Book Cover Smackdown! ‘The Five’ vs. ‘Anno Dracula’ vs. ‘Birthmarked’
By AidanMoher |
Friday, April 22nd, 2011 at
12:20 am
Break out your ruler, folks! It’s time for another Book Cover Smackdown!
Here are the contenders…
Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why.
Books shown here:
- The Five by Robert McCammon (Artist: Vincent Chong)
- Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (Artist: Unknown)
- Birthmarked by Caragh O’Brien (Artist: Unknown)
NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links.
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Tagged with: Anno Dracula • Art • Birthmarked • Book Cover • Book Cover Smackdown • Caragh O'Brien • Kim Newman • Robert McCammon • The Five
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Sorry to say this but I dislike all 3 covers… In my ‘shop test’ I would not pick any of the three up to look at the back covers. They all look to busy for my tastes.
I think the Anno Dracula cover captures its 19th century feel. It kind of reminds me of the Hardcover art on Robert Charles Wilson’s Julian Comstock.
This is a tough one. I love the main graphic of The Five, the feel of Anno Dracula, and the style of Birthmarked. I’ll go with Anno Dracula, by a slim, slim margin.
I’m not that drawn by any of the covers either. If I have to pick between them, though, I’d go for Anno Dracula. Among other things, it’s clear & organized & invokes a period aesthetic. It also doesn’t require as much squinting to read.
I have to give it to Anno Dracula as well. I actually find it a pretty intriguing cover. The title is bold enough to catch my eye, and the design is “non-schlocky” enough for me to consider for a moment taking it seriously enough to actually read. Both are big wins.
The Five is actually a great cover too, but its for the wrong genre. That is a crime thriller cover, so it’s sort of lost on the genre crowd. We just aren’t conditioned for that sort of look and style. So points for going with it, but probably not as successful a choice. But if that book was about a child murder in the blue collar neighborhoods of Boston, you’d have a winner.
Birthmarked – is that the back cover synopsis on the front cover? Who knows, its so hard to read, nobody can tell.
I like the cover for Anno-Dracula the best. The McCammon looks fine (and the interior art looks amazing from what I’ve seen), but it’s verging on cliche. Birthmarked isn’t doing it for me at all.
Hello! Glad you all seem to like the Anno Dracula cover – I’m the designer! It’s published by Titan Books and there should be a post on their blog (www.titanbooks.com/blog), and my blog (www.amazing15design.blogspot.com) at some point in the next month or so about the cover design process.
Thanks!