Graceling Covers

Instead of a new release today I thought I’d try something new: a bunch of covers of an already released book. Without further ado, here are some of the covers of Graceling, by Kristin Cashore (speaking of which, did you know that the third book in The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy, called Bitterblue, is scheduled to be released sometime in 2011?)

First, the two English covers (US and UK):

Considering by looks alone, the first cover (the US one) would be my favorite by far. Because of the colors, of the aged-seeming cover that makes it look like it may be a fairy-tale book (a book of long ago, when dragons still lived and magic still existed :) ), not to mention the reflected eye implying a lethal foe. And yet overall, to my surprise, it is the second cover that I like most. While I’m usually not fond of having people brandishing weapons on covers, this particular one seems to me to have caught the very essence of Katsa, the Graceling in the story: her dark hair, her lithe stature, her solitude, her casualness with weapons, the fact that she’s usually seen in pants. Plus the wintery landscape is a reference to one of her adventures :)

The only detail that I am not fond of is the gradient on the title on the UK cover. I imagine however that whoever made the cover has also checked what it look like with no gradient and thought it looked better with it on. Oh well. It does add a bit of light to what might have been too dark a cover. Plus I actually like the way it appears to be an influence of the fog in the background image.

The concepts of each cover has been continued on the covers to Fire, Graceling‘s prequel. On the US cover we have the weapon, a detail of a face, and the aged look, although of course the colors have been changed to better match the title:

On the UK cover we have the girl with an unseen face, the weapon brandished, the dark colors and the abstract landscape. Oh, and the same colors for the title, together with the gradient matching the light in the image:

This being said I am intensely curious about how the cover to Bitterblue will be and whether it will match the previous concepts. I think I would like the US version to have a golden crown on a blue background (might sound clashing but the way I’m imagining it it looks quite good :) ). I have no idea about the UK cover (pretty normal given that we currently know nothing at all about Bitterblue herself. :)

Until then, two other covers of Graceling:

This is the German version, which I don’t much like (despite the curlicues), because it is too feminine for our Graceling Katsa (although the seemingly carelessly tied hair may disagree with me). Compare this one to the UK cover :)

And another:

The French version, which I kinda like (despite my not being fond of composites) because of the way it stays true to the story (although I cannot decide whether the boy has gold hoops in his ears or not :) ).

Well, that’s it for today :) What do you think? Which one is your favorite? If you read the book, which cover to you think matches the story best?

Graceling on Amazon.com | Graceling on Bookdepository.co.uk
Fire on Amazon.com | Fire on Bookdepository.co.uk