ELITIST BOOK REVIEWS

Here we are with the Hugo novellas. In case you are wondering, a novella ranges from around 17,500 words and measures up to 40,000 words in length. There’s some beautiful stuff in this set of nominated works—in fact, it was a little hard to choose which was the best. In the end, this category will vary a lot from reader to reader. Anyway, let’s jump in.
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Everyone has prejudices. I don’t care who you are or what your background is, we all have things that just irk us to no end. As a reviewer it can be difficult sometimes to put those prejudices aside, to try and read a work based on it’s merit alone and ignore everything else. I have a secret for you readers. I’m not a fan of the latest Dune books put out by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. I haven’t read them, but I have read the original Dune and it’s one of my favorite books ever. I don’t like the new books because it feels like they are trampling on something sacred to me. Who are they to tell me what else happened in the Dune universe. Only one person has that right. Frank Herbert. And since he is dead we are just going to have to content ourselves on what he left for us. Now I know, Brian Herbert is Frank’s son and maybe they even have some old notes and things. I don’t care. It still feels wrong and I don’t like it (plus the other reviewers here at EBR all assure me that the new Dune novels are freaking terrible).
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It’s been a while since I read these novelettes, but I wanted to sit on them for a bit to see which ones stuck with me, which ones disappeared from memory and just see when I came back to it, which ones were the best compared to the others. The question I hear a lot is, “What the heck is a novelette?” Simply put, it’s a work of fiction ranging from 7500 words to around 18,000 words in length. It is that piece of fiction that takes up the space between the short story and the novella.

There were some pretty good pieces of of fiction in this year’s Hugo nominated batch of novelettes. So here we go:
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There comes a time in nearly every series where the side characters of the first two or three novels become so interesting that they take on a life of their own. The readers beg, plead and offer bribes to the author for more information or more “screen time” for their beloved side-character. A lot of times we see this in the form of some short stories or novellas. But if we are lucky (sometimes), we get a full novel with that chosen side character as the main focus.

This was the case with Larry Correia‘s Monster Hunter series. From the moment the character Earl Harbinger was introduced in MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL, fans pleaded for Larry to write more about the werewolf. Larry relented, and we have MONSTER HUNTER ALPHA (Amazon) to show for it.
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A few generations ago, the sentient Ship found the planet Home, and seeded a human colony there. Ship promised to return one day to check up on their progress after it finds more planets to colonize.

Now Ship has returned to Home, and the people there aren’t sure they want it to come back.
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This was my first foray into the works of Cathrynne M. Valente. It seems like whenever I would turn around someone (usually our resident reviewer, Shawn) would be saying how incredible a storyteller and writer Valente is. A guy like me can only take so much of that kind of hype before he gives in. Unfortunately reading an author’s work based off that kind hype can also lead to letdowns–it has happened to me more times than I can count. I was worried. Luckily for me (and for all you discerning readers out there), it seems that everything people are saying about Valente is true. She is amazing.
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The first thing you should know about William Hawthorne (aka Will) is that he’s an actor. He’s unabashedly self-serving, considers himself more clever and charming than he is, and profoundly enjoys his creature comforts.

Unfortunately, those character traits get him into trouble more often than not.
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I actually finished reading this book quite a while ago and have been trying to think of how I would review it. Is it a good book? Of course it is. It’s written by Catherynne M. Valente, and I’m convinced now that she has some sort of magical pen that turns everything she writes into gold (and if she doesn’t use a pen then it must be a magical computer. Wish I knew where to get one like it). Does it contain beautiful writing, weird and wonderful characters and imagery that makes you weep it’s so gorgeous? Yes and for the same reasons as above. Yet still I’m not sure how to talk about it.

So let’s just dive right in, shall we?
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There’s a reason we like George Mann‘s work. It’s all fast-paced, fun, and can be read without having to work at it. GHOSTS OF WAR (Amazon) is Mann’s second Ghost novel, and follows up immediately after GHOSTS OF MANHATTAN. It has pretty much all the elements that made MANHATTAN fun, yet also seems to have more flaws than the first entry.

Mechanical, bat-like constructs are terrorizing the city of Manhattan. They swoop down and abduct random people off the streets, and those people are never found. The Ghost does what any good vigilante hero would and tries to solve the mystery. He is helped once again by Detective Felix Donovan—one of the few who know the Ghost’s real identity.
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Atticus O’Sullivan is older than he looks. By about two millennia. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to lead a normal life in Tempe Arizona.

Unfortunately, when a human has lived for 2000+ years one is bound to make some enemies, and his archenemy is none other than the Celtic god of love, Aenghus Óg. For a god of love he’s actually a pretty nasty guy.

A while back—a long while back—Attitus got his hands on the magical sword Fragarach from one of Aenghus’ military generals. The god has been trying to get it back ever since; he’s been sending his minions to do his dirty work, and Atticus has been doing a pretty good job avoiding trouble. But now Aenghus is finally coming to finish the job himself.
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