Friday Face-Off: Curse
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:
“Friday the 13th – unlucky for some!”
~ a cover with CURSE in the title
Mogsy’s Pick:
Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey
The Curse of Chalion, The Curse of the Wendigo, The Winners Curse…er, it appears I’ve run out of “Curse” books that I haven’t featured yet for Friday Face-Off–almost. Jacqueline Carey saves the day with the second book of her Moirin Trilogy, a series that take place in her much acclaimed Kushiel universe. This novel continues the tale of a young bear witch who embarks upon a journey across the continue in search of her vagabond soulmate. Let’s take a look at the available covers, of which there aren’t too many:
From left to right:
Grand Central Publishing (2010) – Gollancz (2010) – Tantor Audio (2010)
Winner:
Well, I know which one’s not going to win this week. I love Tantor and their audiobooks, but their covers have always been a bit of a running joke. Simply put, most of the time they’re awful and the fact they always seem to be a “poor man’s” re-creation of the original. Granted, this one isn’t the worst I’ve seen, but it does follow the usual trend. As for which cover is my favorite this week, well, I guess that would depend on my mood. I like the minimalist style of the Gollancz edition, but I also love the detail of the Grand Central Publishing version and since I’m more into “people” covers these days, I guess I’m going to have to go with that one.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
For some reason I’m in love with the one in the middle. I love the color and there’s just something about it. Of course, I’ve never been a huge fan of people on covers.
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That’s definitely a clear winner if you prefer non-people covers – I love how the petals add drops of color!
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I couldn’t even find a “curse” book I’ve read that had more than one cover, so I had to pick a book I haven’t read. But I love your choice, and your favorite is definitely the best😁
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Yeah this was tough! I thought I would have a lot more options 😛
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The one you chose is pretty. I’m not a huge fan of people on covers (with some exceptions), so I would probably choose the middle one. The one on the far right is my least favorite.
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Yeah it certainly just comes down to a matter of taste with the first two, both are lovely!
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🙂
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It’s a lovely cover, one that seems almost three-dimensional – and the middle cover is interesting as well, with that spider that seems poised to attack… (((shudder))) 🙂
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Yes, I do love the way it just “pops” out at the viewer. I think it’s painted, but it almost looks like a photo.
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Tantor Audio’s cover really does look like a poor man’s recreation of the original 😂😂 I agree with your favorite! I don’t like the Gollancz only because the font they chose for the title looks blurry to me
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Haha, Tantor covers are notoriously horrible – this one’s actually one of the better ones 😛
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This is my favorite too! But you also had A Curse So Dark and Lonely 😉
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I actually haven’t read that! Wish I had 😀
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Sorry Tantor, but yes.
And I agree with your choice
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Haha, you listen to a lot of Tantor audiobooks, you know what I mean eh! LOL! 😀
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I think the Grand central one is my fave, though I go back and forth between that one and the Tantor audio one actually, but the more I look at it the less sure I am of the whole “sideways look” thing haha. Yeah I’m going with Grand Central version. 🙂
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Haha yeah, her expression on the Tantor one looks sort of weird, right? XD
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I love the original cover for this one. Also, I know a lot of people don’t like this series, and it’s not as good as Phedre’s story, but I actually loved this trilogy!
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Yeah, compared to Phedre’s trilogy, this one obviously wasn’t as good, but honestly I quite enjoyed Moirin’s story too. It’s clear Carey was inspired by her travels through Asia, you could feel her passion and love for the culture in these books, which was what I loved about this trilogy 😀
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The Grand Central Pub one is my fav too. I like the pose and that the color of the model’s robes is reflected in the font.
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Oh, nice catch! Yeah, the artist did a great job with the texture of the fabric there!
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This was such a tough theme – I really did think it would be easy but like Tammy when I found a couple of books they didn’t have alternative cover. I was so relieved to recall this book and then also a bit surprised that it didn’t have more covers. Glad we both agreed on the favourite.
Lynn 😀
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I hadn’t heard of this series but I’m kind of intrigued so I’m going to look it up. I also agree with you cover wise, I find the one that you picked gorgeous.
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The second one would’ve been my favorite if only it had a bit more of color! The last one is horrid, though- reminds me of self-published, spiritual self-help books 😉
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