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!
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 😀
All the covers are super cool! I can’t decide between the US and the French versions, they are both really beautiful 😀
Brittany recently posted…First Impression Friday – The Wendy & Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
I like the top two covers best. Not sure between them which I prefer
Lisa @TenaciousReader recently posted…Friday Firsts – The Coincidence Makers by Yoav Blum
The first cover (US 2012) is very intense as well. That and the one you choose give off a deep sense of… energy, for want of a better word 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…Review: THE UNDERWATER BALLROOM SOCIETY, edited by Stephanie Burgis & Tiffany Trent
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!
While I agree that they all look great, I think I like the Buchmann one the best. I adore the creature on the cover.
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.
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!
These are pretty nice- I think I like the first one best but the French version is a very close second. The TOR one isn’t horrible either.
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Ooh, I LOVE the Polish cover! And also, ever notice UK covers always seem to go for a minimalistic style no matter who the publisher is, and that the theme is usually black, white, and a splash of color?
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum recently posted…Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
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!
It does seem like kind of a tough topic, but, as usual, you found great covers! My fave is the US one just that’s the kind of art style I like on covers, but the Polish one looks really bad*ss!
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