Who Wore It Better #13 - The Ask and the Answer

Who Wore It Better is a meme created and hosted by Nitzan at The Book Babes Read and co-hosted here on Beautiful Bookish Butterflies by Amanda and Stacie. We don't talk about clothing or fashion and we definitely don't talk frills and spills, we talk books and their covers and who we think has the best. This week, Amanda's talking about the covers for The Ask and the Answer, book #2 in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. Nitzan and Amanda don't always agree on novels, and their opinions differ hugely for this series, but once Amanda saw that there were over 11 cover options for this series, she soon got over the fact that she disliked The Knife of Never Letting Go. Sure her, she doesn't care.

The Covers

Cover #1 - US HC/PB Edition
Cover #2.1 - New UK Paperback
Cover #2.2 - UK HC/PB Edition
Cover #3 - Czech Hardcover Edition
Cover #4 - Russian Paperback Edition
Cover #5 - French Paperback Edition
Cover #6 - Dutch Paperback Edition
Cover #7 - German Paperback Edition
Cover #8 - Czech Paperback Edition
Cover #9 - French Mass-Market Edition
Cover X - German Hardcover Edition

My Thoughts

As you can see, this week is a little different from the rest. The first reason is that there are A LOT of covers to talk about, and two, there's a 'Cover X' in the mix this week which has never been used, but more on that later. Because we've got 11 covers to talk through, my reasons will be shorter, blunter and in some cases, crueller. Lets get started. Cover #1, the US Hardcover and Paperback is my favourite for certain; the colours work, the silhouettes work and the writing and two moons are mysterious and lovely looking. Cover #2.1, the new UK edition is just wonderful, the cracked style, the linking A's symbolising you can't have a question without an answer, it's lovely and while Cover #2.2 shares a similar look, I prefer #2.1. Cover #3, the Czech Hardcover just has this elegant but dangerous feel to it, the writing is featured too, but this cover is just aesthetically more pleasing than the following seven. Those four are the covers I would love to own, where-as the next 3 are covers that I think are okay, but eye catching enough to love. Cover #4, the Russian edition wowed me at first with the question mark, the background, the horses and the sign of death, but it became an eye sore and was demoted to a lower spot. Cover #5, the French Paperback is very simple, it has the horses and the men riding, it has the deserted world feel and the colour red mask the idea of danger and death again, but it has a more adult look about it. Cover #6, the Dutch Paperback is, odd, and has more of a dystopian technology feel to it, plus I'd heard Todd and Viola aren't together much in this installment, so it's also misrepresentative of the plot inside a little. The following three covers are covers that would influence my picking up the book and result in me never trying it in the first place. (yes, I judge books by their cover, shoot me) Cover #7, the German Paperback reminds more of 172 hours on the mood mixed with dystopia romance, also, misrepresentative. Cover #8, the Czech Paperback Edition makes reminds me of Oblivion and I also dislike the use of the girl and how Ness's name is vertically titled on the cover. I dislike the colours, the layout and the general feel of it. Cover #9, the French Mass-Market Edition looks like an even worse version of the Czech Edition, cheaper, more generic and even more shocking, even the writing is lacklustre in comparison and I genuinely dislike the use of these female models like this.

Cover X is something I created so that if I ever came across a cover that I personally think should never have been created, used, published or seen, I could highlight this especially, and in this case, the German Hardcover Edition wins the first trophy. Everything about this cover is shocking; the use of the angry face , clearly edited into a picture that could have been done Paint by a 5 year old, meant to represent the Mayor, the use of silhouettes running TOWARDS the face, also, easily copied onto the image and the lack of anything else representative to the story that the other covers have; the horses and riders, the writing, the mysterious element and the creative means of another world. This cover should never have seen the light of day and should never have been created, of course, in my opinion anyway.

Your Thoughts

What do you think of this collection of covers then? There's a lot to choose from and probably a lot of different opinions are going to come flying in and people are bound to disagree with some of my choices. Would you have a different Cover X and wipe it from existence? Would you love to own a different cover here from the one you have? What do you think about my choices? Leave me your thoughts, and essays on the covers and leave me any reviews from the series too, I'd love some encouragement to continue it.