The Terror of Knowing

 Book Traveling Thursdays is a weekly meme for book bloggers which celebrates the distance a book travels by way of its covers. I’ve only recently discovered this meme thanks to the blog of the co-creator, Catia (the other being Danielle) and the Goodreads group, but I love the concept of it – particularly because it gives me the chance to see beautiful editions of books and develop some major cover envy.

This week’s theme is in honour of International Women’s Day which was celebrated on Tuesday 8th, and it is to: Choose a book with a badass heroine. Frankly, there are so many badass heroines I could have chosen for this theme since young-adult fantasy seems to be full of them at the moment – which is a brilliant thing, of course! However, whilst browsing through the books I read semi-recently, I recalled just how much I enjoyed this particular author’s take on the typical fantasy heroine – Erika Johansen’s The Queen of the Tearling.

The Queen of the Tearling is a book which tells the story of Kelsea Glynne, a girl whose ascendency to the throne is as surprising to her as it is to the court. Bundled away to foster parents when she was a child, she has been hidden deep within the kingdom for years until she is whisked away from the only home she has known by Royal soldiers since her biological mother turns out to have been the Queen of the Tearling herself.

Part-dystopian, part-fantasy, Johansen’s novel is not all about the big battles and rip roaring, swashbuckling action, so its heroine, fittingly, isn’t the sort of badass who swings a sword and sticks a knife in the gut of the nearest enemy. Instead, I think Kelsea is truly badass because, in a novel about social justice and court politics, she is the Queen that the Tearling might truly need.

Original cover & Favourite Cover – US edition, published by Bantam Press, 2014

I adore this hardcover edition of the book, in fact I wish this was the one I owned! I think it’s a classy fantasy cover rather than gimmicky and it’s dark enough to hint at the darker and quite morbid undertones of the book, without giving anything away. The image of the castle on the hill in the distance is a wonderful bit of simple symbolism regarding Kelsea’s right to rule and the obstacles/distance she will have to overcome to get there. I also really like the font used, and the flourishes in the corners tie the whole thing together nicely. Overall a really classy fantasy cover that I’d love to have on my bookshelves.

Cover from my country – UK edition, published by Bantam Press, 2014

The gushing I did for the US edition of this book is completely reversed for the UK edition since I pretty much dislike the UK covers. Whilst I really like the symbolism of the bear trap that also looks like a crown atop a pillow, and the grey/black/white and red colour scheme is normally my thing, the execution of the design leaves something to be desired, in my opinion. I think it’s the distressed/scratched overlay to the design – I’ve seen so many scratch and smudge patterns on graphics online that I can’t help but think it’s not a very subtle effect since it’s a bit cheap and gimmicky – sorry but that’s just one girl’s unqualified opinion.

Least Favourite Cover – Japanese edition, published by 早川書房

There are some mildly unappealing covers for this book – or perhaps I’m just spoiled by knowing the beautiful US cover exists! – but I’m not hugely fond of this edition’s cover design. My usual bugbear of having a photo of a character on the cover applies here, but it adds to this sin by having the girl do that annoying pose where they are positioned facing away but turn and look over their shoulder ‘at the camera’, so to speak. It annoys me in casual photographs and photoshoots so I really can be turned off a book cover immediately if it includes that. It’s a shame because the shades of blue used are really quite lovely.

So there we have it, my Book Travelling Thursdays for 10th March. I’m really glad to see International Women’s Day celebrated in this week’s theme, I think it was rather apt.

What do you think of these covers? Which is your favourite?