4) Wintersmith
The latest Terry Pratchett to appear in paperback, continuing his Tiffany Aching series after A Hat Full of Sky. This is a tremendously accomplished novel. Thirteen-year-old Tiffany’s struggles with her own imminent adulthood are beautifully contrasted with the Wintersmith’s attempt to become human, and with Tiffany’s rival Annagramma’s attempts to become a real witch. As ever, Pratchett’s basic message is a very human and compassionate one.
This is all combined with his usual firecracker wit, and although there are also plenty of vignettes from the characters in the previous books of his Witches sub-sequence, I think even a reader who had read none of the previous Discworld novels would enjoy this.
The Colour of Magic | The Light Fantastic | Equal Rites | Mort | Sourcery | Wyrd Sisters | Pyramids | Guards! Guards! | Eric | Moving Pictures | Reaper Man | Witches Abroad | Small Gods | Lords and Ladies | Men at Arms | Soul Music | Interesting Times | Maskerade | Feet of Clay | Hogfather | Jingo | The Last Continent | Carpe Jugulum | The Fifth Elephant | The Truth | Thief of Time | The Last Hero | The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents | Night Watch | The Wee Free Men | Monstrous Regiment | A Hat Full of Sky | Going Postal | Thud! | Wintersmith | Making Money | Unseen Academicals | I Shall Wear Midnight | Snuff | Raising Steam | The Shepherd’s Crown
134 of the 400 first preference votes for Girl Genius did not transfer to any other nominee, and another 11 put ‘No Award’ next. (The other categories with a similar pattern of plumping for the winner were Best Related Work, where 126 of the 380 votes for Chicks Dig Time Lords did not transfer and another 7 went to No Award; Best Fan Artist where 145 of Brad Foster’s 179 first preferences did not transfer and another 27 went to No Award; and Best Editor Long Form where 111 of Lou Anders’ 207 votes had no further preference and four went to No Award.)
Well done to the Foglios for capturing the imagination of the participating Hugo voter. But I must say I find the Eisner Awards a better source of inspiration for my dabblings in the graphic medium.