Battle of the 2014 Books, Bracket One :: Wrap-up

We have completed Fantastic Reviews Bracket One of the Battle of the 2014 Books.  There were plenty of good book battles along the way.  Hope you enjoyed our reviews of samplings of these books!

Congratulations to The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley, book one of Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, as winner of Bracket One of the Battle of the 2014 Books!  Let's give a round of applause for all the participating books!

To see the whole completed bracket, click here.

All sixteen of these 2014 books are now available.  Listed below are the featured books, sorted alphabetically by author.  Click on the book title links to go that book's most recent book battle review.

Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci
Raven’s Shadow by Elspeth Cooper
Into the Wilderness by Mandy Hager
Mentats of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson
Motherless Child by Glen Hirshberg
Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson
Damn Zombies by Patrick MacAdoo
The Last Weekend by Nick Mamatas
Empress of the Sun by Ian McDonald
The Talent Sinistral by L.F. Patten
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
The Barrow by Mark Smylie
The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton
The Dagger of Trust by Chris Willrich

Some of these books and authors may be new to you, but after reading Aaron's book descriptions and battle reviews, I hope some of them sparked your interest.  Perhaps we introduced you to a few new books and authors.  Only one book can win each battle, and only one book can win the bracket, but there were many good books in the competition.

Battle of the Books match-ups are decided based on reading a sample of the book.  Most upon reading a mere 25 pages or 50 pages.  So if a good book starts slow, in this review format, it may face an uphill battle.  These matches are inherently subjective.  These battles were decided based on which book the reviewer, Aaron, would rather continue reading.

Stay tuned for Bracket Eight of the Battle of the 2012 Books.  Another sixteen books are lined up for this competition.  These are books we received earlier, but hadn't had the time to review yet because of real life getting in our way.  We're valiantly working to whittle down our backlog of books.  Aaron will be judging and reviewing this new bracket.  We'll be announcing the books which will be featured as our next group of contenders soon.