Friday Face Off : ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’
22 March 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books by Proxy, Friday Face off, JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings #3, The Return of the King
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’ – A cover featuring a king
Mmm, I didn’t have an easy week with this theme. I considered using a book with ‘King’ in the title which would have increased my book choices but then decided to go with a trusty favourite. The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings #3) by J.R.R. Tolkien. As you may imagine there are a lot of covers for this book – a lot – I’ve restricted myself to just a very small selection:
The covers:
My favourite this week is:
This is a lovely special collector’s edition cover produced by Harper Collins.
Which one is your favourite?
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so we can all visit and check out each others covers. Thanks
I’ve updated the list and included themes through to the end of 2019 – I’ve also included events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share that let me know in the comments). I also have a list prepared for 2020 and so will set up a separate page soon for forthcoming themes. As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment.
Next week – A cover featuring a unicorn
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
2019
29th March – “I thought unicorns were more . . . Fluffy.” – A cover featuring a unicorn
5th April – ‘nomad is an island’ – A cover featuring a desert landscape
12th April – ‘Odin, Odin, send the wind to turn the tide – A cover featuring a longboat
19th April – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – A cover featuring a school
26th April “The sunrise was the colour of bad blood” – A cover featuring a sunrise/sunset
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
3rd May – “How sweet to be a cloud, floating in the blue” – A cover that is predominantly blue
10th May – “As full of spirit as the month of May” – A cover featuring a festival/party/celebration
17th May – “The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow!” – A cover featuring a fantasy beast
24th May – “bibbity, bobbity, boo” – A cover that features ‘magical things’
31st May – “simples” – A favourite fantasy cover
7th June – “One swallow does not make a summer” – A cover that makes you think of Summer
14th June – “Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly.” – A cover featuring something sweet
21st June – Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year – Pagan rituals/standing stones/blazing suns – a cover with your own interpretation
28th June – “And who decided which people wore the striped pyjamas” – A cover that is striped
5th July – “The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe… has been answered” – a cover featuring something/somebody historic
12th July – A wrap around cover
19th July – “You can’t choose between life and death when we’re dealing with what is in between.” – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
26th July – “Ludo ….. down” – A cover that is Upside Down
2nd August – “There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.” A cover featuring children
9th August – “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” – A cover featuring Pirates
16th August – “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagles own plumes” – a cover featuring feathers
23rd August – A cover that is a movie tie in
30th August – “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – a cover that is predominantly yellow
6th September “Warm September brings the fruit” – a cover that is seasonal for Autumn/Fall
13th September – Friday the 13th – unlucky for some! A cover with ‘curse’ in the title
20th September – “Your hair is winter fire,January embers.” – A cover featuring hair
27th September – Freebie
4th October – “Feed me Seymour” – A cover that is 60s horror
11th October – ““And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.” – a cover featuring an Inn
18th October – “It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.” – A cover featuring a scream
25th October – for Halloween – pick any scary cover you like
(I’m hoping that November will once again bring to us SciFiMonth – Twitter @SciFiMonth)
1st November – A cover that is predominantly grey
8th November – “big badda boom” – a cover that features an explosion
15th November – “No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” – a cover featuring a robot
22nd November – A cover that is Futuristic
29th November – “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” – a cover that is 60s sci fi
6th December – Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York” – a cover that puts you in mind of winter
13th December – A cover that features a temple/or religious icon
20th December – Longest Night – a dark and foreboding cover
27th December – the festive season – a cover that is glittery or sparkling
(2020 – January is Vintage SciFi month so I’ll be including possible themes to take that on board.)
I would say your pick is also my favourite… it think it’s the most modern out of the lot, the others look fairly old fashioned. Not that that is a bad thing, I just tend to gravitate away from that style of cover personally 😁
It’s a fairly recent cover, a collector’s edition – I do like it and it does modernise the book a little so maybe that appeals to a whole new audience.
Lynn 😀
The one you chose is awesome and my fave as well. There’s something about the colors and the simplicity of it all.
Yeah I love the simplicity and the fact that the tree is used which is so representative of this work.
Lynn 😀
I tried to Google “king” and boy was that a mistake. Nothing but Stephen King books came up, lol. I really love #6. This was a great choice!
Yeah, I typed ‘king’ into Goodreads and the same thing – lots of Stephen King books.
Lynn 😀
Lovely choice, indeed: simple and outstanding at the same time. My eyes are also drawn by the covers featuring Minas Tirith, because I’m quite partial to Alan Lee’s magnificent drawings 🙂
Yes, I love those drawings too.
Lynn 😀
A beautiful cover! Why are there so many amazing versions of Lord of the Rings: I want them all!
Haha – probably because it’s been around for quite a while, well, also, something about being very popular I suppose. But yes, some lovely covers and I’ve barely scratched the surface.
Lynn 😀
[…] This is a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy, but currently run by Lynn’s Book Blog. […]
There are so many good covers for this! I really like the one you chose!
Yes – I saw all your covers. Kudos for highlighting so many and I love the favourite you chose.
Lynn 😀
I like that one a lot too! A nice, simple and elegant design!
Yes – elegant!
Lynn 😀
Great book and great cover 😀 Although I do still have a soft spot for the simple black covers with just the coloured rings in the centre.
Me too 😀
An ideal book for this week’s theme, Lynn. While I like your design – it’s Viggo for me. Just because I like looking at him. A lot:)).
I can’t deny that Viggo is very easy to look at in this role – a bit too easy even – I could look at him for the longest time.
Lynn 😀
Me too! And these days, there aren’t all that many men who I sigh over…
lol 😀
AND many, many thanks for all your hard work in sorting out different themes for the upcoming year. Having wafted in and made a few suggestions at times, I’m aware just how much hard work goes into sorting out these different themes!
Thanks Sarah – and also for your suggestions, I’ve used them all (I’ve actually created a list that goes into 2020 so them may or may not be visible at the moment. When I get time I need to create a separate page where I can post the full list (rather than sticking it at the end of each post) and I also thought I’d have a page for past themes.
Lynn 😀
Ooo… all good ideas! I particularly like the idea of the page for past themes:))
I like the cover you picked as well as the third cover in the first row.
There were so many covers for this one – I could have run amok but decided to show some restraint.
Lynn 😀
A classic with so many covers to choose from. I really loved the one you picked, it feels so very clean. 😀
Yes, it does feel clean and crisp somehow.
Lynn 😀
[…] This is a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy, but currently run by Lynn’s Book Blog. […]