Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Championship Round :: The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

We (finally!) present the championship of the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books, which pits The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis against The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Bassey and Cooper Moo. For this final match-up, I've read through page 200 of both books, and our winner will be the book I, Amy, want to keep on reading most.

The Coldest War: Tor Books, July 2012, 251 pages, volume two of The Milkwood Triptych, cover art by Chris McGrath. The Coldest War is a fantasy alternate history book set in 1963 after a different WWII. The Coldest War got to the finals by edging out Fair Coin by E.C. Myers in the first round, prevailing over Faith by John Love in the second round, and winning the semi-final match-up with Taft 2012 by Jason Heller.

Gretel and Klaus, who have Nazi-developed special abilities powered by batteries, escaped a high security Russian research facility. Gretel is a seer and Klaus can "ghost" through walls. In London, Gretel offered their former associate, Reinhardt, pieces of a battery blueprint for his help in her future schemes.

William Beauclerk, younger brother of the Duke of Aelred, was broken by the terrible things he did for Britain during WWII. Gwedolyn, who became his wife, helped him heal. Now William heads a foundation to improve relations between the UK and the USSR. Gwendolyn disapproves of Will speaking with the Russian cultural attaché because she suspects he is KGB. When it’s later revealed what Will has done, Gwendolyn is devastated and Will gets unwanted attention from both British and Soviet intelligence.

Gretel and Klaus turn themselves in to the Secret Intelligence Service. Gretel won’t talk until they bring in Raybould Marsh, who hasn’t worked for MI6 on Milkweed for years. Marsh, who lately has gone through difficult times, is rehired. Gretel informs SIS that the Soviets are killing Britain’s warlocks. She provides evidence that secret information has been leaked. British Intelligence tries unsuccessfully to detect and disrupt Russian spy communications.

The Soviets have reverse engineered the Reichsbehörde technology, and have at least one battery powered, super assassin. Klaus, who is tired of his sister’s machinations, volunteers to help Marsh and SIS trap and combat the Russian agent. They unfortunately learn that the assassin has improved special powers. Several fashionable London houses, plus their street, will need major repairs.

The Mongoliad: Book One: 47 North trade paperback, 448 pages. The Mongoliad was originally released in a serialized format online. Of the gang of seven authors, Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are well known science fiction writers, and Mark Teppo is the author of an urban fantasy series. The Mongoliad: Book One made it to the finals by overpowering Casting Shadows by J. Kelley Anderson in the first round, edging out The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen in the second round, and getting by Silver by Rhiannon Held in the semifinals.

The year is 1241, after the Mongol invaders have defeated combined European forces at the Battle of Legnica in Poland. Onghwe Khan issues a challenge for competitions between champions. Men of the Order of Shield-Brethren gather from many different lands near a ruined monastery. Cnán, a woman spy, brings a message from Illarion, an injured friend of theirs. Cnán guides the physician Raphael, Hunter Finn and young fighter Haakon on a rescue mission.

Illarion says that Onghwe Khan will not honor his word to spare Christendom if their champions can defeat the Mongols in the arena. Cnán mentions that all the Khans would depart for Mongolia upon the death of the Great Khan or Khagan. Feronantus decides to split the group. Some will remain to fight in the arena contests while Feronantus leads a group of twelve, including Cnán, east to Mongolia to assassinate the Khagan.

Later, Cnán discovers that one of their small group, Istvan, is taking vengeance on his private forays. Feronantus sends Percival, Eleázar and Raphael with Cnán to bring back Istvan. But Mongols are tracking Istvan as well. Near a river, and in the marshes, there are skirmishes. They find Istvan, but are outnumbered. The Mongols chase them.

Meanwhile in Mongolia, the Khagan, Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, is tired of dealing with bureaucrats. His brother sends a young warrior, Gansuhk, as an emissary to moderate Ögedei’s excessive drinking. The Chinese woman Lian is tasked with tutoring Gansuhk on how to behave at court. Gansuhk impresses Ögedei Khan with his bow hunting skills. Lian, who wants to learn how to fight, gets a archery lesson from Gansuhk. When an intruder is spotted at the palace, Gansuhk takes it upon himself to catch him.

