Have you read The Thief or The Queen of Attolia? Also v. good.

Another book I can't stop raving about--The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman. Which was not on the Norton list, but still...awesome.

I haven't read The Thief or Queen of Attolia, but now I want to. I read King of Attolia first to see how it stood alone, but I could tell there were things that would have meant more if I'd read the first two books.

I found the Foretelling okay. Didn't blow me away, but I did like it--and have pretty much liked everything by Alice Hoffman that I've tried, so far.

So many good books out there. :-)

Can you post this to BeyondTheLampPost?

That's a good idea! I ought to think about cross-posting there more often!

From this year, I've read Life As We Knew It, Midnighters, and Peeps. From last year, I've read Valiant.

I'm cranky that I never even saw/noticed/heard of the other three finalists from last year. I try very hard to keep up to date on these things, and still.... :<

I guess it's like the Nebulas and Hugos, where the ones on the ballot are things I never read and barely heard of. Bah!

The thing is, YA is huge--it's hard to keep track, and not all the fantasy books are cross-marketed within the adult fantasy genre. It's easy to lose track of many of them, which is one reason I think having the Norton ballot is a cool thing.

I'd read four of the six, but to be fair, the three added by the membership I read when I was on the jury last year. Life As We Knew It was recommended during a panel at World Fantasy, so I sought that one out; I'd heard talk of Megan Whelan Turner's books, but hadn't gotten to reading them. And Devilish I'd not heard of at all, so it was really cool to discover it through the ballot.

Of this year's nominees, I've read Peeps, LAWKI, and I have Devilish on order only the library has been tres slow in sending it. That's a pretty good ratio considering my unlove of fantasy and SF (but OMG, how could anyone NOT like Peeps?).

I also find it interesting that two of those books are sequels, and four of them are books in a series.

Do rave about Devilish. The concept sounds fantastic, and I did love 13 Little Blue Envelopes.

You may well like Devilish--it's much more grounded in the school and life details than the fantasy details, and in many ways doesn't feel like a fantasy. In some ways, it's the sort of teen dealing with school and best friend and boyfriend book that I often don't like--except it's done so well, and the characters are well drawn, and the normal characters, who maybe aren't as talented (in a non-magical sense) as our protagonist are nonetheless treated with respect. And it's funny--the protagonist has the sort of voice that carries one through.

And even if one looks at it as a demon-slaying sort of book, the people who have to confront the demons don't have any Buffy-like abilities to help them out. They very much have to do the things they do manage to do as humans.

I got my copy from the library, actually, but it took longer to get than King of Attolia, I think because the Tucson library system only ordered a couple copies. I'm hoping that will change now. :-)

I haven't read 13 Little Blue Envelopes, but am thinking now I need to.

The sequel-ness of The King of Attolia actually did make the book work not as well as it might have otherwise for me. I liked it, but I had the feeling I would have liked it more if I'd read The Thief and The Queen of Attolia first. It's one that I think probably will appeal more to those who already enjoy fantasy, but it was well done.

Devilish is wonderful, isn't it? I could not put it down. I've loved all Maureen's books, but Devilish is my fave. What can I say? I'm a genre girl and it's her one genre book.

I really really hope the sfwa membership makes an effort to read all the books on the shortlist and not just vote for the names they recognise because as you say it's an awesome list. I'm really proud to be on it. (As was last year's.)

Were I a sfwa member I'd be voting for King of Attolia. I know it probably doesn't stand alone, but I will never know because I always read it straight after the other two books. The whole trilogy is an extraordinary achievement, awesome world building, gorgeously and elegantly written and it hits every one of my buttons. Plus I really don't think it's gotten the attention it deserves. (Only if it were selling like the Harry Potter books would it be getting its due). I would so love for Whalen Turner to take out the Norton.

Devilish was wonderful--and since it was the one book on the ballot I hadn't heard of at all, it was wonderful to discover it. Must go read her other books now.

I need to think hard about my vote--it's rare to not have a single book that I don't like on a ballot! (And I still love Magic or Madness, too, which I might not have met if not for my own year on the jury!)

(I have The Thief now on hold for me at the local library, because it's clear I do need to read the rest of the series!)

Yes, it truly is an awesome list of books. :)

Yeah, I've really enjoyed reading them!