Friday Face Off : As pure as the driven snow
14 January 2022
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: A cover that is predominantly white, As pure as the driven snow, Books by Proxy, Friday Face off, Joe Abercrombie, The Age of Madness
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 (this doesn’t have to be a book that you’ve read), compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future’s themes are listed below – 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.
I’ve added themes in below. For information, I’m trying out some new ideas so along with coming up with particular items for book covers I thought we could also look for certain elements contained within the book or that play a large part in the story – this really broadens things out because I have plenty of more ideas with this – I’ve gone for a few of the Tough Travel Themes (so a book with that theme – just choose any book – the theme isn’t necessarily on the cover, then compare covers), also, I’ve thrown in some genres and some colours. Hopefully this will open things out a little and give us some more freedom to come up with new books.
This week’s theme:
As pure as the driven snow – a cover that is white
Today I’ve gone for a series face off. The Age of Madness series by Joe Abercrombie – which I highly recommend by the way. Here are the two different sets of covers. One set is predominantly white with a little colour relief provided by the author’s name. The other set is very colourful and dramatic and strangely enough the author’s name is all in white. Take a look:
vs
This is a difficult choice to make because I like both sets for different reasons. I love the stark imagery of the black and white covers. They’re simplistic and something about the tone speaks of the grim times within the pages. I also love that the imagery blends traditional fantasy elements with something new and modern which is very much a reflection of the changing times depicted. The second set of covers are also amazing. The artwork is outstanding. If you really scroll in past the central images and take a look at everything that’s going on. Again, they have imagery that shows the turbulent times of change and the colours make them absolutely pop. It’s so difficult to choose a favourite so I’ve gone for a favourite cover from each series:
I love these two – the first feels like traditional fantasy imagery but the extra details like the broken chains, and are they little spatters of blood? I love that cover. The very colourful cover for a Little Hatred has a fantastic skyline with chimneys belching out smoke – it’s a real reflection of the changing times.
Do you have a favourite?
If you know of an event that’s coming up let me know and I’ll try and include covers that work for the event itself so that you can link up to the Friday Face Off and, as always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment – or if you’d like to host a week then simply let me know. Also, I would just mention that it’s very possible that some of these might be repeats from previous FFOs although I have tried to invent more ‘open ended’ prompt that can be interpreted differently and also prompts that relate to emotions. Finally, don’t struggle with any of these, this is meant to be a fun way of highlighting books. If you can’t come up with a book you think fits for a particular week use a freebie – perhaps a recent read for example:
Next Week – Like a fine wine – a sci fi book written on or before 1975
2022