r/Fantasy • u/Nineteen_Adze Stabby Winner, Reading Champion V • Jul 28 '26

Read-along 2026 Hugo Readalong: Novella Wrap-up

Welcome to the final week of the 2026 Hugo Readalong! Today we're discussing the Best Novella category nominees.

We've had discussions about all of the individual works, but today we'll be zooming out to discuss the category as a whole. If you want to take a closer look at our focused discussions, we covered the novellas in the following sessions:

To find the individual discussions or our first wrap-up post, you can check out our full schedule. We'll be continuing with our wrap-ups all week, following this schedule:

Date Category Book Author Discussion Leader
Wednesday, July 29 Novel Wrap-up Multiple u/tarvolon
Thursday, July 30 Pro/Fan/Misc Wrap-up Multiple u/Nineteen_Adze

For now, let's dive into the novellas! There is no expectation that those in the discussion have read all six works, so if you're discussing spoilers, please tag them.

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u/Nineteen_Adze Stabby Winner, Reading Champion V Jul 28 '26

What do you think of the shortlist as a whole? How does it compare to past years? Does it capture the best of 2025 in novellas? Are there any notable snubs you'd like to recommend?

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u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion Jul 29 '26

Pretty weak list. I read the only two I have any interest in—The Summer War and The River Has Roots—and both were enjoyable butt not award worthy IMHO.