Top 10 Sci-Fi Books That DIDN’T Win The Hugo Award (But Should Have!)

As regards sf vs fantasy, The Graveyard Book wasn't exactly sf either.

I can't help but notice that in the majority of cases you mentioned, that you think awards won by women should have be won by men instead. Yet none if the books you prefer to win were written by a woman.

Agree on all points! Fantasy is not Sci-fi, and you’d think they would know that!

"Sci-Fi Books That DIDN’T Win The Hugo Award (But Should Have!)"
Why don't the Hugos pick good SF anymore?
Dude, there's an elephant in the room. It's right there!

Just discovered your channel, and holy crap, as a sci fi noir author myself. I love your channel! You are awesome!

I've been a avid SF reader since the seventies and the Hugo's have always been weird. They have always been more about internal politics than anything else.

I feel that Dune is one of those large books that a lot of people say they read, like Atlas Shrugged but never really made it through. It is slow going and has a huge list of characters that most people just don't really put in the effort. I agree with Old Man's war and some others you mentioned, much more accessible. Foundation was epic but a long read. Ray Bradbury had the right approach I think, present an idea in a short story format and let the reader fill in the story with their mind.

You mention 2 of John Scalzi's books and he has been putting out many over the past 25 years. Prior to that he was a movie critic for the Fresno Bee and he had keen insight on the movies and I think he put some of that to use in his books.

I loved the original Dune but was disappointed by the sequels.

Did Elric get a HUGO?

The Corey Leviathan wakes wasnt bad but I could never get excited enough about the characters. Deaths End was the opposite. I loved the characters and the story was so..... everything. And the end. Awesome and as an american everything in the dialogue I could feel coming from a chinese background, even the translation was amazing.

One of the problem with Hugo award decisions is PC politics. Specifically, buh by White Man authors. White chicks still have a shot, and I did like Where Late the Sweet Birds Sing or Sang. I read it as a kid, never considered it a Hugo winner, rather just a good novel. I now overlook most female authors, while I used to look out for them to give them a chance. I hunt for male ones among the more numerous female ones, and often re-read ones from my past.

Very nice list from a former Hugo voter here. Especially on both Neal Stephenson novels and Project Mary.

Slight Disagreement on "Old Mans War" over "Spin" which I loved, but otherwise I'm good with it all.

2002's best novel was John C. Wright's mind-expanding "The Golden Age" which didn't even make the finals.

Now .... I don't like ANY of N. K. Jemisin series. Frankly I found them derivative, mediocrity written and worse boring.

Of course the obivous coordinating voting that got her to win three times led to the Puppies. And ironically anti-Puppy guy Scalzi lost his what should have been his real Hugo (Collapsing Empire) to the same group voting block, because "Redshirts" which won, was absolute blogpost drivel.

And its notable that after the puppies lost, its difficult to even get to the finals unless you belong to a special group or you are Scalzi, who for a decade had sold out to their social justice cause -- at least until 2024, when declared "enough".

Very sad what happened to this formerly prestigious award

Solaris

Sooo... quite a lot of women winning when they were up against possibly better books by men?

I didn't enjoy Seveneves - far too much chain physics and not enough characterization. But for Leviathan Wakes and effin ANATHEM to have lost out is insane!

As much as I would love to see Stephenson's Anathem turned into a movie/mini-series/series, I doubt it ever will be. It is just too smart for mass media. The amount of dumbing down it would take to get it made would kill it. Now, an adventure video game might be interesting, with the levels being the amount of physics/math/etc. that you needed to know to solve the problems. One could use it as a framework to teach orbital mechanics, tiling theory, etc. Yes, I admit, I could probably have lived in a Math.

I have been reading SF for over 60 years. M K Jemison's trilogy was one of the worst series I've ever read. The characters were only slightly interesting. The story was rambling and often boring. But I slogged through only to be disappointed. And 3 Hugos in a row? WTF.

I totally agree! Thanks for the list.

Thank you so much for this. And I agree with your choices and commentary. I’ve been in love with SF since the early 1950s.
A big regret in my long life is that I didn’t save all those wonderful pulp magazines that were truly better than those being published today.

Oh yes! Old Man's War was excellent! Fully agree on that one!

I'm currently listening to Spin, I hate the characters, I hate this presentation of 'intelligent' people as being so inwardly looking constantly worrying and naval gazing about their relationships, and the main character constantly retreading his unrequited love. Christ, am I reading Sci-fi or watching Days Of Our Lives ? The most interesting aspect was the Mars stuff. I can see why it won a Hugo, because of all the fart huffing characters.

