I’m always interested in this award, which tends to emphasize works that accord with my personal taste. Here are this year’s finalists in the adult novel category:
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature
Andrea Hairston, Will Do Magic For Small Change
Mary Robinette Kowal, Ghost Talkers
Patricia A. McKillip, Kingfisher
Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Cycle: The Raven Boys; The Dream Thieves; Blue Lily, Lily Blue; and The Raven King
Jo Walton, Thessaly Trilogy: The Just City; The Philosopher Kings; Necessity
The Mythopoeic Society handles series, as you can see, by allow a series to be eligible the year it is completed. Or a book within a series can be eligible if it stands alone. I haven’t read Jo Walton’s Thessaly novels, but I agree that none of the Raven Cycle books stand alone, so nominating it as a series seems like the way to go for that one.
Le me see, let me see… I’ve only read two of these finalists: the Raven Cycle and McKillip’s book. I attended a reading for Ghost Talkers and liked what I heard, but haven’t read it yet. I do keep meaning to read The Just City, which I have on my Kindle, I’m pretty sure. My guess is I’ll find it intellectually interesting but not necessarily emotionally engaging. We’ll see.
I do think that Kingfisher was not necessarily one of McKillip’s top ten works. I mean, I enjoyed it, of course. But I’m not sure it seemed cohesive to me. I liked it better the second time I read it, so maybe it will continue growing on me over time.
The Raven Cycle is beautiful and impressive and I loved it. I do think the ending was a bit weak, to be honest. Still, I can definitely understand why it’s on this list and I wouldn’t mind a bit if it won.
Anybody read Hairston’s book? That’s the one I haven’t heard anything about.
For the finalists in the other categories, click through to File 770 and check out the full list.
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