One of my favorite things to do (because clearly, I have too much free time on my hands) is checking all the alternative covers on Goodreads for my favorite books.
Different countries, different cover artists, different markets, and therefore, different covers. Sometimes they’re the same, or really similar, but sometimes I wonder why I’m forced to speak only English and suffer through the less extravagant covers. And then I remember that I tried learning other languages, and did … and then forgot them … and am too lazy to relearn them, so … I guess settling for second or third-best book covers is my punishment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is a book cover freebie. I previously did a Battle of the Book Covers: Alternate Cover Showdown, and I had so much fun with it and fell in love with so many new covers that I decided to go ahead and do it again.
Because apparently, I enjoy causing my soul pain, knowing that I will never be the proud book parent of any of these covers. So, let’s get on with it. Bring on the fancy covers!
Let the battle … begin!
Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
US vs. Danish vs. German
Winner:
დ Danish Edition დ
Danish won the Battle of the Books with the first book of this series, and just as I’d hoped, the art style is very much the same. There’s just something I love about it. It’s both dark and whimsical, ominous and yet still inviting. The characters seem like they have personality, just with that little snapshot. Plus … Jupiter North is still kinda sexy. JUST SAYING. The top hat and long coat sure don’t hurt. That being said, the German version is absolutely gorgeous, too. I love the purple, and I particularly love the intricacy of the art and all the little Easter eggs hidden inside the design of the cover.
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
US vs. US Redesign vs. Romanian vs. Serbian
Winner:
დ TIE (US Redesign & Serbian) დ
Normally, I’m not a huge fan of real people on covers, because it sort of freaks me out a little, but Amani looks so freaking fierce in the US alternate cover that I can’t help but love it. The picture is just so strong and striking, and you know what? Middle Eastern people should be able to see themselves on covers, too. I’m all for this version.
That being said, the alternative covers are mostly based off the original US cover, and I love the way the Serbian cover changed it. First, the horse actually looks like it’s made of sand, where it’s awfully solid and normal-looking on the other covers. Plus, it just grabs my attention and stands out to me!
The Whisper Man by Alex North
US vs. UK vs. Bulgarian
Winner:
დ Bulgarian Edition დ
The Bulgarian went way sort of out in left field compared to the other two, but I absolutely love it. It’s so creepy and ominous, which is in juxtaposition to the beautiful, light butterflies. It keeps the same basic themes (the butterflies, the handprint), but I feel like it does a better job of capturing the ominous, foreboding tone that North writes so well. Plus, there’s just something inherently creepy to me about an open window at night during a storm.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Italian vs. UK vs. Czech vs. Russian
Winner:
დ Italian Edition დ
I just went right ahead and immediately knocked the US version out, because it’s pretty meh. Especially compared to these. I like the Russian one, but it’s very … episodic. I love the depiction of the world Bod gets to visit, but it’s a little misleading since that part of the book is really short. The Czech version feels kind of realistic, almost too realistic for the content of the book. In fact, I’d say the UK version probably fits the writing style the best, honestly. The expectations based on the art line up with my experience reading it. So why did I choose the Italian one? It has a very Tim Burton feel to me, which also captures the heart and atmosphere of the story, and it’s just so eye-catching and creepy.
Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones
US vs. German vs. Bulgarian
Winner:
დ German Edition დ
I do prefer the US version over the Bulgarian version, because I’m a fan of the darker, more ominous look of it. Plus, the purple is just gorgeous. Overall, though, I had to go with the German version. It’s definitely simpler and not as pretty, but I feel like it captures the fairy tale retelling better. The US version screams dark fantasy, which it for sure is, but the German version looks more along the lines of recent retelling covers, and I’m kind of partial to it.
Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell
US vs. UK vs. French
Winner:
დ UK Edition დ
I find it really interesting that these are three entirely unique concepts, but all with a sort of card feel going on. I do like the French version more than the US version. It looks very fantasy-ish and magicky, and the colors really grab my attention. Ultimately, though, I definitely like the UK one the best. The card structure is easily recognizable, but mostly, I just love the art style. I don’t know who the character on the bottom is, but I 100% am sure I will love him. Also, that cat looks fabulous and I clearly need to read this book.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
US vs. Czech vs. German
Winner:
დ TIE! (US & Czech) დ
I’ll admit, the German cover feels very retelling, fairy tail-ish, and I do love that style. However, I love the US and Czech covers more, for different reasons. The Czech cover just grabs my attention and makes me curious. It’s simple, but lovely and charming (and did you notice the nightingale in the bear? Took me a second glance!). The US version, though, I think hints more about the book, and it’s got a soft art style, which is nicely offset by the cold setting. The scene looks charming and folklore-ish to me.