I think that The broken earth trilogies are genuinely great books. They are not fantasy books. They involve sci-fi in imaginative ways that hard sci-fi simply didn't. Do check it out.

I have red almost all of the non-winners. Fully agree!!

NLJs Broken Earth trilogy is one of the best things I’ve read ever. So while I haven’t read Death’s End, the rest of your opinion on that group is definitely a very hot take. Besides, if I remember correctly, Scalzi all but turned down the nomination for Collapsing Empire. It is very good (my favorite of his), but it’s not Broken Earth good.

Spin and OMW are both good but not great. Of the two, I found Spin to be more novel (and anyway, isn’t OMW a knockoff of some classic sci fi novel). I’m fairly certain Scalzi preferred to win for Redshirts which better captures his style anyway.

Anathem was probably a better choice in its year, but ( and I still enjoyed it immensely), Seveneves was a bit bloated. Anyway, Stephenson isn’t hurting for accolades. If one of his books was snubbed it’s Cryptonomicon, not Seveneves.

I’m going to check out the one about the unconscious intelligence. That sounds pretty interesting. Vinge’s winner from that year was fine but not his best.

1983. Asimov's terrible Fountain's Edge beat out Gene Wolf's Sword of the Lictor. The Book of the New Sun is one of the greatest series ever while anything after the original Fountain Trilogy in that series is dull and pointless.

I dont see the reasoning for Fantasy genre to be in the same awards as science fiction.
I can only surmise, it's because the author of the fantasy book winning the HUGO, couldn't win any fantasy awards.
I'm a fantasy genre main, so to me it seems redundant to combine 2 vastly different genres.

Children of Dune was tedious. I didn't even finish it.

Do you realize how challenging it is to accept literary recommendations
from someone who doesn't even know how to pronounce "Proust"...? :)

Great video, thank you. It reminds us why art is entirely subjective. I LOVE Old Man's War. And, having read them all, Old Man's War is Scalzi's only great book and I would argue several of them are throwaways. Collapsing Empire is just ok.

PHM is very good. I've re-read it and enjoyed it upon re-reading. It holds up. But I've read the Martian many times over the years. Absolutely brilliant once in a lifetime home run by Mr. Weir.

The Collapsing Empire wasn't perfect but it was a pretty amazing series. I only wish it was longer

Considering the high weirdness surrounding the Hugos this last year, it will be a while before winning a Hugo means anything again.

first time viewer here. what an awesome channel you have, i predict this channel will soon take off seriously, do you hear me algorithm-god

Its no great surprise that the list of books that didn't win but should is compressed into the last 10-15 years;; it's not been about what's the actual best book for quite some time.

While I’d agree the Anathem should definitely have won the Hugo in 2009, you can easily argue that every other shortlisted title that year deserved the Hugo more than the Graveyard Book, Saturn’s Children is fantastic and so is Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. Thinking about it you could also say the same about 2006; Spin is a really good book, but it was up against Old Man’s War, Charles Stross’ Accelerando and A Feast for Crows!

Seconded on Anathem, it really should have won.

IS Ilium better than Hyperion?

IS Anathem better than Snowcrash?

Death's End philosopy IS "duck And Cover"

It's worth noting that no male writer has won the award since Cixin Liu in 2014.

Project Hail Mary .. very very good

Totally agree re NK Jemisin vs. the collapsing empire. Ditto for Arkady Martine vs. Andy Weir. Such a weak and overhyped novel

Thanks so much! I've been looking for sensible recommendations since the Hugos became a politically tinged author popularity contest, and the suggestions of yours that I've read bode well for the rest. Off to do some serious reading. Cheers!

Project Hail Mary is for teenagers. Andy Weir should abandon bringing humor to his books. The guy isn’t funny at all. The Martian’s attempt at humor fell flat as well. If you enjoy dad jokes and average story telling Hail Mary is for you.

I read project hail mary and enjoyed it, but it was very "pop music" for me. Or like an action movie you could enjoy by turning your brain off. Im also not a snob or uber intelectual, i have read a few neal stphenson novels, and while i enjoyed them, some were hard work!

Want to really blow your mind, read The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (the author Ursula LeGuin called Sci-Fi's Joyce. The best Sci-Fi ever written. But buckle up because you're about to wade into the deep end of the pool. Think Gravity's Rainbow, In Search of Lost Time, or Finnegans Wake.

Dorf Does Space

+1,000,000,000 to Anathem. I can't understand why this isn't identified as a masterpiece of sci-fi.

The last couple years the Hugo winners and nominees have been terrible. With many getting nominated or winning just becuase the author or subject was woke. But then the Hugo has always been more about popularity than quality, Harry Potter won,that says it all.