Monday, 25 January 2010

Quiz! UK vs US books covers - just for fun!

American and English books have different covers to appeal to the tastes of the two different nations. Question is, which do you favour?

Here are ten books, click the dot underneath the cover which appeals to you the most, and find out where your tastes lie.

(Pressing the reset button at the bottom will clear your answers.)


1. Acacia by David Anthony Durham








2. Scar Night by Alan Campbell








3. Kraken by China Mieville








4. Storm Front by Jim Butcher








5. Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton








6. Temeraire by Naomi Novik








7. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss








8. The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas








9. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch








10. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie










Thanks for taking part. Hope you found the results illuminating. Why not post your results in the comments box? I preferred six English but four American covers, which surprises me as I always thought the American ones were hideous.

(This quiz does not entitle you to any prizes, except maybe a sense of national pride.)

Posted by Magemanda at 08:00
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28 comments:

  1. Weirdmage25 January 2010 at 09:16

    This was a fun post :-)

    I got 7/10 UK by the way.

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  2. Ove25 January 2010 at 09:25

    Good post. I only made 6/10 UK too.
    I am afraid i don't like it when the covers get too abstract.

    Do you have any more tests? I will look around now. Nice site.

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  3. right_geek25 January 2010 at 10:06

    6/10 UK. I actually laughed out loud. Good one!

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  4. Magemanda25 January 2010 at 10:10

    Thanks for your replies so far, and glad you're enjoying it! I had fun trying to dig out the book covers so that it wouldn't become 10/10 for English covers for everyone :-p

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  5. Rebecca25 January 2010 at 10:18

    9/10 English... and I am! Interesting divide between rather abstract, two-tone covers in the UK and highly detailed illustrations in the US; with the exception of Joe Abercrombie, whose US cover looks more like a crime novel!

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  6. Lauren Beukes25 January 2010 at 10:30

    8/10 English. You should add Cory Doctorow's Makers to the mix. Gorgeous covers, completely different takes on the concept.

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  7. Shweta25 January 2010 at 12:35

    Great post. I got 7/10 UK..

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  8. Magemanda25 January 2010 at 13:06

    Anyone fancy saying which US covers they preferred?

    My four were:

    Acacia - David Anthony Durham
    Scar Night - Alan Campbell
    The Adamantine Palace - Stephen Deas
    The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

    Howabout you?

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  9. Curis25 January 2010 at 14:13

    I got straight down the middle - five of each. I strongly dislike illustrations of characters on the novels as they never tally with my own mental image I gradually build up over the course of the novel.

    Pictures of dragons are another turn-off for me.

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  10. Unknown25 January 2010 at 16:50

    9/10 British. British, people, not English! And I do not own a burberry trenchcoat, thank you very much. Fun little quiz, though.

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  11. Magemanda25 January 2010 at 17:00

    Oooops! I'm really raising your Scottish hackles at the moment, aren't I? Guess that's my second strike....

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  12. Benjamin25 January 2010 at 17:30

    I got 6/10 UK.

    For US covers I preferred,
    Acacia
    Storm Front
    Kraken
    His Majesty's Dragon

    I could have gone either way on TLoLL, Storm Front, and His Majesty's Dragon.

    I just want to point out that the hardcover image for TLoLL was the same for both countries and also that TNotW had alternative hardcover that was HEADS above that one. :)

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  13. Neth25 January 2010 at 22:35

    Sweet - how about some more?

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  14. Phil25 January 2010 at 22:37

    7 / 10 UK

    Not a surprise for me, from what I remember of the last few years, UK is the deal for great covers!

    Great quiz by the way!

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  15. Chad Hull25 January 2010 at 22:44

    That was great fun.

    I was 9/10 on the UK side. I'd love to see more.

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  16. Tessa25 January 2010 at 22:50

    8/10 UK for me. Great poll!

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  17. James25 January 2010 at 22:52

    9/10 UK - It could have been 10/10 for me, but I prefer the US Acacia cover. It doesn't come as a surprise, I do tend to prefer UK cover art to US. Although, had you thrown some of the latest PYR cover art onto the list, I imagine my score would quite different.

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  18. Anonymous25 January 2010 at 23:02

    8 of 10 Brit for me. Acacia and Kraken where my two exceptions.

    I realize this is highly unscientific, but it reinforces my impression that US publishers are kind of idiots about marketing.

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  19. Mauberly25 January 2010 at 23:16

    8/10 UK for me. Acacia and The Lies of Locke Lamora were my exceptions.

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  20. Magemanda25 January 2010 at 23:39

    Thanks for the overwhelming response everyone! I shall definitely consider a part deux to this quiz - look out for that at some point!

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  21. Sam Kelly25 January 2010 at 23:46

    9/10 UK for me; the only exception was Kraken.

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  22. Cara Powers26 January 2010 at 00:49

    Awesome quiz! 6/10 UK here. Some could've gone either way.

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  23. Sean Clark26 January 2010 at 17:43

    9 out of 10 British for me. It seems the trend for American versions is more garish colours and/or pictures of characters as opposed to a more understated subtle approach from the Brits.

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  24. Boof (The Book Whisperer)27 January 2010 at 12:35

    I got 7/10 British! *beats fist on British chest with pride*

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  25. Unknown28 January 2010 at 23:43

    I got 5/10 UK - I'd say that was about right.

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  26. Gillian20 February 2010 at 06:12

    6/10 UK for me, and all of them I liked a lot more than the US versions. The US ones that I liked better were:

    Storm Front- only a slight preference, I think both covers are pretty mediocre. I've never read it so probably just familiarity.

    The Adamantine Palace: Also never read, and I really like both covers.

    The Lies of Locke Lamora: Never read, don't really like either cover much.

    Temeraire (His Majesty's Dragon)- I loved the US covers of the first four books, and they match (which I like); the fifth one, for the US edition at least is rather different than the others and I don't like it nearly so much, though I havn't seen the UK cover of it.

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  27. Christine16 June 2010 at 01:45

    10/10 British. I'm thoroughly shocked. Looks like I much prefer the British versions of the covers way more than the American ones!

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  28. Anonymous16 July 2010 at 18:36

    6/10 for US covers, which is odd since I usually prefer UK covers.

    BTW, the UK cover for the Lies of Locke Lamora is also the cover for the US hardcover (cf http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Scott-Lynch/dp/0553804677)

    ReplyDelete

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