Wow, whoever this guy Hugo is, he sure knows how to pick ’em! Since the beginning of the 20th century, Hugo’s been giving out awards to some of the finest fantasy and sci fi novels ever written. The award has historically been dominated by science fiction titles, and only recently have fantasy novels emerged as contenders. As a result, there aren’t that many Hugo Award winning fantasy novels, but there are a bevy of brilliant nominations. Here they are, 10 Hugo Award nominated novels you need to read – with some winners peppered in.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
The winner of the 2005 Hugo Award, Susannah Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and & Mr. Norrell is a historical fantasy novel about an academic rivalry between Victorian-era magicians. No, not the pulling rabbits out of hats kind, I mean the summoning dark fae spirits from alternate dimensions kind. Gilbert Norrell is a leading light in England’s magical circles, with a scientific and cautious approach to magic that has afforded him great success. His methods are challenged by Jonathan Strange, a young new arrival who believes that magic should be, like all good things, wild and free. While Jonathan and Gilbert’s relationship begins as mentor/mentee, it soon devolves into a bitter rivalry due to their irreconcilable philosophies toward the arcane. This downward spiral is only hastened by The Gentleman With The Thistledown Hair, a fae being summoned by Norrell who harbors infernal intentions towards humankind. For an academic, Mr. Norrell really didn’t think that through.
Nettle and Bone
The winner of the 2023 Hugo Award, Nettle and Bone is the brainchild of Ursula Vernon, writing under the pen name T. Kingfisher. A dark fairytale, Nettle and Bone is the story of Marra – a third child who may soon be married to an abusive prince. This murderous monarch has already killed her eldest sister, and has now married her middle sibling. In order to save her remaining sister and herself, Marra enlists the help of a dust-wife – basically a witch, but creepier. The dust-wife agrees to help Marra and kill the prince, so long as she can complete three tasks that make Hercules’ labors seem as simple as a Seven Eleven run. Catch moonlight in a jar? Girl, how? If you’re a fan of fairy tales the way the Brothers Grimm used to tell them, Nettle and Bone is the novel for you. It’s even got a demon-possessed chicken, what’s not to love?
The Fifth Season
Winner of the 2016 Hugo Award, N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season straddles the line between fantasy and sci-fi. The first of the Broken Earth trilogy, the novel takes place on the supercontinent of The Stillness – a titanic landmass that is ravaged by climate disasters called “fifth seasons.” The latest fifth season came at the hands of a powerful orogene – a person with the ability to control the natural energies of the world. Hated and feared for their abilities, this particular orogene didn’t exactly improve the group’s reputation – and now three orogene women must bear the brunt of the newly broken world. With environmental themes deep as a Miyazaki film, the series tackles humanity’s fraught relationship with our planet – and what happens when our planet decides to fight back.
Among Others
The winner of the 2012 Hugo Award, Jo Walton’s Among Others is the diary of Morgana, a fifteen year old Welsh girl with a soft spot for fantasy fiction. Her fantasies turn to reality when she and her sister discover a spiritual world in the hills near her childhood home, though they soon learn that not all magic is safe. Morgana’s mother is a power hungry witch, whose meddling in magic caused the death of Morgana’s sister and disabled one Morgana’s legs. Morgana tries to forget the past by going off to boarding school, but after her mother begins sending her threatening letters and attempts to control her with magic, Morgana soon realizes that the past hasn’t forgotten her. An intimate exploration of a teen’s struggle to fit in and move on, Among Others is a welcome departure from the traditional coming of age fantasy story.
Paladin of Souls
The winner of the 2004 Hugo Award, Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls is part of the author’s World of The Five Gods – which won the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2018. The novel is the sequel to The Curse of Chalion, which, obviously, you should read first. The series takes place in the medieval kingdom of Chalion, in a world suffering constant religious upheaval. Meant to be read in any order, the series is a commentary about the rise and fall or world religions – how separate faiths are created, spread, consumed by one another, and give rise to conflict. In The World of The Five Gods, the gods (and there are many) are able to speak directly into the minds of mortals, influencing world events on a personal and global scale. It’s a sprawling epic that reflects the spread of Earth’s major faiths, and the violence that accompanied it.
The Saint of Bright Doors
Nominated for the 2023 Hugo Award, The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera features a protagonist with some of the worst daddy issues in all of fantasy fiction. In a fantasy world where magic is blended with modern technology, poor Fetter is the son of The Perfect and Kind – a cult messiah that abandoned him as a child. If that wasn’t bad enough, Fetter was raised by his zealot mother – who trained him in magic so he could grow up and assassinate his dad. Sick of being passed as a high fantasy football between his game-playing parents, Fetter abandons his home and seeks out Luriat – a sprawling city filled with inexplicable magical doors. After joining a therapy group for cult survivors that doubles as a covert revolutionary cell, Fetter finds himself thrown out of the theological fire and into the frying pan of political rebellion. He was always meant to fight for a cause, but which? That’s still up for debate. The ex-religious will love this one.
A Master of Djinn
Nominated for the 2022 Hugo Award, A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark is a historical fantasy set in Cairo, 1912. The city’s supernatural problems (of which there are many) fall under the purview of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities – and Fatma el-Sha’araw is one of the organization’s best and brightest. Fresh off of saving the universe a few months before, Fatma thinks a solving a simple murder case will be easy-peezy. When she realizes the victims were part of a fanatical cult and the murderer was the (supposedly) dead man that they worshiped, Fatma begins to reconsider. The fabled magician al-Jahiz has returned to Cairo, and is offing people who defy his views. Is this an imposter? Or the resurrected real deal? That’s what Fatman has to figure out, and fast, before Cairo’s simmering tensions explode into the streets and spread across the world.
She Who Became The Sun
Another 2022 Hugo Award Nominee, Shelley Parker Chan’s She Who Became The Sun is a historical fantasy that reimagines the rise of one of China’s most famous historical figures – The Hongwu Emperor. The story begins with the death of a young boy named Zhu Chongba, and his sibling who adopts his name and destiny. Newly rechristened and disguised as a man, Zhu Chongba 2.o soon becomes a soldier in the Red Turban Rebellions against the occupying Mongol Empire. After ascending through the ranks, Zhu sparks a relationship with a Chinese noblewoman, who helps the political rising star navigate the intricacies of high society. Zhu’s goal? Clamber up to the very top of the social ladder, and become Emperor of all of China. The story of a genderqueer protagonist’s climb to glory, this novel is not to be missed.
Gideon The Ninth
Nominated for the 2020 Hugo Award, Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth is the first of the Locked Tomb series, more widely known as the series with goth necromancer space lesbians. A blend of sci-fi and fantasy, the series takes place in a star system ruled by an undead emperor and the Nine Houses – necromancer dynasties that each control a planet. An indentured servant of the extra goth-y Ninth House, Gideon is given a shot as freedom by Ninth House scion Harrowhark Nonagesimus. All she has to do is accompany Harrow to a creepy mansion house, where she and eight other necromancers have been tasked with completing death trials in service of the emperor. Irreverent, mysterious, and rife with sapphic longing, Gideon the Ninth breathes new un-life into the fantasy genre.
The Goblin Emperor
The 2015 Hugo Award nominee, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison is a fantasy realm ruler’s how-to guide. After most of his elven royal family died in an airship crash, the half-goblin Maia becomes the reluctant heir to the imperial throne. A political idealist who wants what’s best for everyone, Maia has to protect his heart of gold from the steel of assassins’ blades. As it turns out, not everyone in this cutthroat realm is a fan Maia’s egalitarian approach to rule, and the young monarch will need to figure out how to play the political game without losing his morals or head in the process.
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