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
US vs. UK vs. Romanian
Winner:
დ US Edition დ
This one’s a close one. I love the glimpse of the world we see in the Romanian version. I feel like that always helps with high fantasy. Still, that’s my least favorite cover. It was really close between the US and the UK versions. I’m a fan of the symbol thing, which is gorgeous and grabs my attention. It makes me wonder, and I would for sure pick it up, but it doesn’t actually tell me anything about the book, as far as I can tell. The US version has a little bit of everything: strong, badass woman wielding two weapons and what looks like water magic. It’s visually pretty, with colors that attract my attention, and there’s even a glimpse of a ship in the background. I just feel like this one makes me more excited about meeting the cast.
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
US vs. German vs. French
Winner:
დ German Edition დ
I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of the French version, because I don’t like that it looks more like a light-hearted paranormal adventure. Or that’s what the art style and look makes me think. I do like the softness of the US version, though, the blurring and almost incomplete person and cat. It has an eerie effect, and it looks so ominous, and it catches my eye every time. Ultimately, though, I’m gonna have to go with the German edition. First, I’m a sucker for crows and ravens on covers. I can’t help that. It’s just how I am. Second, I love the art style of this. It’s still got this ominous, dark atmosphere, but it feels more active, more desperate, more chaotic. It screams, “READ ME OR ELSE.”
A Little Hatred by joe Abercrombie
US vs. UK vs. German
Winner:
დ US Edition დ
I know I said I’m a sucker for ravens and crows on covers, but … SURPRISE! You were surprised, weren’t you? These are so vastly different that I’m not even sure how they ended up that different. What I can say, though, is that I’ve sat staring at the US cover for months at work, and I loved it so much that the cover alone convinced me to pick up the book and read the summery and subsequently add it to my TBR. There’s so much to love, from the helm, to the wolf effigy in the helm, to the eerie cogs in the background. I have no idea what any of it means, but I do love it just the same.
Chat With Me
Do you agree or disagree with any of my winners? What are some alternate covers you prefer?
Follow Me
I love this, Sammie! Covers are the best😁 I hadn’t seen that French cover of Spellslinger yet, it’s pretty cool!
Thanks! They sure are. I love these book cover topics. Isn’t it? I actually *can* read French, so if it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to ship it here, I could so have that cover lol.
What a fun read, I love ranking covers! And I think we agree on most, The Graveyard book alternatives are all wonderful, especially Italy’s. I’m even more intrigued in The Whisper Man now, too.
I so recommend The Whisper Man! I picked it up last year because it was recommended by so many people, and I really enjoyed it. Put me on a thriller/horror kick that I’m still not quite out of yet. xD
I’m here for the bookish battles, bring them all on! The juiciest of these eye candy covers would have to be The Graveyard Book alternatives and The Bear and the Nightingale, to-die-for.
They’re gorgeous, aren’t they? I’m of the opinion that publishers need to start making, like, trading cards for their book covers. And bookish people can collect and trade for their favorites, etc. Why isn’t this a thing yet?!
Yes, a great marketing tool too!
Great feature this week. So my picks are as follows: Wundersmith – German (I love purple), Rebel of the Sands – US redesign, The Whisper Man – UK, The Graveyard Book – Italian, Shadowsong – US, Spellcaster – UK, The Bear and the Nightingale – US, Truthwitch – Romanian, City of Ghosts – German (love the bird), A Little Hatred – German (another bird). What fun!
Oooh, we agreed on quite a bit of them! I like it.
I agree with you on pretty much all f them, except for The Whisper Man and City of Ghosts, where I prefer the US covers.
– Reese
I always think it’s so interesting to see which ones people prefer!
I adore the fact that this is a hobby of yours. Very cool.
I mean, really, anything for an excuse to look at pretty artwork, right? xD
Oooohhhh I loved the concept. I don’t do a cover hunt in goodreads for quite a while now… I loved to do it… why did I stop? Clearly it’s time to get back.
Yes, you totally should! There are so many gorgeous covers out there to enjoy. :3
I love the covers for Rebel of the sands, The bear and the nightingale and Truthwitch!
(www.evelynreads.com)
They’re definitely stunning, aren’t they?
This post was so entertaining! I compare book covers a lot too, mainly because we get different book covers in Australia, which a lot of the time aren’t as good.
I love the US edition of The Bear and the Nightingale, it’s so pretty! Too bad the Aussie version isn’t as nice.
Here’s my list for TTT
There are some really pretty covers in Australia, too, though! I think we all just want what we can’t have. xD
Oh wow! Love this post so much. So many of these editions I hadn’t seen before. So hard to chose favourites
This post was so entertaining! I compare book covers too but mainly because we get different covers in Australia, which usually aren’t as good unfortunately.
