Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig | Cover Wars

Welcome to another episode of The Cover Wars, where covers are pitted against each other for the title of the UNDENIABLE WINNER! 

Ready, set... go!

BLACKBIRDS BY CHUCK WENDIG 

For me, this is such a hard fight. Originally, I was interested in this story because of the Saga Press cover I saw on kindle when the whole series was on sale, and the art-style reminds me so strongly of art style of The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater which I love so much. I would hang those covers on my walls.

Ravens made of brushstrokes (or any birds, really) just get to me. They look so ethereal like this. 

But then when I went to Goodreads to see how my friends liked this book, I saw the Angry Robot cover, which is the most used cover for this book, and it's gorgeous as well. 

The woman (who is definitely Miriam and even looks like how Miriam probably does, which doesn't happen all the time) is beautifully made of ravens. But she is also being eaten by them, and between them you can see hands reaching and skulls and road signs and so much freakin' details! Every time I look at this cover, I see a new nugget of insight and detail - and let me tell you, they fit the story. 

At the end of the day I think both these covers are beautiful, and they have almost an identical color scheme and theme, but the Angry Robot one goes that extra mile with attention to details, deliberation and a fateful adaptation to the series namesake and protagonist - Miriam herself.

Bravo!

Which is YOUR favorite cover of the two?

February Round Up!

General Stuff

February was kind of a busy month. On the one hand, I can barely remember what I did; on the other, I have the embedded impression of a lot. I feel like I never got any time for myself and my interests, always running from one social event to the other. It was exhausting. I'm kind of an introvert; too much social encounters makes me feel drained to my core. 

As for the blog, I was greatly disappointed this month. I'm not going to lie; this blog effects my general mood. I don't care about views too much (because I've come to realize views hardly translate to discussion and what I'm looking for here is discussions), but I posted some of those posts I'm really proud of or really excited about such as my Harry Potter post or my bookish story or my Hush, Hush rant extravaganza and not many people read/commented on them.

This makes me think - are these not the type of posts that interests you guys? Should I change their format? What do you think? 

MY READING MONTH

Has been pretty crappy. I was in a book slump from the middle of January to the middle of February which sucked up my reading schedule big time. I've read 7 book in February and finished three manga, all of whom will be reviewed on the blog at some point. But I felt like I read nothing at all. It was depressing! 7 books is not a bad number (though I'm used to reading 15 books a month, which hasn't happened for Jan or Feb!) but it felt like nothing at all. Gah! 

AND NOW, IN CASE YOU MISSED MY AWESOME POSTS THIS MONTH (*wink wink*)

POSTS

REVIEWS

The Cover Wars: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover | US vs UK

In The Cover Wars, I'm going to pit covers of the same book against each other. Only one shall leave victorious. The winner takes it all! 

Ready, set.... fight! 

For me, the clear winner with no real contest is the UK cover. This seems to be an unpopular opinion, but hear me out:

I liked this book, but it took me years to read it because of that damned US cover. First of all, the girl scares me. she looks so very wrong. Something about where her neck is, and her hand looks detached from the rest of her. It makes me think that to lie in such a position in which the hand rests like that is one where the arm is broken. And the fade-out contributes to the general feeling of wrong-ness. It took me years to realize the girl is actually pretty because I was always so overcome by it.

The photoshop job here is quite awful in my opinion - which is a pet-peeve of mine when it comes to covers. If I notice the photoshop, then the cover is simply not good enough.

This cover doesn't appeal to me on an aesthetic or artistic level at all.

Now lets take a look at the UK version, shall we? Holly canolly it looks gorgeous! It's simple, mysterious and beautiful in an understated kind of way. The usage of space is great, despite there being a lot of dead space. But just by putting text on it, it's actually very well balanced. In fact, it looks like there is less dead space on it than the US version!

The cover doesn't need to be clattered to be meaningful. The black background is effective for two reasons:

             a. it gives off a dark edge to the story. Dark, heavy colors usually do that - as opposed to the light, soothing colors of the US version. The US cover is mellow and calming, but the UK one tells you "you're in for a hell of a ride" by simply using black.
           
             b. The contrast between the blackness and the glow of the snow globe tells me this is a story about the light amidst the darkness. As in, the good that can be found even in the darkest of times. And isn't that exactly what this book is about?

Now, I'll be honest - I'm pretty sure there is no snow-globe in Hopeless. But, here is what this tells me after reading the book. Inside a snow-globe there is a city. A sheltered city that only exists inside this bubble. And when you shake it, a storm beseeches the city.

Isn't that exactly Sky? Sheltered, living a life that's partly unreal, and Dean comes along and shakes her city and brings on a storm?

The snow globe is Sky. It represents her story.

For that reason, this cover gets an A+ from me. If I had seen this cover existed, I would've read this book a lot sooner. Heck, I would've bought this cover is a heartbeat if I didn't own the sequel, Losing Hope, in the US version (but at least it's signed *wink*)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COVER BETWEEN THE TWO?