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The bracket has been set! Round 1 has begun. Voting closes March 8th at 8:59PM PST.

View the full bracket

Here are the match-ups:

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
vs.
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

vote

---------------------------------

Control Point by Myke Cole
vs.
Malice by John Gwynne

vote

---------------------------------

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
vs.
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

vote

---------------------------------

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
vs.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

vote

---------------------------------

Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
vs.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

vote

---------------------------------

Sabriel by Garth Nix
vs.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

vote

---------------------------------

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
vs.
The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey

vote

---------------------------------

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
vs
God's War by Kameron Hurley

vote

Vote links aren't working right Rob, I'm going to the same one over and over.

Matches #2-6 is just Control Point v. The Malice.

Yeah I had a similar problem with the links but when I went to the "Polls" link on the right side of the screen, I could see them all properly. And I could click through to the "comments and details" for each match-up and they were correct.

Match 2 from that page: /poll/show/1...

Match 3: /poll/show/1...

Match 4: /poll/show/1...

Match 5: /poll/show/1...

Match 6: /poll/show/1...

Sorry..I'm playing Overwatch. I think they are all fixed now..

Thanks, terpkristin & Rob!

Glad I was able to make my votes. May the best books (that I voted for) win! ;-)

Thanks guys.

Thank you. Glad that Control Point is in the top 16.
Only two books I read, including God's War, which is excellent and pretty mindblowing, and Prince of Thorns. May the most worthy book win!

I like this and sort of hate it too. I think this pairing up is unfair as the two most popular books may be paired off before the final. I think we should vote on the top 16, then top 8 and then top 4 for a winner. Then again this is still fun!!

The problem with that is it would defeat the point of a March Madness like bracket.

I might have done the seeding a bit differently, but just like a Basketball bracket, you can argue about the seeding, but once the tournament starts, it's anyone's game.

I think regardless of who wins, there's is going to be a good pick next month. Obviously I'm biased about which I think should win though. :)

3 that I've already read, 2 That have been on my to read since forever, 2 that don't interest me at all, 3 that are "new" to me and look really interesting and no idea which is going to come out on top, fun. :)

Phil wrote: "I think this pairing up is unfair as the two most popular books may be paired off before the final.."

I think that's exactly as it should be.

Ooh, some of these are tough as both books sound interesting.

Wow my suggestion made it! I'm touched.

The two books I most favoured from the nominations are Howl's Moving Castle and Nine Princes in Amber.

Now is it wild speculation that because their brackets are next to each other then, assuming they survive, they are fated to face each other in a bracket of awesome fantasy doom?

I both love and hate how this event works...the excitement...the tension...the exponential to-read list!

I think I need to go have a lie down...with a good book...or two...

Theft of Swords is actually a compilation of two books at about 700 pages. Would we be reading both books or just the first one?

Robert wrote: "Theft of Swords is actually a compilation of two books at about 700 pages. Would we be reading both books or just the first one?"

I'd imagine you can just read the first one and stop if you want, or do both. I imagine there would be discussion threads for each story.

I'm not sure how they'd discuss it on the podcast. Probably in a similar fashion.

Of course we've done books that were themselves that long, so this at least would give people flexibility to stop after 1, and save the other for later.

Robert wrote: "Theft of Swords is actually a compilation of two books at about 700 pages. Would we be reading both books or just the first one?"

I'm shocked to read that its 700 pages long. It certainly doesn't feel that way when you read it. Its not a dense book like Gardens of the Moon or The Way of Kings might be considered

Out of all those I'm surprised to see that only 2 are on my TBR pile and 1 on my 'read' pile.

Do you have bracket fever? Unbound Worlds has a Cage Match bracket with some of your favorite Characters.

Plus, I dare anyone to stop after reading Tale One in Theft of Swords. I think I read every book by Michael J. Sullivan in about 3 weeks, the writing flows so nicely the pages just melt away.

Stephen wrote: "Plus, I dare anyone to stop after reading Tale One in Theft of Swords. I think I read every book by Michael J. Sullivan in about 3 weeks, the writing flows so nicely the pages just melt away. "

Really? I had no urge to continue after Theft of Swords. It's a book I would have liked a lot at 13 or 14, I think, but not so much now. When I think about it I only read the first of the two books...

The first story, is decent but nothing spectacular. Each story after gets better though. And I love Royce and Hadrian.

Plus the audio book narrator is fantastic. I did a similar thing as Stephen and blew through the series pretty quickly.

I've found them a nice change of pace from all the dark, gritty fantasy I'd been reading. But not every book will resonate the same with everyone else.

I really enjoyed "The Theft of Swords", but can't cheer for it, as it's up against the book I nominated ;-)

It's astounding. Time is fleeting. March Madness takes its toll.

Wow, I did good this year: 7 on my TBR, 2 on my Read and then the one I suggested! May the best book win!

Round 2!

Not until midnight tonight (or 9pm Pacific)...

