The Sword and Laser discussion

Round 2 complete. Round 3 has begun! Voting closes March 22nd at 8:59PM PST.

View the Full Bracket: here
Summary of Round 2: here
Summary of Round 1: here

Here are the match-ups:

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
vs.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

vote

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

Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
vs.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

vote

Well round 2 was poor, all my choices lost.....

Adam wrote: "Well round 2 was poor, all my choices lost....."

Mine too. :(

A couple were toss ups for me - I was pulling for Nine Princes in Amber, and can see why Howl's Moving Castle beat it. I don't see how Sabriel loses to Ghost Talkers though - Sabriel has a 4.17 rating on 142,000 reviews. Ghost Talkers a 3.89 on 1,500. (I like MRK too - just had never read any Nix)

David wrote: "I don't see how Sabriel loses to Ghost Talkers though - Sabriel has a 4.17 rating on 142,000 reviews. Ghost Talkers a 3.89 on 1,500."

I don't have any data to back this up, but when we have input on the monthly pick, I think Sword & Laserites usually choose more recently published books. Perhaps because they are already in our TBR piles?

Mark wrote: "David wrote: "I don't see how Sabriel loses to Ghost Talkers though - Sabriel has a 4.17 rating on 142,000 reviews. Ghost Talkers a 3.89 on 1,500."

...Perhaps because they are already in our TBR piles? "

That's probably part of it plus how well the author is presently known. I also wonder if you look at the number of reviews if that means people have already read it and how does that effect voting? Do people vote against a book they've already read to read something new?

Maybe because Sabriel has been discussed recently in another group and people seemed to be lukewarm about it.

My only vote that made it through is only Ghosttalkers. Bring it on!

Goodreads scores are never indicative of how votes like this will turn out. She's been on the show before, does the Writing Excuses podcast, and is popular. I was rooting for Sabriel, but as I said in the other thread, I thought it was a longshot. I'm not exactly torn up she won.

I'd have happily read any of the 16 books in the bracket, or well most of them. A few of them I've read already, and probably wouldn't do a reread. Although I was considering it for Theft of Swords.

So even though the tournament hasn't gone my way, I'm still good with whatever ends up winning. Plus I may read a few of those that won't.

It's funny how most commenters here are saying the votes aren't going your way BUT the votes obviously went the right way for most people or those books wouldn't have won. Lesson in statistics in there somewhere I'm sure.

Anyway, I, like Rob was excited to read any of the 16, but I did have a couple favorites and while I don't want to sway anyone by saying who, I have one of the final four that I've been pulling for from the start. But again, all four of these look interesting to me.

May a book win!

I feel like I win either way. If a book I want to read wins, great. If a book I've already read wins, great. If a book I really don't want to read* wins, then I get to listen to the podcast, and that's more likely to change my mind than reviews ever do.

*The only book left of the four I selfishly DON'T want to read is Howl's Moving Castle, for the ridiculous reason that I enjoy the Ghibli film so much, I'd rather not compare it and find either wanting.

But that's ridiculous, and I should probably read it. (I also sort of expect it to win the final)

Darren wrote: " I enjoy the Ghibli film so much, I'd rather not compare it and find either wanting. ..."

Howl is the one and only case where I think the film and the book are equally good - and I think they are both beautiful. The events vary, but both book and film share the same flavour of wonder, enchantment and...I can't avoid using the word...beauty that really make it feel like the two are twins - both starting with the same ingredients, with many similar traits, but each uniquely wonderful in it's own way.

The discussions on the film-movie thing would be great methinks.

I have yet to meet someone who has seen the movie and read the book and not loved both...but sorry if I fanboyed too enthusiastically, I love Studio Ghibli and I love the book so it's kind of the perfect storm for me :-)

William wrote: "Darren wrote: " I enjoy the Ghibli film so much, I'd rather not compare it and find either wanting. ..."

Howl is the one and only case where I think the film and the book are equally good - and I ..."

The movie seems to be available on DVD and BluRay/DVD disc. Does anyone know if it is available for streaming?

If Howl wins, maybe we should do the collected essays of Miyazaki as an alternate pick.

Mark wrote: The movie seems to be available on DVD and BluRay/DVD disc. Does anyone know if it is available for streaming?

Doesn't seem like it is on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon. But the DVD is currently $9.99 on Amazon and blu-ray/DVD combo $12.99.

Tom wrote: "It's funny how most commenters here are saying the votes aren't going your way BUT the votes obviously went the right way for most people or those books wouldn't have won. Lesson in statistics in t..."

Or it's totally rigged and the former moderator wiretapped Rob and hundreds of illegal voters from another group have poured over the border to change these selections which is why we all demanded a big, beautiful, great firewall. Bigly! Sad!

So.... we build a wall and make... VF pay for it?

Tom wrote: "So.... we build a wall and make... VF pay for it?"

Heh. And which side will get Veronica's allegiance?

I got all four of my book choices in this bracket....hmmm what to pick now?

Joyce wrote: "I got all four of my book choices in this bracket....hmmm what to pick now?"

You want me to pick for you?

From my experience, none of the Studio Ghibli films are available for streaming. I bought all the DVDs and loaded onto my Plex server for streaming needs.

FINAL ROUND!

My nomination is into the final :-)

I expect "Howl's Moving Castle" will win though.

Two of my favorites won, both books I wanted to read for a long time as well. Now there's only the problem which one of them I want to read even more than the other.

Well I went 2/2 in this round, but it was a tough choice. I'm still not sure what I'll vote for in the final.

Here are the results for Round 3.

Participation is slightly up (~8 people) in Round 3 compared to Round 2, but still far behind round 1 (~34 people).

View the full bracket here

Tournament Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 4,051
Average Votes Cast: 289.4
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 Invisible Library (13 Votes) (Round 3)
Average Win: 34.5 votes

Round 3 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 547
Average Votes Cast: 273.5
Book With Most Votes: Howl's Moving Castle (149 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: Howl's Moving Castle vs. Mary Robinette Kowal (278 Votes)
Largest Win: Howl's Moving Castle (20 Votes)
Smallest Win: The Invisible Library (13 Votes)
Average Win: 16.5 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 (141 Votes)
vs.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (128 Votes)

Winner: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Total Votes: 269
Margin of Victory: 13

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

Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal (129 Votes)
vs.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (149 Votes)

Winner: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Total Votes: 278
Margin of Victory: 20