Shelf Analysis: ARCs vs Final Covers – Round 2

by | Aug 18, 2011 | Shelf Analysis | 4 comments

If you’re new to Dead Book Darling then… Hi. I’m Kay. I love books and hold serious grudges. I don’t forgive and I don’t forget. And just because I love books, that doesn’t mean they are automatically spared my ire.

Often times a gorgeous cover will come out – a cover that says all the right things, makes you swoon and has you running to the chapel. Then, that cover you loved? It changes into a cover you wouldn’t want to be seen in public with. And when that happens, I don’t tend to keep calm and carry on. I hold a grudge.

I’ve addressed this subject before (don’t get me started again on the covers of the Strange Angels series), but a few books that I’m kinda in love with have had their covers changed this year. And while most of these new covers aren’t terrible, someone has to pay homage to their gorgeous but recently-deceased ARC covers…

ARC // Final Cover
Enclave by Ann Aguirre
Talk about radically different covers! When I first saw the change my thoughts on the new cover were simple: “meh”. It is a really boring, give-nothing-away cover. It’s nice, but there is no detail. Razorland, on the other hand, was detail mad. It features absolutely gorgeous artwork that fits in well with Ann Aguirre’s other illustrated covers. It also really has the post-apocalyptic, do-or-die feel to it that the book has.
But Enclave is a great non-gender specific YA read. And which cover do I think a teenage boy is more likely to pick up? Er, the Enclave cover of course! So while I am glad that I have the ARC of this book and get to have the “best of both worlds”, I am (reluctantly) glad that they changed the cover. Reluctantly…
 
US ARC // US Final Cover
I saw the ARC cover to this book ages ago… and went “ick” and promptly forgot about it. Then, months later, I got the UK ARC in the mail and realised that Laini Taylor was also the author of Lips Touch: Three Times (a book I have heard sooooo many great things about). After I finished the book – and loved it – I did a bit of research and found the US ARC cover that I had seen so many months ago.
And now? Now I really really like it!
OK, I so I can admit that it is not the most… coherent of images. It’s a bird, no it’s a girl, no is a turquoise girl – red girl mashup. What on earth is that about?? But trust me when I say that it works for this novel. Out of all the 3 released covers I’ve seen for this novel, the US ARC is the most representative of the content.
But if you haven’t read it… well, then my original “ick” response applies. So, yay! for feathered masks.
 
UK ARC // Final Cover
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Oh, dear lord. I loathe the US Bloodlines face covers. This one and the already released cover of The Golden Lily. I had always thought the Vampire Academy face covers were alright: not worthy of loathing or loving. But these? These are dreadful. The font is cheesy, the models look annoyingly stuck-up, and there isn’t even a proper background to them. Just… dreadful.

So when the UK publishers released their cover to book, I was rather excited. I hadn’t liked how they had re-issued the Vampire Academy series to give them simple, face-free covers… but they hadn’t done too bad a job with Bloodlines.

Then, shortly after releasing the ARC cover to the blogosphere, they changed their mind. They’ll be using the US face covers to give a more “global” feel to the series.

Nooooo! Why ditch the perfectly nice cover you’ve already designed? The cover that would sit nicely next to the non-face covers you had given to the Vampire Academy series! Why?? And if you honestly wanted a “global” feel, then why on EARTH did you choose the face cover from HELL to spread across the globe. Why??

So while I will, of course, be buying Richelle’s new series… am I a happy bunny? No, I am not.

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4 Comments

  1. Leanna (Daisy Chain Book Reviews)
    Leanna (Daisy Chain Book Reviews) on August 18, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    I preferred the original UK cover for Bloodlines too. Not a fan of the finished cover, although I think the cover for The Golden Lily is a lot better.

    Reply
  2. cat
    cat on August 18, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    Oh my gosh… had you not posted this I would never have known that Razorland and Enclave were the same book! I recall Rhiannon Hart blogging about Razorland and while I read the review it didn’t seem much for me and I hated that cover. I also didn’t think enclave was for me and it turns out, it doesn’t matter the cover! ha!

    I looooooooovye Laini Taylor’s writing. I have read both her Dreamdark titles and I am looking forward to reading The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I like the final cover much better than the arc!

    Reply
  3. Nomes
    Nomes on August 21, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    awesome idea for a post. i did not even realise razorland and enclave were the same book, LOL. i like the vibe (and title) of razorland the best.

    Reply
  4. Hannah Mariska
    Hannah Mariska on August 22, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    I definitely agree with you on Bloodlines. I would love to know the reason why covers get changed so dramatically (and not always for the best!)…oh to be a fly on the wall at the publishers 😉

    Reply

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