Top Ten Tuesday: Did They Change That Book's Cover?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book blog meme now hosted by Jana over at The Artsy Reader Girl!

This week's topic is: Cover Redesigns I Loved/Hated

Ah, cover changes. Sometimes they're for the better, sometimes for the worse (especially when it comes mid-series), but it's always fun to see how cover artists bring books to life in so many different styles. I love posts like these because it's so fun to see how markets change and how publishers decide to rebrand books. There have been a lot of big cover changes over the years, so I decided to just pick a few to share that have particularly stood out to me. How do you feel about cover changes?

The Diviners series by Libba Bray

I'm kicking this list off with a bang because this series' cover changes are my biggest frustration and I can't not bring it up every time this topic is discussed.

This poor series has undergone so many changes throughout its existence. Back in 2012, The Diviners started out with its first cover, which is easily my favorite out of all of them:

Then, for some reason, the designers thought that the series needed an update, so we moved on to these upon the sequel's release..

They're...fine? Nothing special. The typography is alright. I'm very 'meh' on it, personally.

But wait, that's not the last change! 

With the publication of the third book, the publishers apparently felt the need to redesign this series yet again--seriously, this poor series probably has identity issues at this point-and it turned into these....

These are better than the first change and I like that they have a very distinct style. Personally, I wish they had all stayed in the style of the first, but at this point I have no idea what will happen in the future. It looks like we're sticking with the last one since The King of Crows, which comes out 2020, has the same style. I wouldn't take that as a promise, though.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

From what I know, the first two covers appeared pretty close to one another. From what I've seen the first one with our red-haired Kvothe seems to get some jokes for looking like a romance cover (?), but frankly I think it's nice. And I like the second 'green face' one as well! I like the colors and the art style fo the first two. The current one looks like the most cliche fantasy cover, which isn't a bad thing and I don't hate it, but it definitely doesn't stand out much. 

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

 As you may or may not know, The Rage of Dragons started out its life as a self-published book. The first cover is its original cover from when it was first published, and this latter cover is the remake Orbit made. Personally, I think both covers are pretty badass, though aesthetically I'm more drawn to the latter. That being said, I still think that original cover is awesome. 

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence (UK Edition)

When Red Sister was first published, I specifically bought the UK edition because I loved that first cover. The icicles and typography of the title completely called out to me. Fast forward to when the sequel, Grey Sister, was published and the publishers decided to do a bit of a cover redesign for the series. I definitely still love my original hardcover, but the remake certainly has a foreboding vibe to it!

Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

This is one of those changes where it's not a huge difference and the majority of the elements are similar, but it's definitely still a change. The colors seems more vibrant and we have our protagonist with a bit more action. I like these both, to be honest. I prefer the colors of the first and feel a bit ambivalent about the figure of the character since I'm not a huge fan of characters on covers, anyway, but I think overall I'd probably pick the first one? The second does scream 'fantasy' much stronger, though...

The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

This entire series got a makeover, but I have to say I just love the original covers! I get that they do have a slightly dated look to them, though. Despite that, I think both the original and the new ones are pretty solid, so I don't think you could go wrong with obtaining either set!

The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French

This series also started out self-published, so the original cover is from that period and the remake is from when it got picked up by Crown! I personally love both covers and am more than happy with both.

Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson

This is a remake done right, in my opinoin. I absolutely love the new designs on these ones, though I will say that I have a huge soft spot in my heart for the original covers. They are the ones that I remember from when I read this series all those years ago, so I feel a bit of an attachment to them. That being said, if I saw these books for the first time today I would 100%, no questions asked, pick the new covers. 

What do you think of these cover changes? What are some notable cover changes you've noticed?