Back in Poland, in the arena, the young fighter Haakon faces the Mongol champion Zug, whose gaudy armor makes him look like a demon. Haakon uses a greatsword, and Zug wields a polearm.

The Battle: We have two books containing historical aspects. The Mongoliad: Book One adds fiction to the known facts of the Mongol Invasion of Europe, while The Coldest War is a fantasy alternative history with Britain (not the USA) and the USSR fighting the Cold War.

The Coldest War started with three different story parts, those centered on Gretel and Klaus, William Beauclerk, and Marsh. Before I reached page 200, with the tension ratcheting up, they ended up together. Not that they like each other. In this quote, Pethick, as well as Marsh, are British intelligence.

     Pethick waited for the paneled door to latch shut with an audible click before addressing Marsh. "Just got an interesting message over the blower.  Our lamplighters down in Lyminster report that Ivan’s gone bughouse.  Started a few minutes ago.  The rats are abandoning ship."  He glanced at Klaus and Gretel, who still stood at the window.  "I think it worked."
     Will realized he hadn’t a clue what Pethick was talking about.  Nothing the man said made the least bit of sense.  And that only deepened the sense of terror, because Will was at the center of it all.  How had everything gone so utterly beyond his control?  He’d thought he finally put everything in his life right.  Yet now he didn’t know if he’d survive the week.  The carousel of life was spinning out of control, faster and faster, while Will’s sweaty fingers lost their grip an inch at a time.  Soon he’d be flung into the bushes, where lurked bears and demons.

The main characters in The Coldest War display intense yet believable emotions. They have depth, partly because this is book two of the series, and have scars from past events.

This book contains unsettling aspects. After page 100, I learned of the warlocks’ awful blood prices. And then there’s the creepy children in the basement.

The Mongoliad: Book One, upon reading 200 pages, left me with three separate unresolved situations. The party heading to Mongolia has a battle on their hands, Gansuhk is chasing a possible assassin, and Haakon is fighting a fearsome opponent in the arena. For fantasy epics, multiple points of view are the norm, but it made me realize which characters I cared about most.

This book has a horde of characters. Some seem to go in and out of the spotlight. Perhaps because the story is told frequently from Cnán’s point of view, about the group of adventurers, those parts worked best for me.

     Percival sidled away from the brambles, then halted, only dimly visible.  Cnán saw resolution in his posture.  "We shall rejoin Feronantus," he announced, as if this had always been obvious.
     "If we can find him, which I doubt," Eleázar said.  "We shall be leading the Mongols directly to the others."
     "Yes," Percival said,"and by the same token, we shall then have sufficient numbers to destroy them utterly."
     "It would be…polite, at the very least, to give Feronantus a bit of warning before leading a company of furious Mongols into his camp," Raphael pointed out.
     "I will ride ahead," Istvan began, spinning about on his roan, crashing through the brush – but faltered, as even he saw the fallacy.
     "Not in these woods," Eleázar said dryly.
     "Cnán shall go before us, swift and quiet, as always," Percival said, "and we shall trail behind, slowly and noisily.  Go now!"
     This was the moment at which she would have gladly abandoned them all to the fates they deserved had it not been for the startling detail of Percival staring straight and steady into her eyes as he gave her the order.  And so, grumbling, she led her pony between the trees.

In the parts featuring Lian and Gansuhk, I liked most of their banter. But I think Lian fell for Gansuhk unexplainably fast. The Khagan’s flashbacks were well done. And although I’m rooting for Haakon in the arena, and I know more about medieval weaponry than most women, martial combat and weapon technique admittedly isn’t a big wow for me.

The Mongoliad: Book One has good action, bloody confrontations, and nice touches of camaraderie and humor.

Both of these books are entertaining, but I want to finish The Coldest War more. I found it faster paced. For me, technology to walk through walls trumps medieval weaponry. Besides, The Coldest War left me hanging on the ending of the scene with the Russian assassin, arrgh!

