Monday, September 13, 2010

Cover Love - or not?

Hello my dear readers!

The very exhausting weekend of my birthday is finally over and I´m back from the undead! ;)
Here´s what I´ve posted today on Larissa´s blog:

Hi there!
First of all I´d like to thank Larissa for the opportunity to take over her blog while she´s away having an amazing time in New York. Thanks so much for your trust! :)
There´s one thing though, if you find my spelling or English in general odd, don´t be too hard on me, I´m not a native speaker! I´m actually German, which will become obvious in my post today!

I spent a lot of time thinking what I should post, but the idea struck me when I was in a bookstore with my sister. She is relatively new to the whole paranormal genre and so when she buys a book, she takes me with her for advice. Plus, she prefers to read in German and not in English like me.
The love for Urban Fantasy and everything paranormal seems to hit Germany hard right now, because most of my favorite series are being translated and released right now.
But as I stood there, something about all the books I love felt off. Finally, I realized that it were the covers.
What I love most about a cover is when they are not just some random chick with weapon or half-naked guy with tattoo, but detailed and deliberate. When you can see at once that someone has really thought about the book and the charaters. Or if the are in some other way unusual and cool.
When I came home, I took the time and did a little research as to how the covers of my favorite series look like in their German versions. Here´s what I´ve found:


Here´s the German cover of Kim Harrison´s first Rachel Morgan book, "Dead Witch Walking". I admit the those covers are among the better ones in my opinion, but still. I love the original English cover and above all, the title. The German title can be translated as "Trail of Blood", which just lacks the meaning and intension of the English title. Also I´m not sure what the bat in the eye is supposed to mean. Sure, Ivy´s a vampire but she can´t change into a bat.


Next, the German and American version of Chicagoland Vampire book one, "Some Girls Bite" by Chloe Neill. I like the color and the composition of the German cover, but once again, I think it is rather random. It would be more fitting for a book about a sorceress or witch but not for a vampire in my opinion. For those of you interested in the translation: It´s roughly translated it means "Fresh Bitten". At least they got that right!


Jocelynn Drake´s Dark Days series about Mira and Danaus is also among my favorite books this summer. The first three covers in the original version were okay in my opinion, the last two serioulsy hot, but this German version seems somehow pointless. It could be any other book with a female protagonist as well.




And finally, Stacia Kane´s Chess Putnam series. The best new series this year. I like that they kept the colors of the original cover and the model is not half bad as well. It is really pretty much the best German version of all of the above. I´m really glad that they didn´t mee up the cover for this one. However, I can´t even begin to imagine how they will translate for example Terrible´s slang. I guess I´ll buy it in German as well only to see how this turns out.

There are so many more covers I´ve found that just don´t live up to the originals which I find really sad. Or is it just me? What do you think of the German versions? Or do you know any foreign edition of a book that is totally horrible or totally genius? I´d love to hear what you guys think and see what you find!

Before I forget... there´s something I wanted to ask you about my next guest post. Would you like to do something a little interactive? And creative? A little surprise for Larissa when she gets back? Please let me know!

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo, Christine

4 comments:

Fi-chan said...

Well. I think the German covers are quite pretty, though might be really unrelated. I remember seeing a few German covers, and even though quite pretty, they are very random and unrelated.

It seems like they never bother reading the book at all, only the synopsis probably (or maybe they didn't even read that!).

ParaJunkee said...

Oh, I do not like the Dead Witch Walking translation. What is that bat about? I think the cover of the English version translates Rachel Morgan very well...the attitude. Don't like the hair color a little too orange instead of red, but what can you say. The German cover screams chick mystery - and not urban fantasy.

The ChiVamp while nice kinda makes it look all ethereal and historical.
Looks like more for a cover for like Synder's Poison study instead of vamps. You are right about the withcy feel.

I like teh Night Walker one but I haven't read the series, so I can't give intelligent input, same with the Unholy Ghost cover.

Thanks for doing this. German houses need to work on their designers a bit more, which is a shame, because they have some really hot designs that come out of their agencies.

JPerry Madame Perry's Salon said...

So glad you brought the subject of languages. I prefer to buy books in Spanish when possible so I can maintain my grasp/comfort level with advanced grammar. I would love to have JR Ward's books in Spanish!

Jennifer "Madame Perry's Salon"
Bark Of Love
Body By Burlesque
& Memoirs Of A Misanthrope

Jessica @ a GREAT read said...

The covers are different. Each one has its finer points. I may like the US ones too, just because they're the covers that I'm used to.