Friday Face-Off: Magical Things
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:
“Bibbity, bobbity, boo!”
~ a cover featuring MAGICAL THINGS
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Reader by Traci Chee
Today’s Friday Face-Off topic is magical things, and I thought, well, what’s more magical than books? And in the world of The Reader, books are literally objects of magical power, which is why those in charge want to keep the society they rule over ignorant and illiterate. As a result, our story’s protagonist Sefia grew up without ever having seen a book, but the first time she came across one of these strange, rectangular objects filled with paper with writing on them, she knew that it was special. Somehow though, she is also sure that it is why her father died, and now that those who killed him are hunting her too, Sefia must quickly unlock the secrets of the book and start making sense of the mysteries of her past in order to save herself and those she loves.
Let’s take a look at the covers:
From left to right:
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers (2016) – French Edition (2017)
German Edition (2016) – Italian Edition (2016)
Portuguese Edition (2017) – Russian Edition (2017)
Winner:
My favorite this week is probably the German edition, because it so beautifully and artistically combines two things I’m a sucker for when it comes to covers – books and ships! The other covers that feature this theme are either too busy for me (Portuguese edition) or too plain for my tastes (the Russian edition), so the decision was pretty easy.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
She suddenly became very blonde there…
Anyway, the German too. I like it. SImple, and yet not
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This comment made me laugh! 😀
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I thought the same thing, lol. Guess they were targeting a completely different market. I noticed the difference in how the ships were portrayed too.
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Oh yessss… WHAT a fabulous choice! That cover is SUMPTUOUS. And you’re right about books being magical:)). Nice bit of lateral thinking, there, Mogsy.
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Thanks, actually the first thing that popped into my head was a grimoire, so I just went with it 🙂
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Quite right, too!
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I like the colours in the French edition and the ship design in the one you chose is nice too.
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The French cover reminds me of a tropical paradise 🙂
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This is one where I actually like the US version – of course it’s the one I read as well. I really liked it too so I have no idea why I haven’t continued on with it!
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Same here, I still need to read book two 😛
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I love the French edition! But it’s difficult to choose!
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The French edition is really beautiful with its bright colors 🙂
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What a great choice – and your favourite too immediately jumped out at me. I like the style of the cover immediately below and it’s a style I like but it’s just too busy and the title is difficult to read.
Lynn 😀
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Yes, I love how clean the well laid out the German cover is 🙂
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I haven’t heard of this book but it sounds very interesting. The covers are very different from each other so it’s very hard to choose. But I agree with your choice. I also like the Russian cover.
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Yes, the tough weeks are when the covers are all very different, but all very strong! Hard to narrow down a favorite.
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I’m still partial to the brightly colored US edition, even though it may not work the best for this story.
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It’s a very pretty cover, it’s just a shame you can’t see all the background details clearly!
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I agree with your choice! It is hands down the best cover ❤ (I love books and ships too)
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Haha, yep, I just love maritime fantasy! ;d
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I love your choice and the Russian edition as well: they share the same kind of theme and I like the idea of “voyage” suggested by the ship. After all, every new book is a journey… 🙂
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My thoughts exactly! 😀
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I love both the American and German covers. The Russian and Portuguese covers are also cool.
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Lots of strong contenders this week 🙂
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I kinda like that French edition for some reason. The bright colors with the black, I guess. 🙂
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i do like the colors…gives me a tropical island feel 🙂
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I personally enjoy the busyness of the Portuguese edition myself, but definitely the German ranks top 2 for me as well!
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I do have to say the Portuguese edition is very striking, I just think if the title showed up more clearly it would be even better! 😀
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Good point! I agree! 😉
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I do agree with your favorite Mogsy!!
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Cheers! 😀
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I really love your pick- excellent choice!
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Oooh, this one has all kinds of interesting covers. I really like a lot of them, but I do agree with your favorite here.
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