Friday Face-Off: King
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:
“I’m Henry the Eighth I am”
~ a cover featuring a KING
King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
Probably an obvious choice, but oh so appropriate for the theme. This sequel to Prince of Thorns sees Jorg a bit older and a little more mature, but still very much his asshole self minus some anger management issues from the first book. In King of Thorns, our protagonist seeks help defending his kingdom from a rival, and is determined to emerge victorious.
Let’s take a look at the covers:
From left to right:
Ace Books (2012) – Romanian Edition (2019)
Dutch Edition (2012) – Czech Edition (2015) – Polish Edition (2013)
Italian Edition (2013) – Russian Edition (2014)
Winner:
I feel the best ones today are all variations of the same throne theme, and that it comes down to individual taste as to which one is the best. Personally, my favorite is the Russian cover. The lighting is better so you can see more of the detail in the armor and throne etc., and the “washed out” look also gives it a nice effect.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
I like the “throne theme” as well, and your choice, together with the one from Ace Books, looks indeed like the best one 🙂
LikeLike
Yep, both of those are good!
LikeLike
I agree and I like the Ace edition too
LikeLike
The art is fantastic!
LikeLike
There are a lot of good covers! I love the Russian, as well as the Romanian and Polish covers too😁
LikeLike
I’m just amazed at all the art styles 😀
LikeLike
Oh wow! These are cool covers! I like the Ace edition!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my gosh, I wish I was around yesterday to catch this one!!! I think I’d have gone for Return of the King, that could have been fun to see. Love the Henry quote too!
And this is tough. I’ve ALWAYS loved the attitude to the Ace cover, it’s so badass. But the Russian cover has similar attitude, and the Polish cover is neat too… I think I’d still go for the Ace one. I feel like the Russian is a little washed out and Polish is a bit too much.
LikeLike
Definitely, the Ace cover is allll about that pose 😉
LikeLike
Ace! But yes your pick is really good
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Ace Books cover is my fav. I just love the kind of lean/slouch to the pose.
LikeLike
Yep, it’s so chill and badass 😀
LikeLike
I went with this book too – it was the first that sprung to mind and there are plenty of covers available now. I like your choice and the original (very similar really) although now you mention it your favourite does manage to fit in a lot of detail that I missed before – like the lion on the throne.
Lynn 😀
LikeLike
Yep, it was the natural choice for me, lol! It’s just so iconic with the throne 🙂
LikeLike