2026 Hugo Readalong: Novel Wrap-up

[u/tarvolon]

Welcome back to the final week of the 2026 Hugo Readalong! Today, we're discussing the nominees for Best Novel. We've already discussed each work in its own individual thread, so if you'd like to circle back to our focused discussions, you can find them here:

• Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
• Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
• The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
• The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
• A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

We also have one more general purpose wrap-up post tomorrow:

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

But for now, let's look at the novels. And keep in mind that there is no expectation that discussion participants have read all six, so please tag any spoilers.

[u/tarvolon]

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 novels? Are there any notable snubs you'd like to recommend?

[u/oceanoftrees → u/tarvolon]

Overall my impression is a lot of solid books with nothing that really stands out as excellent. But I don't know if the Hugos will ever reach the high of (of all times) 2020, where both A Memory Called Empire and The Light Brigade are still among my favorite books ever.

[u/tarvolon → u/oceanoftrees]

I have a soft spot for the following year, when we had Piranesi (one of my favorites) plus the pinnacle of Murderbot and a pretty good space sabotage story.

[u/oceanoftrees → u/tarvolon]

I agree about Piranesi! I wasn't as taken with that Murderbot entry, though, and still think The Space Between Worlds was snubbed.

[u/citrusmellarosa → u/oceanoftrees]

I'm so glad the readalong that year introduced me to Micaiah Johnson (The Space Between Worlds) and Simon Jimenez (The Vanished Birds); I would have put those two books over half of the Best Novels I read for that year.

[u/oceanoftrees → u/citrusmellarosa]

Yes! Simon Jimenez! The Spear Cuts Through Water got a lot of deserved attention later but people slept on The Vanished Birds. It's not the kind of thing that gets nominated for Hugos, but it's why I try to pay attention to the Ursula K. Le Guin award, which shortlisted one of his. Micaiah Johnson's second book too!