It’s that time again. Are you readyyyyyy to ruuuuuumble?!

I’m back with another Battle of the Book Covers, which is pretty much my favorite thing to do in general anyway. The gist is: go on Goodreads. Check out the alternative covers for certain books. Decide which country did it best. Winner gets bragging rights and, I dunno, the Principality of Sealand? It’s not like anyone’s really using it, are they?

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is a cover freebie, and since I always love doing these, I decided to show some alternate cover love today.

If you’re curious about previous battles, you can find them here:

• Battle of the Book Covers: Alternate Cover Showdown || Who Wore It Best?
• Battle of the Book Covers, Round Two || There Can Be Only One

Now that that’s out of the way and we hopefully all understand the gist of this … let’s get this thing underway? I actually never look at the covers ahead of time. I don’t even choose the books ahead of time. It’s all on the fly, so that makes it all the more exciting for me. Never know what to expect. *rubs hands together* So let’s get into it.

Anxious People

US vs. Swedish vs. Danish vs. Hungarian

               

Winner:

დ US Edition დ

Guys, I … I don’t even know what’s going on here?! WHY IS THERE TWO COVERS WITH DUDES IN BUNNY SUITS? And am I the only one who finds that creepy? Especially the bathroom one. That’s gonna be a pass for me. People in bunny suits is a no, okay? It’s not cute. It’s, like, three centimeters and one bad decision away from serial killer material. The really good kind that doesn’t get caught until they’ve racked up an impressive body count. Hard pass.

I feel like the Danish is actually probably most accurate as far as what the book is actually about and gives the most firm impression of it. But the US one is easy on the eyes and also fits more what I’m used to seeing with a Backman book. Since they tend to be very much about the people, I’ve kind of come to expect seeing people in the forefront on the cover.

The Poppy War

US vs. Indonesia vs. German vs. Polish

               

Winner:

დ Indonesia & German Editions (TIE!) დ

What even is this, guys? This doesn’t seem like a real choice. I want them all, because they’re all freaking fabulous. While I do love the smoke of the US version, ultimately, I love the contrast and pop of color in the German edition. It grabs my eye every time, better than the mostly white cover. I like how it also gives a glimpse of the world, and the woman just looks fierce and so much yes.

But that Indonesian cover gives me LIFE, yo. Everything about it is absolutely gorgeous, from the poppies turning into a phoenix to the complete badass female archer, and the stark red and yellow pops nicely against what looks like a cold, unforgiving world.

Wolfsong

US vs. French vs. Italian

           

Winner:

დ Italian Edition დ

Let’s be honest, if you thought I was going to do another one of these without throwing a T.J. Klune book into the mix, you were just kidding yourselves. Obviously.

This was really hard to choose, since I feel like each cover has something going for it. The US version looks the cleanest to me. It’s easy to notice each element. Simple, yet eye-catching, and easy to read the title. I do love the blue of the French version and the crispness of the wolf prints, instead of the slightly blurry US prints. I just hate the font on the French cover, though, and it’s really difficult for me to read.

So the Italian edition it is. I’ve always been very partial to howling wolves, ever since I was a child. I still have a ton of howling wolf paraphernalia around my house. There’s something in it that’s so elegant, yet universally evokes both the call of the wild and the feeling belonging to something, and that seems to capture the feel of this book really nicely.

The Menagerie

US vs. German vs. French vs. Dutch

               

Winner:

დ US & Dutch Editions (TIE!) დ

I actually love how all the creatures look on the cover of the German version! It’s a really pretty cover, and it gives the reader a really good sense of what to expect in the book. So why didn’t I choose it? Because that almost is the opposite of the feeling of the book. First, the Menagerie is supposed to be a secret, dude. You can’t be putting pictures of all the creatures all over the place. Second, half the fun of reading this book is in discovering all the creatures as you read, rather than picking them out on the front and knowing what you’ll encounter before diving in.

So I chose the US and the Dutch because they both seemed to do a good job of capturing the mystery of the Menagerie, just in two completely opposite ways. The US one I prefer a little bit more because I like the darker colors (I love dark color schemes), and considering that the little glimpses of creatures that it gives you are clearly stabby murder machine parts, it definitely has a more ominous vibe. The Dutch version is just as mysterious in my mind, but it’s in a lighter, more whimsical way.

