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: “Nomad is an island.” – A cover featuring a desert landscape.
Once again, I have turned to Stephen King to supply covers for this week’s theme! The Gunslinger is the first book in The Dark Tower series, as all of you must surely know. This is one of my favorite series of all time, but when The Gunslinger was first published, everyone seemed to be confused because it didn’t look or feel like a Stephen King book. “Desert” is right in the first line of the book: “The man in Black fled across the Desert, and the Gunslinger followed.” Here are some covers, a few with a desert landscape on them:
U.S. Plume 2003 edition | Spanish edition 2003
UK edition 2010 | Russian edition 2012
Portuguese edition 2013 | Spanish edition 2017
U.S. Donald M. Grant edition 1982 | Indonesian edition 2016
There are some great covers here, I think! I have to say the Donald M. Grant edition is near and dear to my heart, since I own that copy, but I also love the Spanish 2003 edition as well as the UK edition. But my absolute favorite is the Russian edition. I love the understated colors and the simple composition. I love the way the text is barely noticeable, and the artwork is front and center:
But I’m curious to hear which one you like best! Let me know in the comments:-D
Excellent choice for this week’s theme! 🙂
Thanks Steph!
We have really similar taste in covers because I agree with the Russian edition, closely followed by the Indonesian edition. I bought the box set of this a few years ago for myself as a Christmas gift. Have I started them? Well, let’s pretend.
Ha ha, well once you do start them, I’ll be curious to hear what you think. Lots of readers are divided over this series.
My favorite is the Spanish, 2003 edition. I even like the title “better”. (I know it’s the same, but El Pistolero sounds so cool.)
Yes!
It’s a great title!
Forget the covers–El Pistolero is a great title!
Yes! I was thinking what a cool name that is. I can even hear a Spanish narrator saying it:-)
I’m leaning towards the Spanish edition. If they took the gunslinger from the Uk one and dropped him into it, then it would be perfect. All of these are good.
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Yes, I like that idea, that would be a great cover:-)
Great choice of book and covers – I’m drawn to the Spanish edition.
Lynn 😀
I love that one too:-)
I so love my King! Great choice!
I love picking King books for this meme, it seems like you can find one no matter what the topic is:-)
Beautiful covers! My favorite is the Spanish edition: the lack of a human figure and those menacing dark clouds make it so much more dramatic: I almost hear some tense string music in the background… 😀 😀
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I agree, that’s my second favorite. So atmospheric!
Your choice is perfect! I love the atmosphere it evokes. The UK edition would be a close second for me, but I’m just drawn to that darker layout.
I think the color is unexpected too. It doesn’t make you think “desert.”
The Russian one definitely caught my eye, but I think my favorite is the Spanish 2017!
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I do like that one too! It’s so different from the others.
Great choice this week! I like almost all of the covers haha I can’t pick a favorite! Its a 5 way tie between the first 5
This book did have some great covers to choose from!
My favorite is probably the UK edition 2010, I love the color scheme and the play of light!
Oh, great pick! I love the one you went with, probably because the colors are a bit different.
These are all pretty great. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but both the Spanish and the Russian covers jump out at me.
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I think I like the Spanish edition the most! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
The first book of this series is my first King book too hhaahha Lovely selection, Tammy! 😀
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You definitely nailed the desert theme! I agree with your choice, I love the composition and just the whole feel of it.
This is a wonderful choice for this week’s theme, Tammy! I love the Indonesian cover – the titled angle gives it an extra sense of menace, I think – but your choice is a very close second:)