Cover comparison: Crossroads of Twilight | 9th March 2010, 20:46

Crossroads of Twilight is the tenth book in Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series 'The Wheel of Time'. I've been reading these since last May and attempting to catch up with the publication schedule - so far books 1-12 and a prequel are out, with 13 & 14 on the way. However as you can see from the pictures above, the US cover is very different from the cover the book is released with in the UK - and these are the paperback designs. I should note that my paperback (UK, right) actually has bronze shiny text for the author's name and for the logo. The reason for the difference seems to be immediately obvious - that the publishers of fantasy novels understand the desire of readers to have matching sets, and so they've released book 10 to match the previous novels in each of the two markets. This is something John Grisham's publishers have recently annoyed me with, releasing the latest book in a new design. I have been told though that the original releases of the early books in the series carried the US covers, which suggests that a deliberate move was made to change the covers here. The UK editions do carry and interesting strip down the side of the reverse, about 2cm wide, which appears to be a portion of the US artwork (in this case just some bare branches/trees against a night sky) - almost as if they know they have paid for the artwork so want to use it if only in such a small bit it becomes completely meaningless. The lack of the US artwork is the main difference between the two designs, replaced by the wheel of time logo, which I assume appears on the inside of the US editions as a chapter breaker as it does in the UK. It's also on the most recent novel labelled as a registered trademark so it must be thought of as integral to their brand. Let's be brutally honest - the artwork on the US cover is awful. It's amateurish and makes the book look like something for kids or from the eighties - the key question designers need to learn to ask is 'Would I be seen reading this on the train?'. If the answer is 'No' then it's clearly a bad design. The image in no way entices me to pick up the book - it's bland and basic, would easily blend in on a bookcase in the shop, and doesn't even look like it's a scene I would recognise from reading the series so far. The writing is so packed with description that the reader cannot help building up an image of the way the world looks, and seeing this cover design just clashes ridiculously. The UK covers on the other hand looks rather striking lined up on a bookshop shelf, and are likely to draw the eye of any reader glancing across the shelves. I had eyed them up for several years before getting round to reading. The text on both covers is almost identical, although the US version feels the need to have an oval telling us it's the sequel to the previous book - presumably for readers who miss that it's marked as 'book ten'? The US edition also describes itself as New York Times best-seller (with ! ), whereas the UK version goes with 'NEW international best-seller' (even, bizarrely, on my 6th edition copy printed 5 years after publication) - presumably that way of saying it is more likely to appear to a British reader who might be put off by having the knowledge that it is an American book thrust in their face? Overall I'm very definitely in the UK cover camp - the US version looks like a kids' book. I can't believe they put up with it.

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