The Mountains of Instead

Championing fiction as an escape from pandemics, politics and bad TV.

Top Ten Tuesday - Book Covers



This is my first Top Ten Tuesday!  I really enjoy reading this feature, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish and while I doubt I'll take part EVERY week (no point in actively setting myself up for a fall) I plan on taking part as often as possible.  This week, it's a topic close to my heart - book covers:


Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)


Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
I love the minimal use of colours, the fairytale connotations of woodland and heart-shaped leaves and the blood spatter that hints at a darker story.

Sisters Red (Fairytale Retellings, #1)

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Another fairytale, clearly, and again using minimal colours, this one is beautifully clever in its double aspect.


The Fault in Our Stars
The Fault in our Stars by John Green
Controversial in its simplicity I think this cover is rather beautiful.  It's eye catching and screams literary fiction.  Gorgeous.

The Radleys (Young Adult Edition)
The Radleys by Matt Haig
Er, clearly I like the use of red, white and black because this again is a cover that I found massively eye-catching.  A crossover novel, this is the YA cover - which, in all honestly, is far more striking than the adult one.


The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
A change of pace here, but at eight years old this was the first book I ever bought for myself and that was largely due to the cover which my eight year old tastes thought was the most beautiful I'd ever seen.

Delirium (Delirium, #1)
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
This is the original UK hardback cover and is quite lovely.  Sadly, the UK publisher has seen fit to change the covers of Oliver's trilogy not once, but twice and they are now horribly generic and lack the beauty and simplicity seen here.

The Sky Is Everywhere
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
This is cheating slightly as the cover is enhanced by the packaging of this story as a whole. Still, the blue sky and rough texture of this cover image perfectly illustrate the bittersweet magicality of Nelson's wonderful story.

The Mockingbirds (The Mockingbirds, #1)
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
I like the starkness of this cover, the graphical nature of the bird and the colour scheme.  It's eye catching and simple making me want to pick up the book and find out more.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, #1)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Again with the black and red, but this cover is so special.  Beautiful yet oddly discomfiting it has little relation to the contents of the book yet complements the feel of it perfectly.  Very clever.

Seraphina (Seraphina, #1)
Seraphina - Rachel Hartman
This is old school "here be dragons" sort of stuff.  Beautifully drawn, sumptuous to look at, perfect for the story found in its pages.  Sadly, the UK cover was far less alluring - I'm glad I have this one.

Shadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1)
Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo
Initially, this was published with a boring cover and a different title in the UK but now they've got with the programme and have produced this beauty.  Again, the simple colour scheme is eye-catching and the Russian aspects representative of the story without hitting you about the head with it.


And there you have it.  It appears that I like simple covers with few covers and, importantly, no people... who knew??  Let me know about your favourite pretties in the comments - I'm intrigued to see what others like.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Love your choices! Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm are beautiful. I have the less alluring cover of Seraphina but thankfully still love it :)
Daniela said…
Shadow and Bone definitely, and I also love Sisters Red. Such a cool cover!
Great picks!
Unknown said…
Nice picks! Sisters Red made my list as well. And I really like the cover of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (though I wasn't crazy about the book itself, unfortunately.) I think I prefer the hardcover with heart shaped rose petal on the cover of The Sky is Everywhere, but your choice is pretty as well. That's like my favorite book EVER so any cover would do in all actuality:)

My TTT
Anonymous said…
These covers are gorgeous!! I especially love the one for Sisters Red! Here's My TTT.
Nicole said…
All of these choices are beautiful!
Nomes said…
i love the UK cover for the sky is everywhere too. it is beautiful (as is the whole book)
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