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: “Is that a lion with horns and a pitchfork?” – A cover featuring a lion.
Well, lions on book covers are harder to find than I expected. Immediately ruling out the obvious (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), I headed for Google to get some help. And I found a good one, I think! A Lion Among Men is the third book in Gregory Maguire’s Wicked series, an imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz (in case you’ve been hiding under a rock) and even though I’ve only read the first two books, I decided to feature this anyway, because I do have a copy of it on my shelves. Here are the covers I found:
U.S. edition 2008 | UK edition 2009
U.S. paperback 2011 | Portuguese edition 2010
Spanish edition 2011 | Unknown date and publisher (?)
I mean, none of these are really outstanding examples of cover design, except for the first one, I guess. I do like the way you can just see the lion’s tale in the U.S. paperback edition, and I think the Spanish edition is interesting with the upright lion holding a staff. But overall, I’ll have to choose the original U.S. hardcover edition since it matches the rest of the series:
This time all the covers are SO different. I like the Portuguese edition the best because it’s pretty, but the contrast of colors hint at danger.
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…#FirstLineFriday
Oh, I’ve completely lost my heart to the glowing green UK cover… What a very good choice for this week’s theme! I think you’ve got the best selection so far – a lion with a pince-nez is just pure class:))
I think the US edition is the best but that Portuguese one sure is pretty
So many different styles. I’m leaning towards the colorful, bold look of the UK edition.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Murder At The Million Dollar Pier ~ Spotlight and Giveaway
I agree with the U.S. hardcover too. But the Portuguese one isn’t bad either. ^_^
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Review: Lustrum by Robert Harris
I would like the UK one the best if the green witch wasn’t on the cover. 🙂
The US hardcover version is the one I have! I think that’s definitely the one I prefer best, too. The others either look too realistic or too cartoony, but the US version has a nice balance between the two!
Sammie @ The Writerly Way recently posted…First Line 56 || Destiny and Spurned Gods
I like the one you chose best also, Tammy, and I also agree that none are super amazing. It’s too bad because it has so much potential with a lion and then of course Oz things!
I do like the US hardcover and I even like the second one even though the Witch always freaked me out lol.
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I love your pick! And what a cool book, a lion in spectacles – now that’s awesome 😀
I love it -so cool. I kind of like the Portuguese edition too but a glasses wearing lion wins the day totally.
Lynn 😀
For some reason I’m finding myself drawn to the ones that feature the lion more in silhouette like the Portuguese and the Spanish ones.
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This is a hard choice! I keep finding something to like about each of them. I gravitate towards the UK edition 2009 but then I like the simplicity of the Spanish 2011 edition.. lol. I own the first book in this series. I really need to get to it.
I don’t really love any of these ones, but I like the last one best!
I love that we picked the same one! And seriously, it was more difficult than expected to find lions on covers!
Great pick! I don’t know if I love any of them but I do like the one you went with, the orange is appealing.