Cover Comparison - Northanger Abbey

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Welcome back to yet another cover comparison done by the wonderful Ebony and I. Today we're doing Northanger Abbey here, and over on Ebony's blog we're looking at covers for The Raven Boys. Let's get started.

English Library

Ebony: This is probably one of my least favourite of these editions...I'm not a big fan of pink, and while this shade isn't too bad, it's just too girly for a classic...those colours aren't "classic" colours in my eyes.

Ely: I do think the pink is a little too bright for my liking, but I really, really love the pattern of the keys. I don’t know why, but I have this thing for keys on covers.

Headline

Ebony: Ooh! I've never seen this edition before - I like it! I love the simplicity of it and the font that "Jane" is written in.

Ely: This one is pretty, but I don’t know if it’s one I would actually buy though.

Little Books

Ebony: I really like the overall look of this cover, but I don't think it really suits the story...I could be mistaken though, as I haven't read Northanger Abbey yet.

Ely: I’ve seen this one in real life before, and it’s actually pretty nice. I’m not too fussed on the colours, except for the blue, but the text is amazing.

Penguin Edition

Ebony: This one is okay. It's simple, which I usually like and has a cute little illustration...I can't help feeling bored, however.

Ely: This one is cute, but the illustration looks a little strange to me. I really love the bright blue bow, but I think that’s probably all.

Random House

Ebony: I really like these editions! They're so cute! This is probably my least favourite of this edition as well, though. I just love all of the colours used in the other ones!

Ely: I am in love with these editions – they are just gorgeous! This isn’t my favourite one out of all of them, but I still really like it.

Signet Classics

Ebony: Purple is my favourite colour. So I should love this one. However, I do not. I don't know what it is, I'm just not a big fan of this one.

Ely: I love the shade of purple of this one and the text, but that’s it. I don’t know, there’s something weird about this.

Final thoughts

Ebony: This is hard...I actually feel similar about so many of these. There's not any that really stand out to me. I think I'd have to say that the Headline edition is my favourite, followed by the Little Books edition and finally the Random House edition.

Ely: Hm…it’s hard to pick favourites here! I think I’d have to say the Random House edition is my favourite, then the Little Books edition and then maybe the Headline edition. I don’t know!

Cover Comparison - Vampire Academy

Welcome back yet again for another installment of Cover Comparisons! If you haven't seen one of these before, Cover Comparisons is a (sort of) monthly post that the very lovey Ebony of Daring Damsels and I do, in which we pick out a bunch of different covers of a certain book and then compare them. Today, we're looking at Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead here and The Picture od Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde covers over on Ebony's blog. If you'd like to see the other ones we've done, then you click here to see Jane Eyre, The Diviners, John Green, Wuthering Heights, Melina Marchetta and Great Expectations. Shall we look at those covers then?

Bulgarian

Ebony: That model is insanely awkward...the silhouette of that building is okay, but overall I feel that this is a bad editing job. I mean, it wouldn't be too bad if the two main elements were just blended a little better?

Ely: This is just strange. The girl looks really awkward, though admittedly she does look a little Rose-like. I don’t really like the bottom half of the cover either.

 

Dutch

Ebony: I really like the font on this one! And the illustration is pretty cool, too. However, it makes me think that it's the cover of a graphic novel rather than a book.

Ely: Let me ask you a question Dutch publisher…Did you actually read this book? I feel like we must have read different stories, because this cover doesn’t suit the book at all. I mean, the butterflies…really?

 

German

Ebony: Umm...no. Yuck. Ew. This is more tacky than 90's movie poster. And even that's stretching it, I think.

Ely: I feel like this cover belongs to one of those really crappy 1990 horror books. It’s just strange and the text looks really, really terrible.

Italian

Ebony: And it gets worse. What's with the close up? And that horrible drop of blood? That's just...no. 

Ely: Do you ever look at covers and just be like ‘whhhhhy?’ That’s my reaction to this cover.

New Paperback

Ebony: Ooh, I really like these UK editions! How they're all red with a bit of dripping blood and a symbol. Simple, yet pleasing.

Ely: I think this is probably my favourite cover. I just love how simple yet gorgeous it is, but I love how it also suits the story. That text is beautiful, by the way.

Original

Ebony: Now, these original English editions is one of the reasons why I only started the VA series this year. I think they're pretty cheesy overall. But, looking back now, they're VA. They're what everyone associates with the series, and, a few of these editions, this one included, don't look that bad anymore. I guess that's because I thought they couldn't get any worse covers, but now I've been proven wrong.

Ely: These are the covers I own and I always hated them. Covers like this are just so over done! Admittedly, I like this one way better than some of the other covers included in this post.

 

Reprint

Ebony: I know a lot of people don't like this editions, but I actually do. When I saw that these were being released closer to the release of the movie, I decided that I'd finally give this series ago. I like the different colours used and the fact that the awkward-ish cover models are still there, but they're not the focus anymore.

Ely: I do actually like these ones. They’re simple, but the catch your eye. I feel like they suit the books too.

Spanish

Ebony: This one is okay. It's simple, but it's not a cover that I'd pick up in a bookstore. This is very similar to one of the Romeo & Juliet editions I have.

Ely: And here we have the stereotypical Vampire novel cover! We’ve got the random object in the middle with some blood (how will people know it’s a vampire book otherwise?) and some really old but very weird looking text. (I’m not a fan).

 

Swedish

Ebony: Why oh why would someone design this? I feel as though this series has been very unlucky in cover designs.

Ely: I feel like this might have been borderline okay is they hadn’t put that fence/gate there awkwardly. I mean, it’s covering her face and it just looks really weird. I do like the little symbol/stamp thing they have – that’s super pretty.

 

Turkish

Ebony: More insanely awkward cover models and another disastrous editing attempt. I'm sorry to whoever designed it, because the only good thing about this cover is that shade of blue/green they used.

Ely: This is perhaps the most awkward cover here. What is going on with those models?? That girl’s forehead is actually terrifying. I do, however, like the green they’ve used.

Final Thoughts

Both Ebony and I agree that the New Paperback is our favourite cover, followed by the reprint and then the original. We never knew there were such terrible covers!

Which is your favourite?