The Friday Face-Off: Bones

Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme at Books by Proxy. Join us every Friday as we pit cover against cover, and publisher against publisher, to find the best artwork in our literary universe. You can find a list of upcoming topics at Lynn's Books.

This week's topic is:
Romantic – “thus with a kiss I die”

Bones/skeleton was actually the topic for last week, but since I missed it and I'd much rather do bones than try to figure out 'exotic'... I'm going with bones! This was still a bit of a struggle and I'm still surprised by how few books I found had bones on the cover, but I finally stumbled across Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard and though it'd be perfect. I've still only read this first book, but I do plan to continue the series sometime. There were only four covers for the first bok, so I'm only going to be comparing those for my pick, but I'm including a couple covers for the second book as well just to give a bit more variety.


2009 US Hardcover | 2010 US Paperback


2009 German Paperback | 2019 Russian Hardcover

Johannes Cabal the Detective (#2):


2010 US Hardcover | 2010 German Paperback


My choice(s):

So in general I really love the US version, but I am so into the creativity and dramatic artwork for the Russian one so I just had to pick it also. I love it's craziness, and it actually does sort of fit the book, so props to it for taking a creative spin on the book!

What cover(s) do you like the most!?

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

First Chapter Tuesday is hosted every Tuesday by Diane over at Bibiophile by the Sea. Join the fun by making your own post and linking up over at Diane's blog, or simple check it out to find more new books to read!

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

Chapter 1: In which a scientist visits hell and a deal is struck

"Walpurgisnacht, the Hexennacht. The last night of April. The night of witches, when evil walks abroad.

He stood at a desolate and lonely place where there would be no interruption, no prying eyes. The air smelled metallic with freshly spilt blood; the body of a decapitated virgin kid goat lay nearby. He had no alloyed metal about him but for a thin-bladed sword of fine steel he held in his right hand; that arm was naked, his shirt sleeve rolled up to the biceps. A silver coin wrapped in paper nestled in his waistcoat pocket. Before him burned a fire of white wood.

His name was Johannes Cabal, and he was summoning a demon."

I haven't officially started this one yet, but I'm thinking about it! It sounds delightfully quirky and entertaining, so I'm hoping to jump into it soon. :)

What do you think? Would you keep reading? (And feel free to join in and make your own post!) 

If you're enticed by this chapter, be sure to check out the full synopsis on Goodreads!

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*Excerpt taken from the novel itself; I do not claim to own any part of the excerpt.