Book Battle: Round 2 Series 4 Winners

So you know how when it rains, it pours? After all the excitement I mentioned in the last results post, I had my computer get a virus or something that  s   l   o   w   e   d  it down to the point of a crawl. So all of this week I could only access the internet from my phone. Which, although I can do a lot of things, isn't very conduscive to blogging. Ugh.

So now that things are running a little bit smoother, it's time to announce the winners of Series 4. Hey, better late than never, right? We're getting down to the final deicisions here, and the Series 5 judges are already busy on their books. The end is near!

Bracket 22
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper VS. Threads and Flames by Esther Friesner
Judged by ReaganStar of Star Shadow Blog and Melissa of Mel's Books and Info

If there's two book in this battle that have been credited for being the most heartwarming, it's these two. And now that we're down the wire, they've finally come head to head. But alas, only one can move on. It was a hard decision, but ultimately our judges were able to agree on a choice.

Here's what Judge Melissa had to say about both books:

"The both of these novels are remarkable works of fiction, but I think what was our ultimate deciding factor was memorability. [The winning book] is a novel that sticks with you. Long after you have turned that last page, you can't get [the main character] out of your mind."

So which book made it to the next round? Our first finalist for Series 5 is... Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper!

Bracket 23
Stravaganza: City Of Masks by Mary Hoffman VS. StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce
Judged by Misty from Book Rat and Kate formerly of The Neverending Shelf and now co-blogger at The Book Monsters

A few weeks ago our readers choice StarCrossed as the eliminated title to return during this bracket. With a fresh competitor and a new set of judges would it have a second chance, or was it doomed to be defeated as before?

Judge Misty had this to say about her judging experience this year:

"It was interesting, judging between the two, because in a lot of ways, they are very similar. Both are about courtly intrigue and secrets, and magic where there should be none. And they weren't paired together because of that. This was purely luck of the draw.

It made for a sort of introspective judging experience for me, because I had to sometimes ask myself how the reading of one was coloring the reading of the other - was I treating them as their own, separate books? - while at the same time, there is a very clear side-by-side comparison opportunity. It was easy to say, Oh, well, X definitely did ________ better than Y..."

So which book would move on? In a surprise turn of events, the second finalist for this year's battle is... StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce!

So a previously defeated book moves on, and becomes one of our finalists, while the other in an undefeated strong contender through the whole battle. Keep an eye on the blog for the final results, as Out of My Mind and StarCrossed go head to head for the final title of 2011 Book Battle Champion.

In the meantime, come back in the next day or two to see more about those Reader's Choice Awards you voted on before. The categories have been chosen and it's time to vote on the books!