Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a new weekly meme here at Books by Proxy. Join me every Friday as I pit cover against cover, and publisher against publisher, to find the best artwork in our literary universe.
Rivers of London / Řeky Londýna by Ben Aaronovitch
Welcome to this week’s Friday Face-Off – sorry for the delay in posting! This week we’re navigating the urban sprawl and towering architecture of the city to find covers which feature a gritty, real – or surreal – metropolis.
For this Friday’s post I’ve settled on a series I already love. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch – or Midnight Riot to our US friends – is the first novel in the Peter Grant series. Published by Gollancz in the UK and by Argo in the Czech Republic, this week’s post features two beautiful covers with more than enough city vibes to satisfy my craving. Take a look and see which one is your favourite.
Gollancz – UK Cover
Artwork by Stephen Walter
Argo – Czech Cover
Artwork by Ktaiwanita
| The Friday Face-Off: Winner |
Well what do you know -two wonderful covers by two different artists and they fit together like peas in a pod. I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite! I love the stylised map 0n the Gollancz cover by Stephen Walter; there’s so much detail and, as a lover of maps, it’s fantastic that this illustration gives off such a unique and memorable city – and specifically London – vibe. Absolutely perfect for the novel! The typeface is quirky and stylish and crosses over to a different, yet extremely compatible cover from Czech publishers Argo. Ktaiwanita has produced a quirky and stylish collage-like illustration which has a simple palette, flashes of colour and wonderfully humorous illustrations. They both work for me on so many levels that I find it impossible to choose between them!
Which cover wins your vote this week? Have a cover of your own? – Post the link below!
Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads
Next Friday’s theme is: Dead Men Tell No Tales
A cover which features something or somewhere relating to death
Remember to check The Friday Face-Off Feature Page for upcoming themes
Books by Proxy 
I actually loved at Rivers of London for this week’s – I never would have come up with that other cover though. That Czech cover is out there. I love the glasses! I think my favourite is the UK but I do like the other one too.
Lynn 😀
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Hehe the glasses are great. Love the bloody Earl Grey teabag too. Weird and wonderful I think the phrase is! I do love all the UK covers though – they’re all in such a gorgeous style and I love all the colours!
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I’m actually not a very big fan of that UK cover. The map buildings as words is a little too chaotic for me. The Czech cover looks so much fun though! It is chaotic too, but the colors and design make that chaos appear to be more fun and silly to me.
Here is my Friday Face-Off: http://wp.me/p53gyJ-2Vk
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I love a bit of chaos! But that Czech cover does make me smile. It is silly – but in such a good way!
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What a cracking choice:). And I LOVE both covers – there is a lot of wit and humour in the Czech version, but I do prefer the UK version. Maybe because of the great pleasure I’ve experienced by reading the book within said cover…
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I love all the little comments when you zoom into the UK cover to go with the places.. it just works so well! And makes me giggle. The Czech one is very funny though!
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I have to admit loving both of them as well, but the UK cover would be my choice due to the map. What can I say, I love maps. 🙂
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With you there! I really do love the maps on all these covers. Especially when you zoom in and find somewhere labelled as a shithole 😛
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For me, the UK cover hands down. I’m a huge fan of these books and I’ve always loved the UK covers because they’re so meaningful and there’s just so much character to them. I’m not crazy about the Czech because it actually kind of creeps me out, but like I said, I may be biased. 😉
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Hehe – I do love a good chaotic and slightly creepy cover. But the UK covers are fantastic. I love the little illustrations and funny titles which work their way into the map – it really brings out the character of the book!
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It was close, but the Czech won for me. I find it more playful. I mean, it’s really a tie but because I’m not a big fan of red (and am nitpicking) I go with the Czech. There’s so much going on on the cover. All the little illustrations remind me of doodles.
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Yea it is like a refined doodle! And it is rather funny. I imagine it would look lovely in real life too.
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Both are amazing covers, but I think the London map and bold red colour of the UK cover would just win it for me.
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I really do love the map covers for this series – they’re gorgeous! And so witty too 😀
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I like the UK cover better primarily because it’s more focused. But both are great with so many little details to discover. I just think the UK one reads better at a glance, and then you dig in and notice all the words, and the little elephant, and – like I said, lots of details.
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I love discovering all the details – that’s the best thing about covers like this. So many witty little comments thrown in there too! The Czech cover has something of this but not to such an extent! I love the humour in it though.
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