The Sword and Laser discussion

Round 1 complete! Round 2 has begun. Voting closes March 15th at 8:59PM PST.

View the Full Bracket: here
Summary of Round 1: here

Here are the match-ups:

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
vs.
Control Point by Myke Cole

vote

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

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
vs.
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

vote

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

Sabriel by Garth Nix
vs.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

vote

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

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
vs.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

vote

Will Round 3 be a battle of the libraries?

I have clear favorites in rounds 1, 2 and 4, so this one was fairly easy for me.

Has the full bracket been updated? I'd like a complete picture of the results of Round 1...

Update: Nevermind, I found the results on the last post of the Round 1 thread.

I put a direct link to my round 1 results post in the OP for this thread as well.

Paulo wrote: "Has the full bracket been updated? I'd like a complete picture of the results of Round 1...

Update: Nevermind, I found the results on the last post of the Round 1 thread."

Sorry for the delay on the full bracket update. I fell asleep. Thank goodness I scheduled the polls!

Brackets on swordandlaser.com now updated.

It's kind of cool how we have a "book-related" sectional and a "not book-related" sectional.

And just like the NCAA we have one team in a sectional that doesn't make sense "Control Point in the book-related) Like when a California team gets put in the east regional.

Tom wrote: "It's kind of cool how we have a "book-related" sectional and a "not book-related" sectional.

And just like the NCAA we have one team in a sectional that doesn't make sense "Control Point in the bo..."

Too much big publisher money in the S&L tournament forcing Control Point to travel!

Rob wrote: "Too much big publisher money in the S&L tournament forcing Control Point to travel! "

Ha!

Man, I'd be happy to read ANY of these books! The only one I've already read is Ghost Talkers and I loved it. Can't wait to see what moves on to Round 3. :)

I've read Sabriel, Library at Mount Char, Howl's Moving Castle, Control Point, and Ghost Talkers and loved them all. A bit disappointing for me that they made it to round 2, but I think any of them would be truely fantastic picks for the book group.

kafanyu wrote: "The only ones I've read are Nine Princes in Amber and Howl's Moving Castle, and since they're up against each other the chances are pretty good that I'll get to read something new. So many good cho..."

I've read them both too, and they are sooooooo gooooood! I'd love to reread them both with the group. Can't they both win, please?

(I'll post chocolate to Tom and Veronica ;-) )

Tom wrote: "It's kind of cool how we have a "book-related" sectional and a "not book-related" sectional.

And just like the NCAA we have one team in a sectional that doesn't make sense "Control Point in the bo..."

The lower sectional is "resurrection".

Too many good books!!

Reminder, round 2 ends tonight at 8pm PST.

Some very interesting picks here. The only one I had trouble with was Sabriel vs Ghost Talkers. Both sound very interesting! Was a tough choice.

Battle of the libraries!

I only picked 1 winner, but it was my nomination.
It beat lightweight Myke Cole ;-)

Through to the Semi-Finals :-)

I'm excited, all but one of my favorites made it to the next round and the one that didn't was the one I didn't care so much about. This is going well for me.

Well, this is fun - but I'm a little disappointed that in a group with thousands of members we can only rustle up a couple of hundred people to vote.

Tassie Dave wrote: "I only picked 1 winner, but it was my nomination.
It beat lightweight Myke Cole ;-)

Through to the Semi-Finals :-)"

I think I went 2/4

2/4 as well. I was really rooting for Sabriel, though I knew it was always a longshot.

Here are the results for Round 2. Participation actually dropped between rounds this year. I guess about 45 people lost interest in the tournament after their favorite lost in round 1? I'll be curious to see if things pick back up in round 3 or 4. Round 1 still had the biggest/smallest wins of the tournament, and most participation in a single poll.

