Friday Face-Off: Vampire
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:
“…the children of the night. What music they make!”
~ a cover featuring a VAMPIRE
Mogsy’s Pick:
Pandora by Anne Rice
My pick for today’s theme is a nice blast from the past, and probably the last Anne Rice book I truly enjoyed before the author and I parted ways for many years after that. I was a teen when I read this; Pandora was one of my favorite vampires from Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and when I heard she would be the star of the first book in the New Tales of the Vampires series, I knew I had to read it. There have been many editions released since the novel’s original publication in 1998, and here’s a selection of some of the more interesting covers I’ve found:
From left to right:
Alfred A. Knopf Hardcover (1998) – Ballantine Paperback (1999) – Arrow (1999)
Hungarian Edition (2008) – Polish Edition (2002) – French Edition (2015)
Russian Edition (2008) – Turkish Edition (2007) – Italian Edition (2000)
Spanish Edition (2010) – Portuguese Edition (1998) – German Edition (2001)
Winner:
The choices are varied this week, we have everything from Egyptian motifs to a bulb of garlic! However, the cover I love best has a modern feel, but is also elegant in its simplicity. Of all the vampires created by Rice, it is said that Pandora is the most lonely and melancholic, which is reflected by her story – and this cover. A substantial part of the book also deals with her life as a mortal, before she was turned, a duality that is very subtly hinted at in this image. The darkly suggestive Portuguese edition might be one of the plainer options this week, but something about it really speaks to me and I find it very appealing.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
Ooh vampires! I think I like the Portuguese one the best as well, it’s understated but kind of elegant looking, whereas most of the rest don’t do a lot for me. The Knopf hardcover is okay.
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Yeah, the majority of these covers didn’t do it for me either, but surprisingly I was drawn to the most subtle and simple of all of them!
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I agree with you. That is the best version. It is clean, simple, but a bit haunting, More fitting of a vampire.
But what I found most fascination is the way the covers varied from country to country. The Hungarian version is a similar cover to one of her older books sold here in America.
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The Hungarian version reminds me a little of the movie version for Queen of the Damned, there’s just something so…flamboyant about it.
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Agreed
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I’ve joked with Tammy that it’s odd because usually it’s the Portuguese versions that I am drawn to whenever this feature is done. I have to agree with you this week. I never read a lot of the vampire books but I loved her witch trilogy and really enjoyed the first wolf novel she put out a few years back. I think this is the most eclectic combination of covers I’ve seen in a long time!
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It’s interesting because I’m the opposite, having read most of her vampire books but not so much her witch books (but I’ve heard good things about them). I read her werewolf book a few years back too, but unfortunately never felt the motivation to continue the series after that.
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I can’t believe this, but somehow I missed this book! I guess 1998 was a busy year for me (I was getting married and was pregnant and buying a house!). I think my two favorites are the Arrow edition and the Hungarian edition.
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Well, those are all good reasons to miss a book! In 1998 I think I was in high school and just starting to get into the kind of “naughty” books my mother would not have approved of 😛
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The only one I’d look twice at is the Hungarian version. I don’t read Anne Rice so I don’t know if it fits the story!
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I had a feeling the Hungarian version will be quite popular this week!
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I like the Russian. Dunno if it fits but it looks cool
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It does look cool…her rapturous expression gives off an “erotica” feel though 😛
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well..yeah
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I was torn between the Hungarian and your cover. I like both tbh but if pressed I liked the understated tones of your choice.
Lynn 😀
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Yeah when it came time to pick a winner, my choices were down to those two as well!
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I do think that your choice is the best or at least the one I would have chosen too! It is unusual to see that the covers are really vastly different!
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Definitely like your pick the best! It has a great simplistic feel 🙂
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I really enjoyed Pandora as well, I like those couple of novella length books she did. I really loved Vitorrio too even though it didn’t have anything to do with the main universe. Great pick!
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