#SciFiMonth Friday Face-Off: “Star” in the Title
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:
~ a cover of a book with “STAR” IN THE TITLE
The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew Williams
The Stars Now Unclaimed is a book that wastes no time in dumping readers into a story embroiled in secrets, intrigue, and action. Jane, our protagonist who starts off unnamed until her purposes are revealed around halfway through the book, is an agent for the Justified, an organization dedicated to locating and retrieving gifted young people scattered throughout the galaxy. Years ago, when the mysterious Pulse happened, whole worlds were changed when they lost all their technology due to the radiation, but one of its side effects also caused children to be born with strange, incredible powers. The Justified believe that these special children are the key to fixing the damage caused by the Pulse, which is why Jane has been dispatched to a wild and untamed planet to find one of them now, a teenager named Esa. But almost immediately, Jane is ambushed by the Pax, an army of aggressive conquering zealots who were largely unaffected by the Pulse and believe that gives them the right to rule the entire galaxy. The retrieval job quickly devolves into a rescue mission as Jane desperately tries to get Esa off-world to some place safe, recruiting the help of some new and old allies, including her ship’s AI, a sentient robot named Preacher, a Justified information broker, as well as her roguish ex-lover Javi.
Let’s take a look at the covers:
From left to right:
Tor Books (2018) – Simon & Schuster UK (2018)
Simon & Schuster UK (2019) – German Edition (2020)
Winner:
It’s simplistic, but I just love the Simon & Schuster 2018 UK edition with its representation of the planets’ orbits, and in particular the delightful typeface they’ve chosen that goes so perfectly with art style. It wasn’t even close, that one’s my favorite this week.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
The BiblioSanctum 
Oh I like that first cover a lot!
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It’s very bold and adventurous!
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I was most drawn to the German edition, likely because of the colors, but I’ve also always liked covers featuring ships and planets.
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I do like the gradient colors there!
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Some intriguing covers
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Agreed!
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I agree with you about the best cover — the orbits really grabbed my eyes. Interesting that the Simon & Schuster UK (2019) cover kept the same font as the 2018 version, but angled it — it’s a neat font.
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Ooh I didn’t even notice until you mentioned it. You’re right, the font is the same but angled. Interesting effect it makes!
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The Simon and Schuster UK jumped out at me too! I love the retro vibe😁
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The retro vibe definitely won it for me!
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I’m with you on the UK cover!
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Indeed, it just popped out at me!
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Yes, I love that cover – the font works so well.
Lynn 😀
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Definitely the font and the imagery were very effective!
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Hmm, maybe German, not a fan of any to be honest
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The German cover has some nice colors!
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