Artificial Condition

US vs. French vs. Russian

           

Winner:

დ US Edition დ

Not gonna lie, I actually really like the French cover. It looks like the cover of a video game I’d enjoy playing or maybe a LitRPG, but first person shooter version. Is that a genre? Is … is that a thing? Something like Red vs. Blue but in book form. Someone make that happen.

I’m not a huge fan of the Russian cover, though. It looks very alieny to me. Which okay, technically, I suppose Murderbot is an alien, but still.

The US edition looks like a nice combination of both. It’s got the first-person shooter, pew pew pew, zap stuff up feel to it, but also a peek at the larger world with the spaceships (which are actually really important in this book). The red/orange really makes it pop, and I like that ART (I assume it’s ART?!) is peeling out of the haze.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

US vs. Dutch vs. UK

           

Winner:

დ Dutch Edition დ

I don’t like the UK edition. I’ll just get that out there right then. Usually, I love UK covers, but how did we go from stars/space to flowers?! Plus, the flowers make it look like a lot of recent releases, so it’s kind of blah and blends in with all the other humdrum.

I’m giving this one to the Dutch, though. The US cover is a little bit plain to me. The Dutch edition incorporates the stars from the US one, but with a little bit more pop and the addition of a … bird? Which looks like a constellation? I haven’t read this book yet, so I don’t know what it means, but it grabs my attention and makes me curious!

The Ballad of Black Tom

US vs. French vs. Italian

           

Winner:

დ US Edition დ

Is that … Cthulu in the Italian version?! o.0 I’m not sure it’s meant to be Cthulu, but then again I haven’t read it so I can’t say it isn’t, either. It’s obviously meant to be a tentacle monster and … wow, okay, all I can see is this GIF that my friend likes to send me:

So I’m gonna go with a no for that cover. I do like the French version and how ominous and dark it is, but … again, same problem. I just can’t not see that GIF, okay? Tentacle monsters aren’t meant for covers, guys, unless you want me to think the book is about weird smutty things.

So yes, the US version it is. I like that it’s still dark and ominous. I think the addition of the character really enhances it, because I immediately feel drawn to him. Who’s this dark man unafraid to walk through an ominous street, almost larger than life himself, carrying a guitar case? I want to meet these character.

And I don’t want to meet the tentacle monster, which should go without saying.

The Trouble With Peace

US vs. UK vs. German

           

Winner:

დ US Edition დ

This was another tough choice, but I’m just going to have to give it to the US once again. The UK cover is bright, but also busy, so my eye wants to kind of skip over it as almost “too much,” because I’m lazy and unpacking images is too much like work, I guess. I don’t know. My brain works in mysterious ways.

The German cover is nice, and the roaring cat grabs my attention, but it’s also got a lot going on. What I love about the US cover is that it’s deceptively simplistic. I can glance at it, and all the negative white space makes the sword really pop. After that, it’s easy to notice all the little details of the image that really pull it together to where it’s more intricate than it first appears. It’s what I love about the US cover of the first book in this series, so maybe I’m a tad bit biased, but I love it!

Lagoon

US vs. UK vs. German vs. Polish

               

Winner:

დ UK Edition დ

The US edition here is a little too simplistic. It’s literally just … water. Well, a water bubble. Not enough for me. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the Polish cover, which just freaks me out for reasons I can’t articulate but probably has to do with all the horror movies my brother and father talked me into watching as a child. The German cover is gorgeous, but I have a thing about people’s faces being on covers. I like to avoid them when I can. My books judge me enough without actually requiring a face so I feel extra judged and watched, thanks.

Which leaves us with the UK version. Look, I know what I said earlier about tentacles on covers, but I’m going to give this one a pass, because they’re woven in with sharks and fish and other sea creatures, so they look like giant squid and it’s fine. A different type of scary, really.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding

US vs. Russian vs. UK

           

Winner:

დ Russian Edition დ

The UK edition is really pretty, but I don’t like the gray. It looks so dreary, and I wish there was at least a little bit of color to really make it pop. I don’t like the face of the fox in the US edition, either. It looks … wrong.

The Russian edition captures the simple elegance of an old-fashioned mirror and old, cobwebbed setting, while still incorporating a (more realistic, better rendered) fox that still manages to look all ghostly and creepy.

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