Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
Update: The voting is now closed, and our winner with 71% of the vote is Connor “Mad” Rogan!
Welcome to the 2018 Alpha Showdown at Vampire Book Club where each year we crown the Biggest Book Badass in the paranormal world based on your votes. This is our eighth Showdown, and the competition is just as fierce as ever. Check out the bracket here.
Before we start, I’d like to take a moment to thank all the guest bloggers helping us tell you about these alphas. You’ll find links to their blogs and social media at the top of their posts, so make sure to check those out.
Our first round is actually a rematch of a battle from last year where Connor Rogan from Ilona Andrews’s Hidden Legacy series soundly defeated Sarah J. Maas’s Rhysand with 70 percent of the vote. But Rhysand’s back and looking for some payback. And we’ve seen top seeds get knocked out in the first round before so don’t count him out.
Connor Rogan
You know him from the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews
First appeared in Burn for Me
Supernatural Status: Telekinetic Prime Mage
Championed by Tanya from Rantings of a Reading Addict
Find her at @readingaddicted on Twitter and Facebook
What happens when Connor “Mad” Rogan is confronted with evil? Cities will fall. There’s a reason they called him The Butcher of Merida. The power contained within this gorgeous, muscular body is capable of ripping apart any that dare go up against him. Killing to save someone he loves or cares for is just another mundane task to check off his to-do list. Rogan is so powerful, he can even save you from something as scary as a weather mage creating deadly tornados. Just by creating a null space for you, those tornados will pass right around without so much as messing up your hair.
If you capture his attention, beware. He has the patience of a snake and will work his magic on you until you are dying to have him sweep you up and hide away with you. His witty remarks and rough exterior may have you wondering why you would want him, despite his good looks. But he will win your heart when you start to understand him. Then you’re a goner.
Rogan is someone you will want to have your back. He is protective but gives you enough rope to either overcome your adversary or sink. If you start to sink, he’ll jump in and save you, but he’ll never hold you back from testing your power limits. He will have faith in you and will not smother you. There is just something sexy in fighting side by side, then coming home together to burn off that excess energy left over.
With Rogan’s strength, loyalty and power, he is not a man that you’d want on your bad side. He is capable of tearing apart cities and making you swoon at the same time. He’s such a well-rounded man, his qualities make him a sure win.
Rhysand
You know him from: Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses new adult series
First appeared in: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Supernatural Status: I guess you could call him an Elf but not as they are typically portrayed. He’s from the Dark Courts and has powers that exceed many of his peers.
Championed by Leona from Books Inside the Keep
Find her at: Instagram Twitter Facebook
What can I say about Rhysand that thousands of other fangirls and boys haven’t already poetically sprouted out from their many rooftops? What can I say about a man that I hated the first time he entered the magical world that Sarah J. Maas penned? What can I say about a man that grew on me like a fungus and made me absolutely love his dirty draws? Well, I could say a lot but then you all would be reading a lot of words that you won’t be able to find in any dictionary, nor words that would be appropriate for a general audience (*snicker*).
Rhysand is the understated alpha that many of us are at first unsure if their character is the villain or the poor soul we’re stuck feeling sorry for. We’re sometimes stuck between loving them so fiercely and then hating them for saying or doing something later to our beloved heroine. Well, in the context of Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series he fits in neither one of these categories, lol.
Rhysand was and is the villain, at least in the eyes of the “acceptable” company that surrounds our heroine in the first installment of this series, but you know right off the bat that there’s something alluring and different about him that you gravitate towards no matter how much you hate him. But even amid his antagonistic behaviors he exudes raw alpha male qualities:
• He’s bossy
• He’s confident in a way that’s unquestioned
• He’s raw sexuality all day every day (whew!)
• He’s the man you love to hate but can’t help fantasizing about
• He brings the best out of his partner
• He’s a badass all the way around
• He runs with a gang of other badasses that could kick the other teams butt on any given day
• He’s always the mastermind behind all the victories
I admit that I was shocked by my response to Rhysand considering Maas was peddling Tamlin as the hero for the first installment, A Court of Thorns and Roses, but as you read you can’t help but gravitate toward Rhysand. Saying that, those of you who know me know that I don’t give high praise to a character unless they the BOSS of whatever story they dominate. It really took me reading A Court of Mist and Fury to realize how much of an alpha male Rhysand was, and in the land of New Adult Fantasy Rhysand takes the cake.
Without further ado I introduce you to the High Lord of the Night Court, Rhysand!
