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
By the way, I´m so sorry for the layout mess-up, something´s seriously wrong with my internet and laptop and everything else it seems. :(
Those all look amazing! I'm going to be busy on Goodreads for a while updating my list. Thanks for the great suggestions!
Actually, I didn't like Harrison's US covers at all and it took quite a few glowing reviews and recommendations for me to finally read it. I like German cover better. Of course, if it had been a cover for a book which actually had bats in it, it would have been great.
Great covers!!! =))) The Brazilian ones tend to stick to the original most of the time, the German ones seem to be more original =)
You know what? I like Drake's German cover for NightWalker better but then I don't see much of those types of covers here in Australia, love your version Kane's Chess Putnam series- we have very different ones here too! As in, it's not even dark or blue.