Who Wore It Better - Specials

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 is talking about the covers from Specials, book #3 of the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. She has big plans to read this series from start to finish in a few months time, so it'll be interesting to see what she thinks of the story inside in comparison to these covers.

The Covers

Cover #1 - International Edition - 2011
Cover #2 - US Edition
Cover #3 - Indonesian Edition
Cover #4 - UK Edition - 2012
Cover #5 - Uk Edition - 2010
Cover #6 - German Edition
Cover #7 - UK Edition 2006
Cover #8 - Spanish Edition

My Thoughts

I've got to admit, I'm not insanely fond of any of these covers, although I do have a liking for a few over others, which isn't surprising, a lot of these covers are just - no. At least the International edition isn't bad, it's got that clean, surgical look to it, it looks the part and it's simple, but the simplest look can be just a little bit, cheap and odd-looking. Following this look is the first of many 'face' covers, the US edition and it's definitely not a terrible cover, but it's also not exactly a brilliant cover either, the design and detail looks cheap and like you'd see it on any other cover, and while I understand that the cover itself is pretty old, it doesn't exactly work in it's favour. On the other hand, I actually really like the Indonesian edition, there's something funky, interesting and intriguing about it, I like the colours, I like the illustrated design and I think it's a very good take on a dystopian cover, although, it doesn't make much sense in the grand scheme of things, and it's not exactly the clean cut cover like the previous, hence it's only in third place.

The following two covers are fair from covers I would personally like to own, but they're also not the worst covers available. the the first of the two UK covers is the more recent edition and it actually looks okay in the flesh, but it's a very simple design, with the black background and the colour burst - I would have liked to have seen it in white instead of black and would personally think it'd look much better and much cleaner in a simple design. The latter design hits into the actual action I've heard is in this series, and feels very dystopian-esk, but I dislike the colour combinations, I dislike the overall look and I don't think it looks at all like the actual premise implies.

The final three covers all look pretty disappointing and I would not like to own them at all. The sixth cover, the German edition is very like the second and the third, but it looks very cheap, too boring and bland and the colours don't bring this book out and explore its possibilities like it's other similar covers, which is a shame. The earliest of the UK editions looks pretty simply, gives hint towards the actual premise and idea of the society within the series, but looks like it'd be a dangerous cover for a young adult book in it's day and age, it's a brave look, but the colours are too bright, the blue is too vibrant and the whole look looks a little - err, unattractive. The final cover isn't worth talking about, it's boring, uninteresting and not my thing whatsoever.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of these covers? Which is your favourite and least favourite, and is the series reading for sure?