Remember, you only have 48 hours to vote using the Rafflecopter form. Once you log in to Rafflecopter, you’ll see the poll in the first entry. Your vote will also unlock additional chances to win this round’s giveaway, an ARC of the latest Jane Yellowrock book.
Convince your friends to back your candidate using #AlphaShowdown and feel free to share your opinions in the comments.
Where’s the actual vote button?
You have click on the “alpha showdown ” in the vote box, then it comes up cast which you want.
Always love Had Rogin.
“Mad” Rogan
Mad Rogan
The Vote Box is gone only seeing the word vote and a giveaway for a different book. I think I’m blind or broken.
You vote in the Rafflecopter. It’s labeled more clearly now.
I hope Mad Rogan wins
I love me some Rhysand but I never knew about Rogan’s character! Once I catch up in the Kate Daniels series, or maybe next up, I’ll be reading about Mad Rogan ❤️
Excellent plan! Love the Hidden Legacy series!
Connor Rogan!!!
Can’t find the vote box! I have the same problem as others in that no vote box appears on my screen. I vote Connor Rogan!!!!
You should be seeing it now.
Mad Rogan
Rhysand
Love them both (who made this pair!? So hard to choose! )… But gotta go with Rhysand. He becomes so much more in the 2nd and 3rd books, he is the ultimate Alpha, letting his people and Feyre do what they are capable of but being able to take on anyone if needed. Not to mention the sacrifices he made for his people and all of prythian.
Why do you have to break my heart in the first round?!
I debated with myself for an hour and was nearly late to work lol.
In the end I chose Rogan but I still love Rhysand.
Rogan
I can’t find the vote button, but my choice is Rogan.
It’s the first entry in the Rafflecopter.
Connor Rogan!!!! ❤❤
I’ll admit, I’m inclined to vote Rogan, this also has to do with the fact that I haven’t yet read Sarah J Maas’ A Court of Thorn and Roses, but Rhysand’s champion does a really good job of selling me on Rhysand and making me want to forget I have anything else to do today and pick up those books!
What to do, what to do…
RYSAND no find vote box
Not seeing where to vote or this “rafflecopter” your referring about.
If the whole form doesn’t display, you’ll have gray text that says “a rafflecopter giveaway.” If you click that it takes you to the form. Working on getting it to display again.
The Vote thingie isn’t working for me. Suggestions?
You should see it now.
Thanks!
Conor Rogan is my book boyfriend. I am in lurve!
Connor “Mad” Rogan all the way!! But I will admit, I will be checking out the other series Alpha!
“Mad” Rogan, but I do need to read the other series. I’ve heard nothing but good things.
Rogan of course, my fav series right now.
Mad ROgan
I feel like I’ve to choose between two of my children >< Awful xD
Hard choice.
Mad Rogan
I would give anything to read some more books with Mad Rogan in them.
It was a very hard choice but went with Rysand, if it was Nevada I would of voted for her.
Rogan for the win.
The only way I could get to voting is to click on the button that said “Enter the giveaway tap here to win”. It did not say anything about voting nor did it say anything about rafflecopter. I did vote for Rogan as he is awesome
That’s the mobile version of the Rafflecopter widget. It only looks like that on a phone. Once you click it you see the same thing everyone else does. Glad you figured it out though.
Rogan
Connor
Hey, it’s been a couple years since I’ve participated. This is a weekly thing yeah? Every week a new pairing is posted for voting?
It’s annual. Round 2 is tomorrow. Details at the top of the post.
The “Vote box” I see is directly under the GIF of Emma Stone, kind of connected to Rhysland. But I cannot click on anything. :(((
You need to scroll down from there. There are 2 paragraphs of text instructions then the Rafflecopter form. Once you sign in to that you can vote.
Never mind, I did what Amy suggested. But I didn’t enter the giveaway.
Definitely Rogan! I love those books!
I have to go with Connor Rogan this round.
Rhysand!!!!!
Rogan!
I voted in previous showdowns and never had such a difficult time voting. Once I finally figured out how (go Rhysand!), it didn’t even show me the results so far. Ugh.
The Rafflecopter doesn’t show the results during the round. We usually do updates on social media. We’ll update this post and the bracket with the winner as well.
Rogan! But Rhysand was a very close second.
MAD ROGAN!!!!!!!! I want one of my own ;P thanks for sharing!
Rogan for the WIN!!!! Though I am curious about Rhysand now 🙂 Guess I know what my next series is going to be!
Literally 2 favorites meeting in round 1… What is a girl to do??????
I love these votes!
Rogan
Rogan is so amazing <3
Rogan