THE WINNER: THE COLDEST WAR by Ian Tregillis

Congratulations to Ian Tregillis, who becomes our third Battle of the Books winner, after James Renner and Elizabeth Bear. We will feature The Coldest War in a full review at Fantastic Reviews, and we will also try to arrange an interview with Tregillis.

Stay tuned for the now somewhat misnamed Fall Bracket of the Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books, which Aaron will be judging.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Semifinal :: The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis vs. Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

The first semifinal of the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books matches The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis against Taft 2012 by Jason Heller. The book I most want to continue reading after 100 pages will advance to the championship round.

The Coldest War: Tor Books, July 2012, 251 pages, volume two of The Milkwood Triptych, cover art by Chris McGrath. The Coldest War is a fantasy alternate history book set in 1963 after a different WWII. The Coldest War got here by edging out Fair Coin by E.C. Myers in the first round, and prevailing over Faith by John Love in the second round.

Gretel and Klaus, who have Nazi-developed special abilities powered by batteries, escaped a high security Russian research facility. Gretel is a seer and Klaus can "ghost" through walls. They crossed Russian occupied Europe to England. In London, Gretel located their former associate, Reinhardt. Gretel offered to give Reinhardt pieces of a battery blueprint for his unspecified future help.

William Beauclerk, younger brother of the Duke of Aelred, is haunted by things he did for Britain during WWII. He heads a foundation to improve relations between the UK and the USSR. Will and his wife Gwendolyn are invited to a reception at the Russian embassy. Will has a private talk with the ambassador and the cultural attaché. Gwendolyn is uneasy because she suspects the attaché is KGB. Will regrets that he hasn't yet been entirely truthful with Gwendolyn. Will is hurt in a taxi accident.

Gretel and Klaus turn themselves in, in startling fashion, to the Secret Intelligence Service. Gretel won’t talk until they bring in Raybould Marsh, who hasn’t worked for MI6 for years and is currently down on his luck. Marsh isn’t exactly happy to meet Gretel again, but he’s secretly thrilled to be asked to return to intelligence work. Gretel informs them that the Soviets are killing Britain’s defending warlocks.

Taft 2012: Quirk Books paperback, June 2012, 249 pages, cover illustration by Doogie Horner. Jason Heller is a culture journalist and author. Taft 2012 is his first novel. Taft 2012 got here by defeating Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine in the first round, and overcoming Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper in the second round.

Former President William Howard Taft mysteriously appeared covered in mud at a White House press conference in 2011, almost a hundred years after he went missing. Taft's identity was confirmed by DNA tests and his knowing a secret presidential ID code.

Secret Service agent Kowalczyk runs Taft’s security, and Prof. Susan Weschler is his transition liaison. When Taft goes out, he is immediately recognized and mobbed like a rock star. Kowalczyk unsuccessfully tries to make Taft incognito.

Congresswoman Rachel Taft (Ind.-OH) invites her great-grandfather to Thanksgiving dinner in Cincinnati. There’s tension when Taft meets Rachel’s husband, who is African-American, but it’s broken by Rachel’s daughter happily calling Taft "grandpa". Their dinner includes Fulsom TurkEase, which is reconstituted turkey, and afterward almost everyone suffers severe indigestion.

Taft goes on a TV program, Raw Talk with Pauline Craig. He hopes to help Rachel’s cause. Pauline surprises Taft by announcing a new grassroots political party; the Taft Party. When leaving the studio, Taft is surrounded by reporters and supporters of his candidacy. Taft saves Susan from the crush of the unruly crowd.

The Battle: We have a fantasy alternative history set in 1963 going against political satire set in an alternative 2011 featuring a Republican President from a century ago.

Taft 2012 utilizes a man from the past to poke fun at society today.  President Taft is portrayed as a likable, grandfatherly man, humorously rolling with the changes. I liked that Taft visited with a 105-year-old woman because she remembered the old days.  Taft cleverly becomes a media celebrity, inspiring clip-on Taft mustaches and Taft dolls. This book is a fast read.

