The Friday Face-Off: Tudor Period

January 11, 2019 10 Comments

Book Reviews, Fiction

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I first heard about The Friday Face-Off  following the blog Books, Bones & Buffy (hello, Tammy!), but originally this feature was created by Books by Proxy. Each week bloggers can showcase books with covers cretered around a weekly theme. You can visit Lynn’s Books for a list of upcoming themes. Join in the fun each Friday by finding a book whose cover is based on the theme!

This week’s theme: “I know I have the body of a week and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.” – A cover that depicts a novel set in the Tudor period.

The UK -Kindle Edition, 2017

And here we are. What to choose in such a rich period? I’d go with A Column of Fire, the last instalment of the Kingsbridge Series.

And if the previous two are set in the Middle Ages, the third one’s action theatre is the Renaissance.

I haven’t found some many alternative covers, to be honest, but this is probably due to the fact the book is fairly recent (only two years ago).

The French edition is not that different, being the adaptation of the Hardcover of the UK Edition.

The French Edition, 2017

I rather liked the Italian cover though, more colourful than the other two, with a dark background that seems to convey the tone of the novel much better.

The Italian Edition, Mondadori, 2017

Which one do you prefer? Let me know!

10 Comments

  1. Calmgrove

    Personally I’m more in favour design-wise with the French and UK covers, a little more subtle than the starkly bold Italian, but I’m intrigued with the different motifs in the background of the first two: why a ship in one and the façade of a Gothic cathedral in the other? (And that façade looks suspiciously like Notre Dame de Paris…)

    Reply ↓
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      Hi, thanks for chipping in. And you’re absolutely right: it is Notre-Dame, also because good part of the action is set in Renaissance Paris (one of the reasons I enjoyed this book, even though there are many sections it is not historically accurate. But this is another story 🙂 )

      Reply ↓
  2. Tammy

    So glad you joined in this week, Steph! Thanks for the shout out These are both really good covers, but I love the drama of the dark cover the best.

    Reply ↓
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      Thanks, Tammy, I think this feature is brilliant and I’ve discovered it thanks to you! Yay!

      Reply ↓
  3. maddalena@spaceandsorcery

    My vote goes to the UK edition: I like the “old paper touched by fire at the edges” feel of the cover 🙂

    Reply ↓
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      Thanks. It is a good one, I won’t deny it. The three are all pretty good, actually!

      Reply ↓
  4. Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

    I’m having a hard time choosing between the two. Overall I like darker covers, but that parchment look of the rose cover is so pretty!

    Reply ↓
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      Yes, I agree with you. It is one of the things that intrigued me with these covers, at times international editions don’t do a good job compared to the original one, but this was not the case 🙂

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  5. sjhigbee

    I really love the UK version, the detailing on the cover nails it for me:)

    Reply ↓
    1. Steph P. Bianchini (Post author)

      It is quite classy, I agree with you 🙂

      Reply ↓

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