Hi! It's Penny here! And today we're going to be talking UK
book covers versus US book covers. So i've seen
a couple of videos lately, which I will do my best to link down below
comparing uk covers and us covers and thinking about which ones are the best.
And I was thinking about this and in New Zealand, I've always
said that we get a mix of uk and us covers, but I realized
that I don't know what that belief is based on.
Like I think maybe I just made that up. And I almost think it might make
more sense that we only get books from like the UK,
because we're part of the commonwealth and all that nonsense. So I decided I
better check my beliefs and work out which is
true. At the same time as maybe having a look at some uk versus us
covers and seeing which ones are prettier
and seeing whether New Zealand got the prettier ones
or not. So what I did is I went down the road to the mall
and I went to the three different bookshops that are there.
I did plan to pick out two pretty books and two ugly books from each store but
then I got distracted by pretty books and books that i
like, so that's what we're doing. Four books from each store.
Firstly, I went to Paper Plus and the first one I picked was this edition
of Recursion by Blake Crouch. So in this book people start getting
false memory syndrome, where they start remembering different lives from the one
they've had and it gets very twisty in regards to time. So let me see
if i can work out whether this is the uk edition
or the us edition. Okay, so it looks like New Zealand got the
uk edition here and the us edition is that pretty yellow one that I've seen
quite a lot. And I have to be honest, I prefer the pretty yellow one because
it's just much brighter. Then next, I picked My Dark Vanessa by
Kate Elizabeth Russell, mainly because I thought this looked
pretty and I have heard about this book. It's about a girl who had an
inappropriate relationship with her professor when she was younger
and then now that he's been accused of more sexual abuse, she's
starting to question her relationship with him. So let's look
and see where this cover came from. Okay, so once again it looks like New
Zealand got the uk edition. And in this case, I think we got the
prettier edition. I think the colors are just really nice, the way her hair is
hanging down over the words. I guess, you can maybe say
that the us edition is perhaps more representative of the
topic but I still prefer the uk edition. Next I
picked He Started It by Samantha Downing. I
hadn't really heard about this one but I thought the cover looked pretty cool.
Apparently, this is a thriller about a wealthy grandfather who dies and then
the grandchildren have to come together after not having seen each other for a
long time to try and secure their inheritance. And once
again, it looks like New Zealand got the uk
cover and in this case I think the uk cover is prettier. Again,
it's got much brighter colors on it and it's
quite mysterious. The US cover kind of looks a bit
generic and I guess she's carrying that spade
and there's like fire in the background so it's making it seem like maybe
she's gonna be burying someone in the desert or something.
But I just think the uk cover looks cooler.
then I picked the institute by Stephen King, mainly because
it was one I'd heard of and actually, I knew I'd seen a different cover
on the internet. I don't know much about the Institute other than just that
it's a Stephen King novel and that's all I want to know.
So let's check where this blue cover comes from...
I think it's going to be the uk. Yes! The blue cover is the uk.
Do you know at first glance I thought I liked the blue cover better because like
it's quite bright and I don't know, the style is kind of
cool. But when I look more closely at the us cover,
which is quite dark, but when you look quite closely it's like this little room
on the back of a train and there's that glow behind the train
and Stephen King's name is all kind of gold.
I don't know actually I think maybe I like the us one better in this case. But
they're both pretty good. Okay so so far all of paper plus
books came from the uk but I liked half the uk covers better and half the
us covers better. So let's move on to the next store. So the next store
across the other side of the mall is Whitcoulls. And the first book I picked
purely because I thought the cover looked cool and that is Hex
by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight. So I don't know exactly what Hex is about but it
looks like it's some kind of contemporary except
that the people involved are studying poisonous plants.
It's listed under gay and lesbian literary fiction,
humorous literary fiction, and plant sciences.
So let's have a look, where did this cover come from?
Okay, once again, New Zealand got the uk cover.
And I think I like the uk one better. It is
very orange and to be honest, orange is one of my least favorite colors.
But the other one, even though it's got some nice flowers on it and I quite like
that green, it just kind of looks messy and I'm not a fan. Then I picked
another one just because I liked the cover. And that is the Rearranged
Life of Oona Lockhart by Margarita Montemore.
So it looks like this is the story of a woman who lives her life
out of order. So on her 19th birthday she suddenly finds herself
51 and then every other birthday she ends up
a different age, who knows which order. So the u.s
book is actually called Oona Out of Order. It's got a completely different name.
So once again, New Zealand got the uk cover. Getting quite repetitive. But I
definitely like the uk cover much better. Better colors, better concept.
The us cover just kind of looks badly put together,
to be honest. Okay, then I picked Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
because I think these covers are absolutely beautiful.
