The 2023 Hugo Awards for Science Fiction & Fantasy

Winner (Novel): Named a best fantasy novel of 2022 by Vulture, Nettle and Bone follows a princess's journey to complete three impossible tasks and save her sister from the clutches of an abusive prince. Vulture’s Emily Hughes praised it as, “morbid but funny, cozy but with real danger at its heart... the fairy tale this year needed."

Winner (Novella): In the latest novella from Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, which took home last year’s Hugo Award for best series, we venture to Whitethorn Institute – a boarding school where students who’ve been exposed to magic are reformed. But try as the faculty might, these students won’t accept their repression without a fight.

Winner (Series): While he was also nominated for Best Novella, Adrian Tchaikovsky is best known for his Children of Time series, which is focused around humanity’s fight for survival on planet which was long ago terraformed by a generation from humanity’s glorious distant past. This is the first book in the series.

Finalist: This historical sci-fi tale is a reimagining of H. G. Wells’ famed 1896 book The Island of Doctor Moreau set in nineteenth-century Mexico. This time we follow the daughter of the enigmatic doctor from the original story, as the island’s delicate equilibrium is broken by the son of Dr. Moreau's patron, whose arrival sets of an unpredictable series of events. Danielle Trussoni said in the New York Times, “The imagination of Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a thing of wonder.”

Finalist: This year's winner of the 2023 Locus Award, The Kaiju Preservation Society, is set in a pandemic ridden New York City and follows Jamie Gray, a food delivery driver, who one day happens to make a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works for "an animal rights organization” – only these animals are not from this world. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Tom Shippey called it “a great romp all the way through, with undertones of self-mockery and satire.”

Finalist: "Sweet, kind, and cozy. Perfect for reading in a noisy, scary world," is what former Hugo Award finalist Blue Neustifter had to say about this debut novel, which was also a finalist for the Nebula Award. The story follows an orc swordsman's journey from slaying horrific monsters to running a hit coffee shop in the fantastical city of Thune.

Finalist: Readers have gone rabid for the goth adventures of the Locked Tomb series by Locus Award winner Tamsyn Muir. Publishers Weekly called this third installment, which also received a Nebula nomination, a "characteristically brilliant" next chapter which will keep readers on the edge of their seats. "Nona’s lovely, simple, and occasionally silly voice works especially well in juxtaposition with the dark, dense backdrop of the series so far, creating a riveting contrast.”

Finalist: In former Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal’s, The Spare Man, inventor and heiress Tesla Crane is enjoying a serene honeymoon aboard an interplanetary space liner when her spouse is wrongly accused of murder. She must use her wit, charm, and her loyal service dog to free her lover and catch the real killer.

Finalist: Winner of the Nebula Award for best novella, this 145 page fantastical noir tale, follows a magical detective who must track down Chicago’s most notorious serial killer, the White City Vampire, in order to secure the future with the woman she loves.

Finalist: Also a Locus and Lambda finalist, in this novella we journey with the wandering cleric, Chih, as they search for a notorious group of near-immortal martial artists who torment the riverlands. On the way, Chih becomes more entangled in the land’s past and present than they had ever intended.