Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a new weekly meme hosted by Books by Proxy. Join us every Friday as we pit cover against cover, and publisher against publisher, to find the best artwork in our literary universe.
The Friday Face-Off: Metropolis
Mitosis (Reckoners #1.5) by Brandon Sanderson
asdf
asdf
asdf
asdf
VS.
asdf
asdf
asdf
asdf
Delacorte Press – US Cover
Cover art by ???
◊ ◊ ◊
Gollancz – UK Cover
Cover art by Sam Green
The Friday Face-Off Winner is…
Gollancz – UK Cover; Cover Art by Sam Green
Out of all the cover’s Sam Green has done for the Reckoner’s series, this one is my least favorite. It a little dull, and lacking action. I know that gray colors and sketching is supposed to make that aqua green stand out – and it does, and it looks amazing on all the other covers. But behind that main tower in the front, it’s only gray nothingness… I don’t know what should or could go there, but I’m no all too keen on it. Now that I look at it more though, that green slashing in from of the tower, does take my focus off the background gray. I still do like the cover, just not as immediately as Green’s other covers.
However, the US cover has “YA” written all over. The front, the cover art, the cover design. No way you can’t look at that and not think it’s a YA story. Not that there is anything wrong wit that, but I prefer the… mature(?),adult(?)… No, now that just sounds like something else XD I prefer the fantasy cover for books who aren’t market toward the YA crowd primary.
Which cover do you think is the best?
-DJ
MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape 
I totally agree with your pick and your reasoning for it. Then again, I always seem to prefer UK covers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have to agree with your choice, the UK cover looks far better, yay for the UK! 🙂
LikeLike
Not so sure with this one – I think it’s a draw for me because there isn’t one that immediately stands out more than the other. I quite like the city skyline for the US one. The UK one looks like a game of chess somehow – that’s my immediate impression.
Lynn 😀
LikeLike
Absolutely – the UK cover wins hands down (as Sam Green always will in my eyes!) I actually really love this illustration, it’s almost like a towering city of skyscrapers has burst up out of nothing and nowhere, I love the really simplistic colour scheme too with just a flash of teal.
The US cover definitely seems a bit YA and a little too generic for my tastes. I probably wouldn’t even pick it up if it didn’t have Sanderson’s name sprawled across it! It reminds me of a cheap thriller.
LikeLike
I love the UK Brandon Sanderson’s covers with the grey/green colouring and the delicate artwork and pared, spare look. It’s a smart move – I immediately know it’s a Sanderson book just with a fleeting glance. I’m interested to know whether there really is a cultural divide here – do US visitors to our sites mostly prefer US covers, whereas UK folks like the UK covers more?
LikeLike
Not to be negative, but I’m not real crazy about either. I mean, I don’t dislike them, but I don’t really like either of them either.
LikeLike
Hmm, this is a tough one. I would say it’s a tie, but tbh I don’t really like either one. The US cover looks tacky somehow, like it was cobbled together in photoshop but I also really dislike the artstyle of the UK cover. Seems from the comments I’m not the only one feeling torn, lol.
LikeLike
The UK cover wins for me too although I don’t like it much. I agree with you about too much grey on it. Maybe I need to see it in person to see if it stands out.
LikeLike