Friday Face-Off: Smoke
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:
“Where there’s fire there’s…”
~ a cover featuring SMOKE
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Infernal Battalion by Django Wexler
This week, I thought I would keep things simple with an old-fashioned head to head. The Infernal Battalion is the final book of The Shadow Campaigns series. Wexler is in his element as this novel shifts the focus back to the chaos and violence of the frontlines, making this one an action-packed (and yes, smoke-filled) installment.
Our contenders:
Ace Books (2018) vs. Head of Zeus (2018)
Winner:
This week’s a tough one. Even though I’ve always been quite partial to the US (Ace Books) covers, the UK (Head of Zeus) edition for this particular volume is gorgeous, with the castle in the background and the bright flames jumping out from the smokey grey. As a bonus, we even have the heavy artillery. On the other hand, I tend to prefer covers that feature central characters, and I also love the rich red tones of the Ace edition. At the end of the day, loyalty wins out, but both choices are so strong this week that it really could have come down to a coin toss.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
I love seeing splashes of red on book covers, so I’m partial to the US one. But I do like the contrast of the grey smoke and fire in the UK one!
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Yes, I had a really hard time choosing between them!
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This one’s tough. I go with the red one by a smidgen, although I like the other one too. I guess I like the focus on the one character rather than the two dudes by the cannon. Still, they’re both nice.
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True, for me, the central focus on the main character in the Ace edition was what gave it the edge over the two random dudes by the cannon 😀
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Hmm, I’m going with the red one; it’s very atmospheric! 😉
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They’re both atmospheric, but I agree, it’s like the red color gives it that extra oomph 🙂
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True! And yesss!!
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I like both of these covers for entirely different reasons. I like that the Zeus version has been toned into greys, blacks and whites with the contrast of the fire but in terms of eye catching drama the Ace book wins hands down.
Lynn 😀
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Yeah, the Ace edition just leaps out at you!
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I really can’t choose, this is one of those situations where the author got lucky! Although I’m drawn to the Head of Zeus edition simply because it’s not the one I’m familiar with😁
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Yeah, most of the time I’m also drawn to the novelty of new-to-me covers 😀
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I am going UK with ice zombies, I think that is the one I pre-ordered…I think
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Quite possible, if you also have the others in the UK edition 🙂
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I kinda like the details for the one on the left, but the red color for the one on the right
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Me too, it’s like both covers have their individual strengths.
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Easy choice for this one: the red cover gives off an air of mystery that I find quite compelling, and the wind-tossed cloak of the character is a striking detail as well.
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Agreed, the flying cape is very dramatic!
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Oh I like them both there!
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Yeah, this book was blessed with awesome covers!
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I agree with you on this one. This one looks more up to date and everything.
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You’re right, there does seem to be an “old time” feel with the other one. I don’t know what it is…maybe the washed out effect of the colors.
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Completely agree with your choice!
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Yay! I do love the richness of the red tones 🙂
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Love your pick!!
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Yeah, both covers are nice, but I think the Ace cover edges the other one out just slightly 🙂
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I like both covers this time and it’s too hard choosing between them!
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