I hope you'll enjoy Blind Lake as much as I did. It's getting my vote.
Kind of reminds me of Greg Bear's work - interesting sf mixed with
thriller pacing. Ilium was tons o'fun but I had the same qualms...
Monica McAbee

[log in to unmask] wrote:

>Now that Hugo nominees have been announced, who do people favor for the Novel
>award?
>
>Illium probably is the favorite based on what I've heard and seen on
>newsgroups.  I liked it but I have qualms about it.  Too many plot holes and deux ex
>machina plot devices, which Simmions himself pokes fun at through a character
>toward the end of the book -- which I thought was very clever .
>
>On the other hand, Humans by Robert J. Sawyer has gotten a lot of negative
>commentatry.  I would vote of it, however.  I thought it was a funny and taken
>as a cultural satire was well done.  Sawyer also was able to manage the
>inherent problems of a middle book in a trilogy by both advancing the story but
>creating a novel that can stand alone.
>
>Bujold's fantasy was okay, very well written as always, but it just didn't do
>that much for me.
>
>I didn't like Stross's novel much at all.
>
>I haven't read Blind Lake yet but I plan to shortly.
>
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