I love the US cover of The Bear and the Nightingale, too bad the Aussie cover isn’t as pretty.
Here’s my list for TTT
That Danish edition of Wundersmith is so pretty! And you’re right – Jupiter North does look very dapper. I haven’t read Spellslinger yet, but the UK editions of that series are my favourite, too – I love covers that play around with cards. I think the character on the bottom of that cover is a woman, Ferius Parfax. 😀
Dapper is the perfect word to describe him. xD Oh, is it? It’s so hard to tell, especially looking upside down. Welp, then I’m going to fall in love with HER. xD
These are amazing! i love how you had so many from different areas.
Thanks! I love how different they are between countries. :3
Oh gosh Jupiter North looks waaaaaaay hotter than on the UK cover where he looks a bit of a ginger hipster Willy Wonka in a bad way. Definitely would love that cover!!!
It’s interesting seeing the different approaches in different countries & how face/person focused many countries’ covers are compared to UK covers where it’s almost weird to see a face as the key feature on a book
RIGHT?! The Danish edition covers of the first and second just capture the characters so much better, I think. I’m actually really looking forward to what they do with the third one. xD
I’ve sort of noticed that, and in some instances, I love it, because I’m not a huge fan of people on book covers. But on the other hand … I’m sort of loving the new styles with people on the covers and the way the artwork is done, so maybe that’s changing for me? It’s interesting.
It is interesting because some iconic book covers over here seem ‘weird’ with people but I understand that markets are so different – I mean in the UK our picture books can be a bit ‘worthy’ and sweet whereas in Germany & Scandinavia the weirder and darker the better!!!
That’s probably why I like so many German covers. xD I love dark covers, probably because I read a lot of dark fantasy LOL.
I think there’s a little more acceptance of ‘the dark’ in parts of Europe which makes for a different art!
It’s fascinating to compare different covers for the same book and wonder why the artist/marketing people chose different covers, art, etc.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
How fun! In general I agree with your choices. There are a few notable exceptions, though. For instance, I personally like the UK version of The Graveyard Book best, I think because the characters just feel right for a Gaiman book. If it were a different author I might have a different opinion. Also, I have seen the UK version of Spellslinger before, and was turned off by the cover. I like the US version a lot more, but I can’t articulate why.
That’s so interesting. I do love the art in the UK version of The Graveyard Book (and I saw a TTT post today that highlighted the author’s other illustrations, and I really like them). I think I just liked the other a bit more. That’s so interesting about Spellslinger, though, because I think I’m the exact opposite. xD I’ve seen the US version and was like, yeah, okay, and then I saw someone post a UK cover and was like … oh, what is this book?
It’s fun to see how tastes are different! But the Czech Bear and the Nightingale? OMG, I want that one. (Good thing I like the US cover well enough too, though, since that’s the one I’ll end up with. 😉 )
I always love seeing posts like this. Seeing the changes and similarities is so interesting!
I agree! I never tire of posts like this, and I always end up surprised.
I love the idea you have here of comparing covers from the same book! I’m really picky about my covers (I like having all matching ones!), and I always end up finding non US ones (most commonly UK editions) around that just have the most gorgeous covers and make me want to re-buy the entire series. I agreed on a lot of yours above, but some of them were so hard to choose, like the Graveyard Book- I like all of them. I think I prefer the US version of Wundersmith, but I’m absolutely in love with the UK version of Spellsinger!
Thanks! I’m less picky about covers, only because I know I tend to offload a bunch of books and only keep my favorites. In which case, yeah, it drives me bonkers if they don’t match lol. I tend to prefer UK covers over US, which is just inconvenient. xD
Such a fun topic! I love looking at all the different covers, most of them are so pretty and seem to portray a different aspect of the book. I do love the US redesign cover of Rebel of the Sands, and the German version of City of Ghosts (though I love the US one as well).
I agree with City of Ghosts. They’re both really pretty and spooky. I just think it’s so interesting how they take the same story and interpret something different to represent it.
Wow! This is an amazing topic! A lot of fun and I agreed with most of your pics! Thanks for stopping by my TTT! Have a great week! 🙂
Thanks!
I love posts like these! It’s so fun to see different covers of the same book. I usually prefer UK editions (which is handy because I’m from the UK) but the Italian version of The Graveyard Book is so cool 🙂
I usually prefer UK editions, too, which is a hassle, because … I’m not. T_T
What a fun idea! I really loved looking at all these gorgeous covers.
This is such a cool idea! I also really adore the Romanian cover for Rebel of the Sands.
Your post has reminded me that I need to read Truthwitch. I keep meaning to…..just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Yeeeah, well, about thaaaat … I still haven’t read it either, even though I keep seeing it at my library and going, “Oh, I should read that.” This year will be the year, for sure. Maybe. Probably. Just … I wouldn’t hold your breath on that LOL.
