Friday Face-Off: Doll or Puppet
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“I got no strings to hold me down”
~ a cover featuring a DOLL or PUPPET
Mogsy’s Pick:
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
This week was a tricky one. As you know, I have a fear of dolls so I’m not exactly jumping to read any books about them, but after browsing through my Goodreads shelves, I did find a book I’ve read which I could use. Broken Monsters is a supernatural crime thriller which opens with a bizarre and grisly discovery – the top half of a boy’s corpse fused with the bottom half of a deer’s corpse, left behind by the disturbed killer for the police to find.
This is definitely not a book for the squeamish. Needless to say, there are some rather macabre covers on display this week. Let’s take a look at them now:
From left to right, top to bottom:
Mulholland HC (2014) – Mulholland PB (2015) – HarperCollins (2014) – Harper (2015)
Chinese Edition (2016) – Vietnamese Edition (2016) – Indonesian Edition (2017)
Dutch Edition (2015) – French Edition (2015) – German Edition (2015) – Spanish Edition (2016)
Winner:
There’s really only one cover I like out of this batch, one that’s all around solid in terms of visual appeal and how well it fits the story. The winner I’ve chosen this week is the Indonesian edition, which manages to convey all the twisted horror and creepiness of the novel without resorting to grotesque imagery, and I also really like the colors.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
Ooh creepy topic. I agree with your pick, that’s definitely my favorite (and the only one I really like, to be honest). The rest are too creepy for me!
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Yep, my feelings exactly. There aren’t many of these I would want on my shelf, to be honest. Too disturbing!
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It’s so interesting how publishers use different covers for different markets. I notice this a lot when I’m reviewing (especially US vs UK). The Harper 2015 cover makes it look like a straight crime/thriller – I don’t know the book but reading the reviews that might be misleading?
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Yeah, I can see this book being challenging to market or coming up with a cover. For the most part, it was a straight up crime thriller, but towards the second half and the end, the supernatural came in. Definitely a tough call there!
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I like the simple yellow French edition. It’s kinda creepy but also kinda funny. My copy is the Harper (2015) one. It’s a really clever story with some brilliantly realized characters. Not as scary as I thought it was going to be but still creepy-weird at times.
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Ah yes, it’s weird becaues the yellow one, which seemed quite innocuous to me at the time, is beginning to creep me out the more I look at it. It’s just so unnatural… *shudder*
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Yes, we have a WINNER! I liked that cover too.
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That one, and maybe the Spanish cover and a couple of the ones in the first row are the only editions I would even consider having on my shelf. The other ones are too creepy, I wouldn’t even want them in my house because it means I would have to look at them.
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The French one isn’t a good one but I like your choice!
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The French one is definitely not for me, there’s just something so disturbing about the image of the hands on the antlers! But I have to say it’s one of the more interesting choices this week!
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I really like the German edition the best although there are some good contenders here. The one you chose came in a close second for me. The Spanish edition looks like a National Geographic book for me. Nice book pick for this one!
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Haha, you’re right, the Spanish one looks like a wildlife photography cover. At least it’s not creepy though 😀
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That yellow cover with the hands cover is super creepy.
Totally get it about being creeped out by dolls. I like them, but I get creeped out when there are many of them together. Makes me think of the many scary movies I’ve watched as a kid.
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Yeah that yellow one gives me the creeps. The more I look at it, the more it unnerves me.
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I never would have thought this book had a doll themed cover, but it turns out I like the doll paets cover the best! (Chinese)
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Ah, the one that freaks me out the most 😉
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Yeah that cover would be my choice too. I like the colour and the sense of menace from it.
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Yes, the evil deer is staring at you! 😀
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I have to go Chinese this time
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Ooh, the scary doll parts cover, the one that freaks me out the most. I’m just like, nope, nope, nope! 😀
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Creepy core theme, creepy covers… brrrrr! 🙂
I like your choice, since it’s quite scary, but I also keep glancing at the French cover, which is similar in subject but adds all those hands coming out of the antlers that make it even weirder.
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Yes! I think that’s where most of the revulsion comes from, the fact that those hands on the antlers give you the sense of unnaturalness and that THIS IS JUST NOT RIGHT!!! Run! 😀
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They are all super creepy!
I think for me the most distrubing one is first row last cover… :s
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It does give off a sense of eeriness, doesn’t it!
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Wow, that Vietnamese one is…something. I’m partial to the German one because the typography looks so interesting.
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Ah, nice, I didn’t even notice the typography for a lot of these. Good observation!
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Oh yes – your choice was the one to go with – it does have creepy vibe, but is also very beautiful. I do love those colours… And congratulations on choosing a really good book this week, Mogsy:)
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Yes, for me, the colors make this one fall more on the “artistic” side of the equation, despite its creepy themes. And thanks! I loved this book too 🙂
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I definitely agree with your choice! I absolutely love those colours – beautiful! Even the demonic stag! 😀
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Haha, my thoughts exactly. The stag is crazy creepy and disturbing, but at least the awesome colors make up for it 🙂
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I like your choice of cover and book. Lauren Beukes is so good and this is such a creepy number.
Lynn 😀
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Yeah, her other thriller/horror books have very weird and creepy covers too! I really need to read more by her.
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I love that cover you picked! I haven’t seen it before (also love this book!)
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Yeah, before doing this Friday Face-off, I had no idea this book had so many editions.
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Oh my god, that Chinese edition is pretty damn creepy… And the French edition is pretty scary too. But I can’t say more because I haven’t read the book 🙂
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Yeah, the Chinese edition is the worst. I just can’t do dolls, I just can’t! I have a fear of them 😛
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