Friday Face-Off: Planets
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:
“You’re on Earth. There’s no cure for that.”
~ a cover that features PLANETS
Mogsy’s Pick:
Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell
Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell is a sci-fi military space opera following a handful of characters in the aftermath of a bitter violent war fought in a galaxy rife with political tensions. Disgusted with the part she played, the sentient warship Trouble Dog has decided on a new course for her life, joining the House of Reclamation, an organization that answers the calls of distressed starships, in the hopes of atoning for the atrocities she committed. Sal Konstanz, who once fought against Trouble Dog, now finds herself on the same side as the ship as her captain. Together with their crew of medics and rescue workers, they follow a signal from a downed vessel to a touristy but disputed area of space called the Gallery, a system whose planets have all been carved into gargantuan intricate shapes by an ancient alien race.
Let’s take a look at the covers to see how well they capture the tone and scope of the story:
From left to right:
Titan Books (2018) – Italian Edition (2019) – French Edition (2019)
Russian Edition (2020) – Croatian Edition (2019) – Czech Edition (2019)
Winner:
I found it difficult to choose a favorite this week, and it’s not for of the lack of pretty covers because several of these are actually quite nice. However, there’s only so much you can do with the good old “ships in space with some planets in the background” motif (very popular when it comes to military sci-fi covers), so a lot of these come off as a bit generic. Still, the Russian edition stuck out for me the most on account of its brilliant hues and color contrast, so that’s the one I’m going with.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
I don’t like any of the covers. They all look boilerplate.
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Agreed with you there! Sadly there’s just so much you can do with “spaceships with planets in the background”.
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I think of the real picture of a space shuttle above a huge Earth. That one is moving me all the time.
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Both the Russian and the Croatian covers are serious contenders for the original cover from Titan, which is the one I read… 🙂
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The original Titan totally rocks too, I agree!
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That’s funny, I picked the same one for the same reasons, the red seemed to help with the feel of war or conflict, even if an aftermath. I was a bit torn between the Titan Books, Russian and Croatian editions, but the reds in the Russian won out. I did also like aspects of the Czech edition with the perspective of the ship, but overall it didn’t seem a nice a cover as the others.
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Exactly! The color choice really makes this one pop out.
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I love the Russian edition, but I also like the French cover!
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That one is also very appealing!
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Ooo! Brilliant choice for this week’s theme, Mogsy. I’ve recently read this one and loved it:)). I’m very torn between the Russian and Croatian covers… I think the Croatian one just edges it – I love the angle of the spaceship blasting towards us. I think this is my favourite choice of books of all the ones I’ve seen so far. And I love it that we’ve all chosen something different!
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Wasn’t this book awesome?! I’m ashamed to say I haven’t been keeping up with the series and I think the third book is already out if I’m not mistaken. I hope to catch up soon. And I have to say as much as I love the Russian edition, the Croatian is very strong too. All that detail!
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I haven’t kept up with it, either! I, too, want to catch up as I LOVED Trouble Dog:))
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You found the perfect book for planets! I really like your choice, too.
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Thank you! Even though the covers themselves are a bit generic, I think they’re all quite appealing.
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I’ve been meaning to get round to reading this for ages – sounds just my thing! And I agree, I picked the Russian cover too.
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The colors make it pop right off the page! My eye immediately went to it 🙂
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I have to go French, it is something about how it all looks
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Yes, that one is very strong too!
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I like a lot of these, it’s hard to pick between them!
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