My take, having already looked at the preliminary list:
Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cory Doctorow
Omega, by Jack McDevitt
Cloud Atlas: A Novel, by David Mitchell
Perfect Circle, by Sean Stewart
The Knight, by Gene Wolfe
I see the voters removed Conquistador by S.M. Stirling, and the jury added Cloud Atlas – a good call. I’ve read three of these and enjoyed them all. Paladin of Souls of course won the Hugo last year.
“Walk in Silence,” by Catherine Asaro
“The Tangled Strings of the Marionettes,” by Adam-Troy Castro
“The Cookie Monster,” by Vernor Vinge
“The Green Leopard Plague,” by Walter Jon Williams
“Just Like the Ones We Used to Know,” by Connie Willis
Pruned by the voters: two weak stories, “Off on a Starship” by William Barton, and “Sergeant Chip”, by Bradley Denton; one I hadn’t read, “Time Ablaze” by Michael A.Burstein; and, I was sorry to see, “Arabian Wine” by Gregory Feeley. The Asaro and Willis stories are both pretty weak. The Vinge won the Hugo last year; I also liked the Williams. But I liked the Troy-Castro even more.
“Zora and the Zombie”, by Andy Duncan
“Basement Magic,” by Ellen Klages
“The Voluntary State,” by Christopher Rowe
“Dry Bones,” by William Sanders
“The Gladiator’s War: A Dialogue,” by Lois Tilton
The voters pruned “Paying It Forward” by Michael A Burstein, which surprised me a bit as it’s not noticeably inferior to the two fantasy stories at the top of the list. I still liked the Rowe and the Sanders best.
“Coming to Terms,” by Eileen Gunn
“The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Anne,” by Mike Moscoe
“Travels With my Cats,” by Mike Resnick
“Embracing-The-New,” by Benjamin Rosenbaum
“In the Late December,” by Greg van Eekhout
“Aloha,” by Ken Wharton
The voters took off Robert Sawyer’s silly silly story “Shed Skin” and the jury added the Gunn story which seems to have been well received. The only one of the others I liked was the Rosenbaum.
Did you discuss your needs with the shop at the time of purchase, regarding having it synch with your Exchange? Because if they said it would, and it doesn’t, that seems like pretty good grounds for a refund to me.
Sorry it didn’t work out for you.