The richest rewards are never won easily. After four laborious, cutthroat battles on our Instagram stories and web polls, only two shining book covers kept body and soul together to make it to the finals: Moderation by Elaine Castillo and We Computers by Hamid Ismailov, translated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega.
Making it to the finals did not come easily for either book cover, a sight exemplary of the tough competition that came to the battlegrounds this year. Each book had a moment in which it nearly was knocked out of the competition by serious close calls. That moment came early on for Moderation—the first round, while matched up against Hellions by Julia Elliot. The finalist was well behind in web votes, and only in its dominating Instagram story numbers was it able to make its comeback. Since then Moderation was able to sail mostly smoothly, having sharpened its teeth against such a fierce competitor early on.
We Computers entered the race strong, comfortably beating out The Wanderer’s Curse in round one. But perhaps too comfortably, as it was nearly booted from the race in round two, up against Hardly Creatures. With only thirteen slim votes between them, We Computers barely made it out alive. As Moderation had done, We Computers learned from such a close call, and used its brush with death to inform its skillful takedown of its subsequent competitors.
Take a look at the bracket below to see how the competition has played out so far:
Two skilled gladiators, sharpened by an entire bracket of juggernauts. It’s as even a match as we could have hoped for. Who will win the final round and take the gold?! That’s up to you to decide, by voting below and on our Instagram stories! Cast your votes before 10am Eastern tomorrow, December 13, to decide the winner!
Which book cover is your favorite?
The post The Best Book Covers of 2025: The Final Round! appeared first on Electric Literature.