Here’s an excerpt about Taft complaining about makeup for his TV appearance:

      "Susan," said Taft once the shears had been stashed and the makeup artist had left. "I won't argue with you about the need for this" -- he waved his hands around his face -- "this peacockery. But there's something unnatural about it. Do all politicians in this day and age subject themselves to such ostentatious falseness? Do masks now make the man? Are we all thespians?"
     "Oh, really, Mr. Taft." Susan sipped her tea and shook her head. "When has politics not been theater? In any case, the makeup doesn't show on camera. It just makes you look . . . normal. More like yourself."
     Taft snorted. "This century's infatuation with irony knows no bounds, does it?"
     "Scoff all you want, but the outcome of at least one presidential election -- between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 -- was influenced by makeup. Or the lack thereof."

The Coldest War is, in my opinion, well written. The plot is developing in ways I didn't expect, such as when Gretel and Klaus turned themselves in. I like that Klaus is puzzled by Gretel's motivations. There's tension building and the characters display strong, believable emotions. That I can follow the book, when it’s book two in a series, without a recap or an info dump, shows that the author is weaving in the backstory well.

Here’s an excerpt, Marsh is approached by two men while working on a gardening job:

      Help? No, not solicitors, then. But the way they carried themselves . . . Government men. Which raised another possibility.
      Finally, Marsh said, "It’s Milkweed, isn’t it?"
      And he knew he was right, because the quiet man, the one who hadn’t yet spoken, glanced nervously over his shoulder at Fitch. Milkweed: the dirtiest of Whitehall’s dirty little secrets. Milkweed: the real reason Britain survived the war. Milkweed: the org for whom Marsh had faced demons and supermen; the org for whose secret war he’d lost his only daughter; the org that had spit him out when he was no longer useful.
      "If you’ll come with us, sir."
      Marsh turned his back on the government men and returned to digging holes in the mud. Over his shoulder he spat, "I don’t do that work any longer."
     "She said you’d say that."
      Marsh froze. Rainwater trickled down his face. Quietly, carefully, he said, "What?"
     "The woman who asked for you. She said you’d say that. Also told us to remind you she once said you’d meet again."

Both these books are good and interesting.  After reading 100 pages, I would recommend them both.  I want to read them in their entirety.

I like Taft 2012, but partially because I (Amy) prefer reading books with more fantastic elements, I like The Coldest War more.

THE WINNER: THE COLDEST WAR by Ian Tregillis

The Coldest War advances to meet either Silver by Rhiannon Held or The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others in the finals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012 :: Final Four

We are (finally!) down to the Final Four in the Summer 2012 Fantastic Reviews Battle of the Books:

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis vs. Taft 2012 by Jason Heller

Silver by Rhiannon Held vs. The Mongoliad: Book One by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear & five others

This sixteen-book bracket contained a number of interesting books. All the books but one were by authors I (Amy) hadn't read before. Stopping reading good books after only 25 or 50 pages for Battle of the Books was sometimes difficult, but it allowed me to sample a wider selection of books and spread the word about more new books.

Only two of the four "seeded" books made it to the Final Four: The Coldest War and The Mongoliad: Book One. That's fewer than in the previous two brackets. Perhaps this was partially because the "seeded" books were selected by Aaron, and they were the books that he was most looking forward to reading.

Thanks again to all the authors and publicists sending us great books to consider. If you're an author or publicist, click here for the rules and an address to send your book if you'd like to be included in a future bracket.

We have had a tremendous response to the Battle of the Books format; we already have enough new books to fill out three more brackets!

I've enjoyed judging this bracket, but I wish I was a faster reviewer. I haven't yet finished the summer bracket and we're already well into fall. I'll be handing Battle of Books back to Aaron for the next couple brackets. Aaron has already judged a handful of contests for the upcoming fall bracket, so stay tuned!

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, Second Round :: Faith by John Love vs. The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis

Our initial second round match of the Summer 2012 Battle of the Books pits Faith by John Love against The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis. The winner will be the book I most want to continue reading after the first 50 pages.

Faith: Night Shade Books trade paperback, January 2012, 373 pages, cover art by Adam Paquette. Faith, a science fiction space opera, is the first novel by British author John Love. Faith advanced to the second round by defeating My Vacation in Hell by Gene Twaronite.

A single unidentified, seemingly invincible space ship called Faith has been making unexplained raids on systems in the Commonwealth.

