Thursday 19 February 2009

Proof that sometimes...

...US covers are better than UK covers! In this particular case, I think the US cover for Robert V. S. Redick's Red Wolf Conspiracy is far superior to the UK version. Check them out below and see for yourself.

First up is the UK cover...


And then we have the rather nice US cover...


8 comments:

Adam Whitehead said...

To be honest, I'd far rather have the original sitting on my wall than the latter (US) one. The latter one is okay, but it looks like it's been airbrushed and photoshopped and made so SHINY! that it doesn't have much character. The original one, and also the UK cover for the sequel, THE RATS AND THE RULING SEA, are far more atmospheric and evocative of the books themselves.

Todd Newton said...

The UK is "prettier" but the US one is way more standard "fantasy." In this case, I'm not going to bitch because it works (still have the ship in the background) though I will say that the inclusion of a sword doesn't necessarily make me want to read it more.

Good call, though.

Word verif: "paxago". Sounds like a rotting disease of the feet.

Kevin said...

I like the UK cover, has a classy feel to it, the US cover looks cheap to me.

ediFanoB said...

To be honest I prefer the UK cover.
It has a lot more atmosphere.

Mihai A. said...

I prefer the UK cover. It looks much better, after all it is made in acrylics on canvas board. And the atmosphere of this image is far more better.
Again, the US cover isn't bad, but it suffers from the comparison with the UK one.

James said...

I agree the UK cover is more atmospheric and representative of the novel itself, but I'm not a fan of it and still prefer the US cover. I also think the US cover is more commercial, which of course is a crucial factor.

Interesting to hear everyone's thoughts though.

Anonymous said...

I have to go with the crowd here and say I really dig the UK cover more. I'd be far more inclined to pick it up off the shelf than the US version.

Adam Whitehead said...

I forgot too add that if you really want a US cover that's better than the UK one, check out the US covers for A SHADOW IN SUMMER and A BETRAYAL IN WINTER, which are absolutely gorgeous. The UK edition (which collects the two versions together) has some kind of weird brown smudge thing on the cover instead.