View the full bracket here

Tournament Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 3,504
Average Votes Cast: 292
Book With Most Votes: ] Howl's Moving Castle (194 Votes) (Round 1)
Match-up With Most Votes: Theft of Swords vs. The Invisible Library (325 Votes) (Round 1)
Largest Win: Howl's Moving Castle (79 Votes) (Round 1)
Smallest Win: The Library at Mount Char (15 Votes) (Round 1)
Average Win: 44 votes

Round 2 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 1,044
Average Votes Cast: 261.25
Book With Most Votes: The Invisible Library (170 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: The Invisible Library vs. Control Point (267 Votes)
Largest Win: The Invisible Library (73 Votes)
Smallest Win: The Library at Mount Char (37 Votes)
Average Win: 47 votes

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

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


The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman (170 Votes)
vs.
Control Point by Myke Cole (97 Votes)

Winner: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Total Votes: 267
Margin of Victory: 73

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

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (146 Votes)
vs.
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (109 Votes)

Winner: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Total Votes: 255
Margin of Victory: 37

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

Sabriel by Garth Nix (111 Votes)
vs.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal (151 Votes)

Winner: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Total Votes: 262
Margin of Victory: 40

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

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny (111 Votes)
vs.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (150 Votes)

Winner: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Total Votes: 261
Margin of Victory: 39

Darren wrote: "2/4 as well. I was really rooting for Sabriel, though I knew it was always a longshot."

I was rooting for it, because I own it already. lol. Ah well, I guess I'll just have to read it on my own now.

Rob wrote: "Sabriel by Garth Nix (151 Votes)
vs.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal (111 Votes)

Winner: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Total Votes: 262
Margin of Victory: 40"

What the shit? ;)

It didn't lose as badly as Control Point

It's the other way round, Sabriel got 111 votes and Ghost Talkers got 151.

oh. well he could have been more apparent. I did that at like 6am this morning..

I'm 50/50 so far.

50% for me too.

100%.

I am clairvoyant, AMA.

Rob wrote: "oh. well he could have been more apparent. I did that at like 6am this morning.."

Could I have?

David wrote: "100%.

I am clairvoyant, AMA."

What brand of hoodie is my dog wearing?

Darren wrote: "What brand of hoodie is my dog wearing?"

Reply hazy, try again later.

Darren wrote: "Rob wrote: "oh. well he could have been more apparent. I did that at like 6am this morning.."

Could I have?"

Yeah. By saying something like:

Anne wrote: "It's the other way round, Sabriel got 111 votes and Ghost Talkers got 151."

:-D

I thought you were just lamenting that Sabriel lost, I completely skimmed over the fact that the numbers were backwards, even though they were in bold. I thought you were making a point about the difference between them.

Oh well, it's not a big deal, I fixed it. Sorry about that.

Rob wrote: "Darren wrote: "Rob wrote: "oh. well he could have been more apparent. I did that at like 6am this morning.."

Could I have?"

Yeah. By saying something like:

Anne wrote: "It's the other way round..."

The wink smiley also was meant to show I was kidding/teasing. You're doing an excellent job, Rob. Best mod we've had here, by leaps and bounds.

David wrote: "Darren wrote: "What brand of hoodie is my dog wearing?"

Reply hazy, try again later."

*inserts quarter*

Gonna run out of change, soon...

Darren wrote: "Rob wrYou're doing an excellent job, Rob. Best mod we've had here, by leaps and bounds. ..."

Thanks.

Darren wrote: "You're doing an excellent job, Rob. Best mod we've had here, by leaps and bounds. "

Do you not listen to the podcast? Don't encourage Rob, he's trying to take over the world!

Trike wrote: "Darren wrote: "You're doing an excellent job, Rob. Best mod we've had here, by leaps and bounds. "

Do you not listen to the podcast? Don't encourage Rob, he's trying to take over the world!"

Haha. Actually, Veronica is the one who gave me the suggestion on what to say. I told her I would make an intro, but I had no idea what to say.

I tweaked her wording a bit IIRC, but the hostile takeover thing was definitely her idea.

Rob wrote: "the hostile takeover thing was definitely her idea"

The old "Nuremberg Defence" excuse.

We're on to you Rob ;-)

She just sets them up to knock them down.