Riverland, Fran Wilde, middlegrade. I haven't historically been a Wilde fan but it's on the Lodestar and Norton ballots. There are certain books that I think of as life preservers, written and thrown out into the water in hopes that they'll make their way to someone who's struggling and could use them. I definitely hope this book finds some people and they find it useful! But, as my invocation of this category always goes, Not Me. I found the real-life parts suitably tense and awful but the climax didn't land and the resolution mostly happened off-page; the fantasy parts felt flat and I never cared. Was at least a fast read. And I have now finished another category! Ballot stuff behind the cut.


Gah, my first thought is that I have no idea what to do with this ballot. How do I compare something like Wicked King, which was very readable but in the service of some tiresome tropes, with Riverland, or with Minor Mage, which was solid, enjoyable Vernon but... not super memorable. I'm going to put these in An Order but it's possible that I will revisit this and put them in an entirely other order. Also I have realized my order is basically the alphabetical order they were in on the ballot which is maybe not a great sign... but I'm pretty sure Catfishing was the one I was most enthusiastic about while reading/when I finished it...

1 - Catfishing on CatNet, by Naomi Kritzer
2 - Deeplight, by Frances Hardinge
3 - Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee
4 - Minor Mage, by T. Kingfisher
5 - The Wicked King, by Holly Black
6 - Riverland, by Fran Wilde

My theory is that the Lodestar is a category where already-popular authors have some advantage, as reading fatigue may mean that people are less likely to get to every book, so I would expect Hugo-frequent-flyers Kritzer, Lee, Vernon, and Wilde to have a bit of an edge over Hardinge and Black, whose popularity and prior awards are more in lit and kidlit than sff. My bet is that Catfishing gets it; I think it just has a little more spark than Dragon Pearl or Minor Mage.

As for the Norton, I haven't read Cog or Sal and Gabi, and so will not venture a prediction based on only 2/3 of the ballot.