Borderline, by Mishell Baker
Second paragraph of third chapter:That song had been silent ever since, silent until Caryl brought it back, and I bitterly regretted telling Dr. Davis about her. After a year spent following orders and eating institutional food, a dose of reality was exactly the last thing I needed.
I got this back in 2017 when it was a Nebula finalist, but only now got around to reading it. As with the October Daye books by Seanan McGuire, I completely bounced off the core concept of a Celtic otherworld conveniently located on the US West Coast, with no visible representation from other less foreign supernatural traditions. However it has some positive aspects as well - the protagonist has disabilities both visible (double amputee) and invisible (borderline personality disorder, hence the title), and this is very emotionally effectively portrayed. It was beaten for the Nebula by All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders ( which I loved, but could not say so at the time as I was Hugo administrator), also a finalist for the World Fantasy Award (beaten by The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North, which I also loved) and the Tiptree Award (beaten by When the Moon Was Ours, by Anna-Marie McLemore, which I have not read yet). First of a trilogy which was shortlisted as a whole for the Mythopoeic Award (but beaten by Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik, which got my second preference for the Hugos last year). You can get it here.
This was my top unread book acquired in 2017. Next on that list is Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, by Nick Mason, which has really climbed up the LibaryThing charts this year - back in January, there were two dozen books on my 2017 list between it and Borderline.
I got this back in 2017 when it was a Nebula finalist, but only now got around to reading it. As with the October Daye books by Seanan McGuire, I completely bounced off the core concept of a Celtic otherworld conveniently located on the US West Coast, with no visible representation from other less foreign supernatural traditions. However it has some positive aspects as well - the protagonist has disabilities both visible (double amputee) and invisible (borderline personality disorder, hence the title), and this is very emotionally effectively portrayed. It was beaten for the Nebula by All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders ( which I loved, but could not say so at the time as I was Hugo administrator), also a finalist for the World Fantasy Award (beaten by The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North, which I also loved) and the Tiptree Award (beaten by When the Moon Was Ours, by Anna-Marie McLemore, which I have not read yet). First of a trilogy which was shortlisted as a whole for the Mythopoeic Award (but beaten by Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik, which got my second preference for the Hugos last year). You can get it here.
This was my top unread book acquired in 2017. Next on that list is Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, by Nick Mason, which has really climbed up the LibaryThing charts this year - back in January, there were two dozen books on my 2017 list between it and Borderline.