I love the idea of comparing different cover editions. This was such a fun list to look through!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. :3 I have fun making them.
This article was so much fun!!! I loved seeing all the covers!! and I agree with your choices ahah
Thanks! Great minds think alike, I guess. 😉
What a fun post! You should totally make this a recurring thing. I never get tired of seeing all the covers for different editions. 😉 My favorite was The Bear and Nightingale. I’ve only ever seen the US edition.
My TTT http://abookwanderer.com/top-ten-tuesday-book-covers-that-are-eerily-similar/
I’ll probably do more of these. I have so much fun with them, but sometimes it’s hard to find books with alternate covers. Sometimes they just have the one cover for all the languages, and pfft, how boring is that? 😛
This was really fun to read! The last time I happened across an alternate cover, it had an alternate title, too. I was reading the Troubletwisters series by Garth Nix. The whole series is about battling this force called simply The Evil, and in the final book, they visit the Evil’s homeworld. The UK and everywhere else edition is titled, “Missing: Presumed Evil”. The US version is called “The Missing”. I thought the Presumed Evil title was much better and actually suited the series. Readers will instantly understand it. The Missing isn’t even proper grammar. What the heck, publishers?
It immediately made me think of the book “Missing, Presumed Dead”. xD That’s so weird that it would have different titles like that, though. I definitely agree that Missing: Presumed Evil is more attention-grabbing, though I’ve never read the series, so I’ll have to take your word that it fits better lol.
I agree with most of your choices. The Russian cover of The Graveyard Book is very–Russian–althought it’s not my preference. Have you ever seen the three Bear and the Nightingale books (US edition) lined up together? It makes a larger picture and I think it’s so clever. I think I prefer the Romanian cover to Truthwitch though.
I have, and I think it’s absolutely gorgeous! I really like that about the US version, too. I love when artists do neat little things like that with the covers.
What a neat post. I remember there was a really pretty UK edition of The Bear and the Nightingale that I always wanted to own but I think they went out of print.
Awww, that’s a shame!
Love this idea. I love seeing different covers for the same book 🙂
I love this idea. I should do it sometime with my favorite books. 🙂
You totally should! I had never really thought about it before and checked out the alternate covers on a whim on a book I was reading. :3 It’s really fun.
Love this take on the cover freebie, Sammie! I agree with you on half of these! I’m surprised to learn that I actually quite like a lot of the US cover editions although the UK does run a close second (especially on many of these)! Like I actually really like the simplicity of the US City of Ghosts cover 😍And the Spellsinger UK version is the one I have on my Kindle and it’s so cool! I love that it’s continued for the whole series as well. It just looks so good 😍 Great list and book cover comparisons!
That’s so funny that you prefer US editions. xD I’d say I could get those to you, but I’d have to sell a kidney to ship them to you, unfortunately. D: And I’m probably going to need those.
This is easily the coolest take on this week’s topic that I have seen so far. Such a great idea. So many of the covers were beautiful, though I must admit I disagree on the City of Ghosts, I love the US cover! And the French cover is weird and I do not much care for that one at all.
Thanks! I do like the US cover of City of Ghosts, too (and thank goodness, since that’s the one I have). But I liked the German just a teensy bit more. Yeah, the French cover looks like it belongs to a different story to me lol.
Choosing my favorite cover of books I’ve read is different than choosing my favorite for books I’m not familiar with. I think the French City of Ghosts fits best with the story, but having no idea what A Little Hatred is about, the US cover is the only one that might tempt me to pick it up and flip it over to read the synopsis. Bear and Nightingale had three great covers, but I think Truthwitch and Rebel of the Sands both deserve better options.
It definitely feels different when you know what the story is about versus something just grabbing your attention. I’ve suffered through the A Little Hatred cover for MONTHS, and I am only human (allegedly), so I did eventually have to pick it up. xD
I just finished Spellsinger – and I think the UK edition looks way cooler.
Are you going to continue the series?
oooh what a fantastic idea! I love seeing the different cover editions depending on countries, even if sometimes I get some serious cover envy. great post!! <3
I’m always guilty of some hardcore cover envy. xD The struggle is real. But I still love looking anyway.
I love this idea! It’s so fun!
Thanks! I had a lot of fun with it. :3
[…] Book Blogger (Mistakes Were Made) ✦ Christmas Book Haul (Ft. Lots of New Books to Judge Me) ✦ Battle of the Book Covers, Round Two || There Can Be Only One ✦ January 1 ✦ January 8 ✦ January 15 ✦ January 22 ✦ January 29 ✦ First Line Friday 56 […]
[…] Battle of the Book Covers, Round Two || There Can Be Only One […]