of plotline. I don’t have any notes on how far I got into this, but I think it was close to halfway.