Yeah. I'm not sure if Tom will be posting the new polls right away or what. I'm EST and I go to bed/get up early, so it'll be after I'm asleep.

My tentative plan is to post the final results in this thread and start a new thread with the (hopefully correct) links to the next round's match-ups tomorrow morning around 6am EST.

I forgot which side of the world I was on for a minute..

Well I went 4/8, not too bad, except all 4 that won are going against each other. Oh well.

I got 5. But most importantly, my nominated book The Invisible Library is through to round 2.

Now to beat Myke Cole :-)

3/8 - book i nominated (Prince of Thorns) lost, and Theft of Swords, which I think had the most seconds/thirds/...sixths also lost :|

Sky wrote: "3/8 - book i nominated (Prince of Thorns) lost, and Theft of Swords, which I think had the most seconds/thirds/...sixths also lost :|"

I'd never heard of Theft of Swords, but I thought it would definitely get to the finals. The great thing is, now this event has brought it to my attention , I'm definitely going to be reading it with or without the group!

I was shocked that "Theft of Swords" lost. It was a Semi-Finalist in last years March Madness and seemed pretty popular with members here.

It couldn't handle the pressure and choked. ;-)
Next year TOS. Keep trying :-)

It is a good book and well worth reading.

5/8

Damn. I really thought the Blue Sword would pull through.

Bummer about Theft of Swords, I was really hoping this would finally be the time this group read that. I guess I'll have to keep pushing for it another month.

I went 5/8 as well. I'll have a results post up shortly. In the meantime I've made the post for round 2. If you haven't already time to go vote again!

And the results are in:

View the full bracket


Round 1 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 2,460
Average Votes Cast: 307.5
Book With Most Votes: Howl's Moving Castle (194 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: Theft of Swords vs. The Invisible Library (325 Votes)
Largest Win: Howl's Moving Castle (79 Votes)
Smallest Win: The Library at Mount Char (15 Votes)
Average Win: 40 votes

---------------------------------


Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (151 Votes)
vs.
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (174 Votes)

Winner: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Total Votes: 325
Margin of Victory: 23

---------------------------------

Control Point by Myke Cole (160 Votes)
vs.
Malice by John Gwynne (138 Votes)

Winner: Control Point by Myke Cole
Total Votes: 298
Margin of Victory: 22

---------------------------------

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (176 Votes)
vs.
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (129 Votes)

Winner: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Total Votes: 305
Margin of Victory: 47

---------------------------------

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (163 Votes)
vs.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (148 Votes)

Winner: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Total Votes: 311
Margin of Victory: 15

---------------------------------

Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber (122 Votes)
vs.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal (188 Votes)

Winner: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Total Votes: 310
Margin of Victory: 66

---------------------------------

Sabriel by Garth Nix (162 Votes)
vs.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (140 Votes)


Winner: Sabriel by Garth Nix
Total Votes: 302
Margin of Victory: 22

---------------------------------

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny (173 Votes)
vs.
The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey (127 Votes)

Winner: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
Total Votes: 300
Margin of Victory: 46

---------------------------------

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (194 Votes)
vs
God's War by Kameron Hurley (115 Votes)

Winner: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Total Votes: 309
Margin of Victory: 79

Only one of my original picks still in so now I'm going to have to be strategic and vote against the ones I defiantly don't want to read:)

^^ Wow, that is a lot of audience participation! Nice.

John (Taloni) wrote: "^^ Wow, that is a lot of audience participation! Nice."

Yeah. For comparison, the average vote count for a poll in the first round last year was 193 and the final round vote had only 276 votes.

So that's over a 100 person jump from last year in the first round, and participation went up with every round.

The nomination thread seemed very active this year. I think that probably helped the numbers.

Thanks for the great organization Rob, that hasn't hurt either.

Crap, Veronica's Boy Toy beat my choice Malice despite having the best two dog in their author picture, John Gwynne. Combo of Cat and Beefcake lovers.

You're welcome.

This group is quite large, and I try to make sure time-sensitive group info is easy to find/see as soon it's been announced. Sometimes that's the podcast, sometimes twitter, or sometimes the Patreon site. Plus every now and again Veronica will stealthily add the book to the goodreads shelf.

That's why I started doing the book announcement threads even before I was a moderator. Every month we'd have dozens of people asking in a few threads (often the What else are you reading thread?) what the book was/if it had been announced yet.

Now, people seem to know to look out for the book announcement thread, and it gives them a place to talk about it before the month starts. Sometimes I even get beaten to the punch by other members who find out what the pick is before I do.

Plus now that I'm a moderator, I can add the book to the group shelf so it shows up at the top if I wasn't already there.

I felt like last year it was easy to miss the polls/match-ups, especially on the weeks when there wasn't a podcast for Tom & Veronica to mention it. So this year I went a little overboard. :-D

It probably helps that I like statistics and to organize things..

There was at least one face-off that I thought would be very one-sided, but other than the last one, they all were fairly balanced!