Update: I am well into The Incandescent, and if it goes on the way it has begun, I may have found my candidate. It is another entry into the growing "school for magic" subgenre, but unlike either Harry Potter (fun with scary bits) or Novvik's Scholomance series (scary and dark), it is focused more on the adults running the school than the students, though they do matter too. Emily Tesh won the Hugo for Best Novel two years ago. She may well win again this year.

Rosefolly, thanks for this post on the Hugo awards! I have been so behind on my reading, that I haven't read a single one of these yet! Based on your comment about the Tesh novel, I just put that one on my library holds list. I really enjoyed her first novel, Some Desperate Glory.

Rosefolly - thank you for sharing synopses and your thoughts. I am interested in checking out The Incandescent.

PAM

Donnamira and Bigtwodogs, I would be interested in knowing what you think of The Incandescent. I have one novel yet to go, and at this point it is still my choice for the Hugo.

Meanwhile I have finished The Everlasting by Alix Harrow. I might conceivably have voted for it if Tesh's book had not been in the mix. Harrow is the author of Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Once and Future Witches, both of which were read by members of this forum. It is a time travel book/fantasy novel. I did enjoy it.

I have one more to read, The Raven Scholar. There was a long request line at the library so I ordered the book. It should arrive some time next week. I'm a little leery of it. For some reason I am imagining a book like Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, which my book club read. In that case it might be fun but I would not consider it at all Hugo-worthy. I have no idea where I got that impression, and I do hope I am wrong.

It is good to have so many good choices that the decision is difficult.

My library only has audio or e-book versions of The Incandescent and I am miffed. I certainly hope that this is not the wave of the future... many of us still prefer real books. So now I will order it.

PAM

I do use ebooks and audio books, and I enjoy them both. But printed books remain my favorites.

I should mention that I sent in my vote, The Incandescent for first place, Raven Scholar for second, and The Everlasting for third. I have mentioned before that the Hugos use ranked voting. I am predicting the Raven Scholar as the winner. I did enjoy it, and more than I had actually expected, but I just didn't think it was the best book.

It was a solid slate. Except for The Shroud, which I ended up not reading, they were all reasonable nominations. And I suspect The Shroud is also very good. It is just that I never enjoy books by Adrian Tchaikovsky, though I have read several. I just cannot imagine bringing myself to vote for a book I did not actually enjoy!

Ending the suspense, the winner for Best Novel was announced a couple of days ago.

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Not my prediction and not my first choice, but I did enjoy reading it.