The Friday Face-Off – Smoke

The Friday Face-Off was created by Books by Proxy, where each week bloggers can showcase books with covers centered around a weekly theme. You can visit Lynn’s Books for a list of upcoming themes. Join in the fun each Friday by finding a book whose cover is based on the theme!

This week’s theme:  “Where there’s fire there’s…” – a cover featuring smoke.

Another sort of tough week? I finally remembered that Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff has some very smokey covers (although it may be more pollution than smoke!) so I decided to go with that. Stormdancer is a very dark, Asian-inspired fantasy where the skies are full of smoke from the blood lotus plant, which when harvested is both an energy source and a powerful drug. Surprisingly I could only find four different cover designs, although I only checked Goodreads so it’s possible I’ve missed some. Take a look:

Thomas Dunne Books (US) 2012 | Tor Books UK 2012

Buchmann 2013 (Polish) | Bragelonne 2014 (French)

I love all of these except the UK edition—it just doesn’t capture the intensity of the story, at least for me—so it’s hard to decide. But ultimately I LOVE the French edition the most. It’s got everything: a beautiful, kick-ass Yukiko, the blood lotus plant in the foreground, and smoke!

Which one is your favorite?

Posted April 20, 2018 by Tammy in The Friday Face-Off / 12 Comments

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12 responses to “The Friday Face-Off – Smoke

  1. Some lovely covers for this. I’ve never really loved the UK version but the US is stunning, as are the Polish and French versions. I think my favourite is still the US version although if I look at them much longer I’m sure to change my mind another three times.
    Lynn 😀

  2. I absolutely love the covers for this book – I think they’re stunning. But my favourite is the UK cover… I just love the delicacy of the foliage and the dynamic figure of the warrior:). And the book is a great choice for the theme this week!

  3. todd

    I haven’t read this book yet, so I can’t comment on which best fits the story. I think all of them are strong covers, but I am definitely most drawn to the French version. I love her pose, and the mystery that comes with half concealing her face, along with the smoke shrouded city in the background and the petals falling in the foreground.

  4. I laughed at the air pollution part. 🙂 The US one is a little busy for my tastes, and I’m loving the contrast between of B&W and red in the UK one, so UK it is!

    • Tammy

      I think you’re right about UK covers:-) I just don’t think this particular one works with this story at all, although a lot of people seems to like it!

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