British Fantasy Awards 2020

[cupiscent]

Shortlists have been announced. How do we feel about these lists? I often feel that the BFAs are a less "erudite" sort of award, while still really digging out the excellence in the genre, and it's always nice to see how they compare and contrast with the more US-based awards.

In the fantasy-novel list:

The Bone Ships – RJ Barker (Orbit)
The Migration – Helen Marshall (Titan)
The Poison Song – Jen Williams (Headline)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E Harrow (Orbit)

I haven't heard of the Helen Marshall book before now. Has anyone read it?

[Peat]

I feel really too out of date to comment much, but it's full of names I recognise as being great. The only book I've read on that is The Bone Ships and I didn't love it as much as I'd like.

[jakepaulo32]

Has anyone read any of these books? Recently I'm more into old classics and Polish fantasy, but I haven't heard of these books. Are they actually worth reading?

[ScarletBea]

The Bone Ships – RJ Barker (Orbit) --> want to read
The Migration – Helen Marshall (Titan) --> haven't heard
The Poison Song – Jen Williams (Headline) ---> this is GREAT, hurrah!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E Harrow (Orbit) --> want to read


@jakepaulo32 , welcome to the forum!
Jen Williams' trilogy is very good, this is actually book 3 and the other 2 have won in the past years!
R.J Barker's book above is number 1 in a new series, but his other trilogy is also really good, I read it all this year.
But of course, this all depends on what you prefer! If you create a thread with the general types of books you like, we'll be able to give you recommendations from recent books.

[Alex Hormann]

Only book I've read on any list is James Brogden's Plague Stones, which i really enjoyed.

From the way it's cropping up on every list, i'll probably give Gideon the Ninth a go at some point, but I think it might be a bit to wacky for my tastes.

[cupiscent]

From the way it's cropping up on every list, i'll probably give Gideon the Ninth a go at some point, but I think it might be a bit to wacky for my tastes.

"Too wacky" is definitely a valid viewpoint on Gideon - Muir's voice is very strong and not for everyone. I like to remind people that they can read the first eight chapters for free on the Tor.com blog (starting over here) to see how they like the style before they commit.

[ScarletBea]

Wahey, RJ Barker's won

I've just bought books 1 and 2 of that series, but will only read them just before 3 is published in September hehe

[Elfy]

I've only read the Harrow and I wasn't as impressed by that as many were.

[CameronJohnston]

I'm super stoked that RJ Barker won! I loved his book, but it's also great to see a friend winning an award