Fantasy Book Critic: The 2010 Arthur Clarke Award Shortlist

In a recent post I presented the forty one novels submitted and accepted by the organizers as well as my choice for a shortlist. Now the six novels selected for the shortlist have been announced and they are:

Spirit, Gwyneth Jones (Gollancz)

The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan)

Yellow Blue Tibia, Adam Roberts (Gollancz)

Galileo's Dream, Kim Stanley Robinson (HarperCollins)

Far North, Marcel Theroux (Faber & Faber)

Retribution Falls, Chris Wooding (Gollancz)

I read five of them and browsed the sixth enough to know that I am not interested which was not a surprise since the prose of KS Robinson does not work for me.

My clear choice for a winner is Spirit - free pdf from the author HERE - and it has been my number one choice for the shortlist too. I liked Retribution Falls quite a lot but I think it's more fantasy than sf, while Yellow Blue Tibia is excellent too. I was not bowled over by Far North which I liked but somehow it did not resonate with me that much and the last part with its Strugatsky Brothers overtones just made me appreciate the original Roadside Picnic better so to speak...

I talked enough about why I felt The City & The City fell apart in the second half and is only half of a great book, but for a crime fiction fan the book is ok in the second part, though again it is very disappointing sf-nally.

All in all a great shortlist since whatever my reservations about the Mieville novel and my dislike of KS Robinson' style, both novels have the weight to be included. Congratulations to the six authors selected!!