Cover Crazy: Analyzing Four Highly-Anticipated Covers That Dropped This Week

Cover Crazy is hosted by The Book Worms. Each week, bloggers "admire the art and beauty of a book’s design, so I’m going to post minimal words. It is up to you to write how you feel and what you like about it the way you’d like to."

I thought this week's Cover Crazy would be so easy.  I was planning to showcase one book in particular.  But, um, every book in the world seemed to have a cover party this week!

Which of the following covers do YOU like the best? The least?

 

1) BLACK CITY by Elizabeth Richards:

I actually never heard of this one before this past week, but it sounds different.  Besides, we all knew it wouldn't be long before paranormal books and dystopian books decided to make the big leap and get hitched!

I actually like this cover a LOT.  While the city skyline isn't unique to dystopian fiction and the flower (and the color red) isn't unique to paranormal fiction, the way they're paired together is striking.  I adore the way the flower's petals are shattering like glass and bleeding down upon the city.  If this cover doesn't make you sit back and go, "Whoa," I don't know what will!

1) THE ESSENCE by Kimberly Derting:

A lot of people didn't like the first book in this trilogy, THE PLEDGE.  If you recall my review, I loved it.  It's not your average dystopian, but one with KINGDOMS and QUEENS and zomg, I couldn't put it down.  Sure, that's not for some people, but the merger of these two genres was 100% up my alley.  I was hooked from the creepy first chapter and am highly anticipating THE ESSENCE.  My only complaint is that the release date has been pushed back and the book will release in January 2013 now! *cries*

The cover looks as amazing as the first one, though, if not more so.  There's more action going on now.  Look at the model's hair moving in the wind! I love that shade of red; it adds so much to the book, imo.  I still like the way the title is heerly stamped on top of the image in a unique fashion.  This cover just makes me want this book right now!

1) THE DARKEST MINDS by Alexandra Bracken:

Am I the only person that's still surprised every time I read the title of this book?  To me, it's still BLACK IS THE COLOR and I don't remember the new title until I see the author's name attached.  I was hearing about this book and reading snippet's on the author's blog as she was writing it.  I reviewed and adored Alexandra Bracken's debut novel BRIGHTLY WOVEN and have been highly anticipating another book by her to love!

This cover intrigues me.  I want to know what that design is!  I like its imperfection.  I also like the way this cover makes me think of earthy, outdoorsy-ness.  I'm so glad this book was pushed up to 2012 instead of its initial 2013 launch because after seeing this cover, I'm excited all over again and unwilling to wait much longer for this book!

1) REACHED by Ally Condie:

I'm not sure what I t hink of this one, tbh.  It's a little Photoshoppy.  The image is too stiff and wooden.  I wish the orb was more cracked with shattered glass everywhere, not just a half-cracked orb she's stepping out of.  I'm also not 100% sure I love that exact shade of red (Did you notice that 3/4 of the covers in this post are red and the fourth is orange?).  The girl is too...perfect-looking.  I want to know why.  Even her hair is perfectly-coiled.  It doesn't look like she's really broken free, since everything still looks so orderly!

I did review MATCHED when it first came out and liked it a lot, but since then, I've read several dystopians that I'm much fonder of.  I haven't reviewed CROSSED and most likely won't because imo, it suffers from middle-book syndrome.  I still want to read REACHED and see how things end, but I'm more involved with Lauren Oliver's DELIRIUM trilogy, a series with a similar theme that launched shortly after MATCHED.

What are your thoughts, bookworms?  Which are your favorite covers this week?