Monday 15 June 2009

God of Clocks - UK cover vs US cover

I remember seeing - and liking - the UK artwork for Alan Campbell's God of Clocks quite a while ago, but I only appreciated how nice it really is when I received a copy in the mail the other day (sometimes you really do have to look at the actual book itself to fully appreciate a cover, as the online images fail to some covers justice).

Anyway, here it is:



And here is the US version (with the almost inevitable chick-with-sword in the foreground).


To be fair, the US version isn't too bad at all. I do prefer the UK version myself though.
Really need to read this series actually...I started reading Scar Night (the opening is brilliant) but put it down because it wasn't quite what I was in the mood for. Will definitely pick it up again soon.
Anyone prefer the US cover?

6 comments:

Todd Newton said...

Big surprise.

Swordy Herogirl Rides Again!!!
Swordy Herogirl 3: Swordy Herogirl's Revenge! Subtitle: This time she's pissed!

Much prefer the UK cover, frankly. I wish they'd stop making urban fantasy readers stop and wonder whether they should "try something else that has a similar cover."

gav (NextRead.co.uk) said...

You know the UK covers always win :P

Actually that's not true in the case of the The Red Wolf Conspiracy - the US cover wins hands down!!!

Rob Oakes said...

Why is that the UK always gets better artwork than the US? Is this further evidence that you British actually are more intelligent than we Americans are?

Martin said...

My review copy is the US edition and it is a crime. The UK covers by Dominic Harman are some of the nicest seen in the genre in recent years, the US are bland, derivative and, frankly, shit. Ah well, at least the book itself is just as good in either edition.

Alex said...

US copy could be subtitled 'Assault on Lensflare Keep'. "Upon approach our hero realized that she could continue no further: the glare was just too much. She returned to the town to purchase a pair of sunglasses from a kindly merchant"

Title text is cheeseful in the extreme too, looks like something from a US televangelism show. Dear god (of clocks) could it possibly be anymore gold and glowy?

I wonder if things will reach a point where they'll just start putting Swordy Herogirl on the covers of novels that don't even feature one. Or asking authors to add in a scene with her. Or even telling them to rewrite the entire novel, "just, you know, replacing the protagonist with a swordy herogirl"

Adele said...

They are both lovely, but the UK version is more unusual and I love it!