Although I do prefer the very initial ones that had like the bright
yellow suns on them as well. So I'm pretty sure I know what these are. If you
don't know what Nevernight is, it is the story of
a girl named Mia who decides to avenge her parents' death and train to be an
assassin and it gets very bloody. So once again, New Zealand got the uk
cover and once again, we're lucky because the uk
cover is much prettier. I mean, I can see where they were going
with the us covers but they're kind of ugly. Just nothing
compared to the uk ones. And I think maybe they even started
using the uk covers in the us. I'm not sure. And then lastly, I picked
Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb. I've been loving the Realm of the Elderlings
lately. It's this magical series about this bastard son of the king of waiting
who becomes an assassin. But there's also really cool like telepathic magic and
all sorts of political intrigue and dragons.
It's an amazing series. I really love it although I haven't read this particular
book yet. So let's see where this edition came
from. I'm sure you can guess! It came from the uk. And I don't know. I
feel like this might be a slightly unpopular opinion but I prefer the us
covers for these. I know there are some other
styles of covers around, which I'm not exactly sure where they
come from but I really prefer the ones with the art on them.
I just feel like it captures the feeling of the books and like it's more
character focused. A lot of the other covers are like
dragon focused or like this uk one, there's not really anything on the cover
at all. And because the Realm of the Elderling books are just
so character-based, like there's a lot going on but a lot of it is just about
learning about these characters and becoming very attached to them,
so I like the us covers better because I think they represent
that aspect better. Okay so uk covers are still winning
in terms of that's where the books have come from. And they're also still winning
in terms of prettiness. But we have had a few US ones that have been prettier. So
then I went to the last store in the mall that sells books and that is
the Warehouse, which is like our budget department store.
And the first book I picked is Starsight by Brandon Sanderson. So this is the
sequel to Skyward which is Brandon Sanderson's
YA science fiction series about this girl named Spensa, who
is trying to become a pilot in this world where humans are
trapped by the aliens living underground on this
planet. I think I know where this edition comes from. And I
remember when I first saw the us cover of Skyward, I actually
thought it was really beautiful... until I saw the uk cover and then I
thought that was much better. And I think I feel the same way about
the sequel covers like, I like the us covers but the uk
covers are just art. So the uk covers win. Then I picked this random book
called Tiger Heart by Penny chimes?
tr tr Chrimes? I don't know how to say that. I've never
heard of this but I like tigers. Okay so interestingly this looks like
it's only a uk book so it was from the uk. But also it looks
like it's a children's book and it was not
in the children's section in the shop. Or was it?
I don't think so. I mean, those books on either side of
it on the shelf don't look like children's books. Maybe I'll go back to
the shop and check. But I can't compare this against a u.s
edition because there is no u.s edition. So uk
wins by default. Oh and you can tell this is a story
about a chimney sweep who becomes friends with a tiger. As you do.
Then I picked Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake, which is the final book in the
Three Dark Crowns series. So this is the story about three
queens living on this witchy island who need to fight to the death to see
which one of them is going to take the throne.
So let's see where this edition came from.
Oh what a surprise, it came from the uk. And you know what I don't really like
either of these covers. I mean, I do like the way the uk cover
has some really bright green on it but I
feel like that snake just looks kind of dumb. I do think the
us cover probably captures the dark energy of
this story more accurately. But the cover's
kind of boring. I think if I was going to pick one to
own, I would probably pick the one with the bright green on it.
And some of the other books in this series, I prefer the uk cover as well. So
I'd probably go with the uk ones. But it's not a strong winner. Okay,
then lastly, I picked the King of Crows by Libba Bray.
This is another final book in the series. The fourth book in the Diviners series,
which is a paranormal mystery where you have all these different people with
different supernatural powers trying to take down the king of
crows who has been killing people and has an army of ghosts.
Okay, so this edition is not technically the uk
or the us cover. It is a cover by Allen and Unwin, who
are primarily based in Australia although they have a New Zealand office.
And they do also have a uk office. So I guess it's closer to being the uk
edition. But I don't think it is the uk edition,
if you know what I mean. We'll give it to the uk. Why not? Although
I have to say, I prefer the other cover and the other
cover does seem like it's actually the uk cover. I
can't find a specific us cover so either it
was only published with one cover or I am bad at
researching on the internet. Possibly both of those. Anyway, I guess
the summary of this little experiment is that New Zealand does in fact get books
from the uk, or occasionally from Australia or New
Zealand publishers. But I'm not going to complain about that
because in most cases I prefer the uk covers. There were a few
of the us ones that I liked but overwhelmingly I prefer the uk covers so
I guess I can be happy with that. So do let me
know whether you agree with my preferences
between uk and us covers. Or did you prefer some more of the us covers?
Otherwise thank you so much for watching! I hope that you
are keeping safe and reading lots of good books and I will
see you next time :)