The Nominees
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Humans by Robert J. Sawyer
Ilium by Dan Simmons
Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
The Actual Results
- Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
- Ilium by Dan Simmons
- Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
- Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
- Humans by Robert J. Sawyer
How I Would Have Voted
- Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
Explanation
This was a decent year for science fiction (though I have to say, Fitzpatrick’s War came out in 2004, and it never got nominated for a Hugo at all, even though it’s far superior to any of the books that were nominated in 2004 or 2005). With that said, there’s really only one book on this ballot that I can positively vote for, and even that one isn’t Robert Charles Wilson’s best work.
I found it difficult to get into Paladin of Souls as a standalone, so I decided to start with the first book of the series. And I was enjoying it a lot, until midway through when the main character casually talks about how he was sexually initiated by a pederast, as the boy in a man-boy-love relationship. And while yes, I know that the ancient Greeks engaged in that sort of pederasty and though it was totally normal… but I don’t. So even though it was more of a passing worldbuilding detail, I decided to take a page out of that old 80s cockroach Mormonad and DNF the book:
That’s the thing about Louis McMaster Bujold: she’s a really great writer, and knows how to tell a really great story, but she also has a penchant for weird sexual stuff, which she indulges in by worldbuilding a culture that finds it totally normal. In her World of the Five Gods, it’s the pederasty, and in her Vorkosigan Saga, it’s the Betans with their free love attitude toward all things sexual. When I was younger, that didn’t bother me so much, but it bothers me now, and it’s enough to make me think twice before picking up one of her books—even one of her older books.
I didn’t read Humans because I DNFed the first book, not because it was bad, but because it never really hooked me. After finding myself about 50 pages in, without really caring about any of the characters, I just didn’t bother reading any further. But the premise seems interesting, so I suppose I could be convinced to give it another go. After all, I’ve read other books by Robert J. Sawyer that I enjoyed (in fact, I’m reading one right now).
I really wanted to like Ilium, because Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos was so amazingly good. However, I found myself vacillating between being totally confused about the basic premise of the book (it’s like Homer’s Iliad… on another planet? But with real Greeks and Trojans? In a simulation, I guess?) and disgusted with the main character, who introduces himself in chapter 1 by talking about how he did the jailbait wait for this underage girl he really had the hots for, and describing her pubic hair in vivid detail the first time he saw her naked.
As for Singularity Sky, I didn’t bother reading it, because I’ve read enough Charles Stross to know that can’t stand his particular brand of edgy cyberpunk nihilism.
Which brings me to Blind Lake. It was a good book, and I enjoyed it quite a lot, though it fell a little too far on the “huh?” side of weird. I really like Robert Charles Wilson’s writing, and I’m slowly working through his entire body of work. His Spin trilogy is some of the best science fiction I’ve ever read, though I think The Chronoliths is my favorite book of his so far. Blind Lake is good, but I think I liked Mysterium better, though that also was a bit of a “huh?” novel at parts. Mostly, I think the Big Lie in Blind Lake was a little too big to swallow, and not quite as flashy or as interesting as some of his other ones, like Spin and The Chronoliths. But the story that followed from it was on par with his other books.
Two thousand four was one of the last years where I can honestly say that I wouldn’t vote No Award over any of the books on the ballot. The only other year since then that I can say that of is 2013—every other year has been a contest between the stuff that’s actually good, and the stuff that’s downright terrible. At this point, it seems like the increasingly small and irrelevant clique that votes in the Hugo Awards has gone completely off the deep end, which is why I’ve already posted my “How I Would Vote Now” post for 2026, even though the awards haven’t happened yet.
