Chatterbox

The Raven Scholar (Antonia Hodgson) (2026): In audiobook, narrated by Daphne Kuma. Twenty-four hours of audiobook.

The bulk of the novel focuses on the Trial Festivals, used to decide who will be Emperor (or Empress) of Orrun for the next eight to twenty-four years, and most of that is Neema Kraa's experience of the Festival. Do the Trials or the Festival go as planned? Ha ha. Do we see political machinations? Oh do we ever. Semi-drifty third person, which is the only excuse for Part One having a completely different protagonist than Parts Two through Eight. Eight is a number of significance, representing the Eight Guardians who, according to prophecy, saved Orrun seven times and will return once more to destroy it. Which is why there are eight sections to the novel, presumably, and eight times ten chapters, and I am getting Steven Brust vibes that I am 99% certain were not intended.

( The spoiler parts. )

cahn hit on a good point when she said, "I think [The Raven Scholar is] the kind of book that is super entertaining but it's very interesting to discuss its flaws (whereas for The Everlasting I found it more interesting to discuss why it was compelling)." It's easy to talk about how a book didn't work, I think, so talking about why a book does work, discovering how it rewards the reader's attention and investment, is more exciting to me right now.

This year's novel nominees represent a strong crop! Looking at the 2025 list, most of the nominated works from '26 beat out the '25 list, in my opinion.

I feel like Death of the Author was written for litfic / speculative fiction crossover, and executed really well on that goal. The Incandescent is delightful and ambitious, but, perhaps, could have used more beefing-up of the romance, which is not my usual assessment. The Everlasting is one big pile of tropes all for me, the temptation to give extra points for catering to me especially is very, very high. The Raven Scholar has tropes, but not mine, so it's easier for me to look at how the story works as a story. A Drop of Corruption is probably the most classic Hugo nominee, other than the Tchaikovsky. I think it's solid fiction, and very entertaining, but it doesn't have the flair that Author achieves. Call it Author > Everlasting > Drop > Incandescent > Scholar, and I'll probably switch the middle three around several times before committing to a final order.