In the first 25 pages, Faith blew up a cruiser defending the Bast solar system, leaving one mortally wounded survivor. Then in the Anubis system, Faith took control of an automated freighter convoy. The military cruiser Wulf was disintegrating freighters to prevent Faith from crash landing them onto a moon base.

After the shrouded ship Faith passes, and Wulf turns to follow. The remaining freighters stop. Faith doesn't attack undefended civilian targets. But She faces and destroys Wulf.

Commander Foord and First Officer Thahl of the Outsider class space ship Charles Manson are ordered to defend the Horus system from Faith. They know what happened at Bast and at Anubis. They’re also aware of recent events in the Isis system, where five warships and the Outsider ship Sirhan encountered Faith. Faith easily disabled all the Isis ships. Sirhan picked up the survivors and left. Then Faith uncharacteristically subjected the city of De Vere to a smelly and humiliating, but not deadly, attack. Commander Ansah of the Sirhan, a former love interest of Commander Foord’s, is charged with desertion and cowardice. The book relates Ansah’s trial.

Once in the Horus system, Foord visits Thahl’s Sakhran (non-human) home.

It’s stressed that only an Outsider class ship fighting alone and unconstrained has a chance against Faith. The Outsider ships are outside the normal command structures, and crewed by outsiders, including sociopaths and psychopaths.

The Coldest War: Tor Books, July 2012, 251 pages, volume two of The Milkwood Triptych, cover art by Chris McGrath. The Coldest War is a fantasy alternate history book. The Coldest War got here by edging out Fair Coin by E.C. Myers in the first round.

British warlocks and a handful of Nazis with superhuman abilities powered by batteries secretly fought in World War II. The Soviet Union took over most of Western Europe. Britain remains a free country. The year is 1963.

In the first 25 pages, brother and sister Gretel and Klaus escaped from a high security Soviet research facility with some help from their superhuman abilities. In England, Reinhardt, whom the children call the Junkman, was trying to reverse engineer a battery to regain his special powers. William Beauclerk, younger brother of the Duke of Aelred, apparently did wicked things for Britain during the war.

When Klaus and Gretel arrive in London, Gretel, who is a seer, wants to go to a rummage sale. There they run into Reinhardt, their former Nazi associate. Reinhardt reluctantly leads Klaus and Gretel to his junky flat. Gretel shows Reinhardt that she has a blueprint for the batteries, something Reinhardt desperately wants. Gretel rips the blueprint and tells Reinhardt that he can earn the pieces by doing errands for her.

Raybould Marsh was formerly a British MI6 spy. He and his wife Liv have grown apart and their marriage is stressed by their caring for their severely impaired son. Marsh drinks alone in the pub until he’s belligerent and gets thrown out.

The Battle: We have a military space opera set sometime in the future going against book two of a fantasy alternate history series set in a different not too distant past.

Faith gets a brownie point for outrageously having a posh city sprayed with synthesized sewage. The Coldest War gets a brownie point for speculating a Soviet space station, and for Marsh having Haggard books stashed in his garden shed hideout.

Faith upped its game this round, but emotions seemed held in check. Ansah showed mainly indifference at her trial, and seemed resigned to her fate. Foord gave his concerns for Ansah their allotted time.

More emotions were at play in The Coldest War. Klaus realizes that he never truly understood what freedom meant. Reinhardt gets ticked off by Klaus and Gretel. Marsh rages at the world for what his life has become.

I’m curious about the next encounter with the mysterious ship Faith. But the richer setting and deeper emotions displayed in The Coldest War, despite my lack of knowing the entire back story due to my starting this series with book two, were enough to overcome Faith in this battle.

THE WINNER: THE COLDEST WAR by Ian Tregillis

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis will advance to meet either Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper or Taft 2012 by Jason Heller in the semifinals.

To see the whole bracket, click here.

Battle of the Books, Summer 2012, First Round :: Fair Coin by E.C. Myers vs. The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis

The second matchup of the Summer Bracket of the 2012 Battle of the Books has Fair Coin by E.C. Myers going against The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis. Per our contest rules, I have read the first 25 pages of both, and the winner will be the book I most want to continue reading.

Fair Coin: Pyr Books, April 2012, 285 pages, cover illustration by Sam Weber. Fair Coin is a YA contemporary fantasy set in the Eastern USA. Fair Coin is Myers' first novel. The first 25 pages cover a little more than three chapters.

Teenager Ephraim Scott comes home to find his mother passed out from vodka and pills. He calls 911. She thought Ephraim was dead, hit by a bus. The boy that died had Ephraim’s lost library card in his wallet.

At the hospital, Ephraim finds a plastic bag containing the dead boy’s stuff. The wallet, keys, and watch seem oddly similar to Ephraim’s, but there are some peculiar items, including a US commemorative quarter minted in the wrong year.

The next morning Ephraim goes straight from the hospital to his high school. The girl Ephraim has a crush on, Jena, spooks Ephraim by returning his library card. Now he has two identical library cards. Ephraim finds a note that appears to be in his best friend Nathan’s handwriting, although Nathan says he didn’t write it. The note reads “Make a wish and flip the coin to make it come true”. Ephraim flips the odd commemorative quarter and wishes his mom wasn’t in the hospital. Later, when Ephraim goes to the hospital, his mom isn’t there, and she wasn’t there last night either. It seems that Ephraim’s wish changed reality.

The Coldest War: Tor Books, July 2012, 251 pages, volume two of The Milkwood Triptych, cover art by Chris McGrath. The Coldest War is a fantasy / alternate history book. It’s the sequel to Bitter Seeds, which I haven’t read. The setting is a 1963 in which the Soviets control the European continent. Apparently WWII was fought secretly by British warlocks and a small group of Nazis with superhuman abilities powered by special batteries. The first 25 pages contain a prologue and about half of chapter one.

The prologue contains two incidents in England. In the first, a man, who I guess is a Soviet agent, pays a deadly visit on an elderly British warlock. In the other, a junkman, who is a German secretly living in Britain, is trying to reverse engineer a battery to allow him to access his former superhuman abilities.

In the first section of chapter one, Germans Gretel and Klaus are in a Russian gulag. They stole one of the batteries confiscated by the Russians at the end of WWII. Both Gretel and Klaus can use the Götterelektron and learned the Willenskräfte. Klaus uses the battery to dematerialize. Gretel can somehow see the future and plan accordingly. When the prison guards are drunk on homemade vodka, they make their escape. They hope to make it to the Paris Wall.

In the second partial section of chapter one, Lord William Beauclerk (Will) and his wife Gwendolyn are having dinner in London with his older brother, Aubrey, the Duke of Aelred and his Aubrey’s wife Viola. Apparently Will is haunted by classified things he did during the war. There was a Great European Famine of ’42 which was secretly caused by British Warlocks.

The Battle: The Coldest War is set in an alternate world. In Fair Coin alternate universes seem involved. Weirdly, someone getting drunk on vodka plays a part in both books.

I’d be happy to continue reading either of these books. Both are readable and interesting. Unfortunately, Battle of the Books forces me to chose only one.

In my opinion, Fair Coin accomplishes more in character development. I can feel for the characters emotionally. Ephraim is a likeable teenager. There are several nice SF references in Fair Coin, such as Ephraim finding in the dead boy’s wallet a ticket stub for the movie Neuromancer. I’m interested in where the story will go.

On the other hand, I think that The Coldest War is better, more sharply, written. The scenes contain memorable, sometimes creepy, details. But I don’t feel I know the characters quite yet. There’s a load of information, and a feeling of stepping into the middle of a story, as this is book two in a series. I assume there’ll be some Cold War-like conflict.

This is a very close book battle, and my decision could have easily gone either way. My verdict came down to: What haven’t I seen before? Even though I love the concept of alternate realities, where Fair Coin seems to be heading, I’ve read a variety of such tales. The same goes for magical wishes. Superhumans powered by batteries, that to me seems strange and different.

THE WINNER: THE COLDEST WAR by Ian Tregillis

The Coldest War will advance to meet Faith by John Love in the second round.

To see the whole bracket, click here.