Covers Across the Universe
I thought I’d take a minute today to discuss something that’s been on my mind lately as I’ve been reading Beth Revis’ Across the Universe series.
A few weeks ago, I named Across the Universe one of the best book covers for books I read in 2012. The cover really is stunning. The cover to the sequel, A Million Suns, matches. It’s not as stunning, but it’s definitely more accurate and they make a nice set:
I mean, look at how nice those look! The sparkly stars, the silhouettes, the kissy/hand holding hint of romance. It’s definitely clear that this is a story of a boy and girl in space. People love these covers. They draw you in. But then the publisher switched to this series of covers with the release of the third book in the trilogy:
Now I first saw these covers with Shades of Earth, and I thought it was strange to have that cover with the first two. It made a lot more sense when I saw the whole set. I get it — the un-freezing, the heating up, and the jungle-like world of Centuri Earth. However, I just don’t like this new series of covers. I don’t feel like the convey the multi-genre goodness of the series. I don’t see the romance! I know publishers change up covers all the time, but this set really struck me as a disappointment.
What do you think? Which set of covers do you like better? Why do you think they changed the artwork?
Posted on January 14, 2013, in books, librarian, random and tagged book covers, dystopian lit, science fiction, space, why?. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
From a romantic point I love the first two covers, especially the first one. But I can see the publisher’s thoughts of drawing a wider audience with the second set. I would bet they wanted to pull in more male readership and by creating a more ‘techie’ cover makes them less romance novel and more space adventure.
Thank you for pointing that aspect out! That actually makes a lot of sense…though you can see from the following comments that the kiss cover was popular, I understand why the publishers would want to broaden the audience.
The first one means “across the Universe” withe love. I like! The last three are more iron and liquid…but I like them too.
The original cover of Across the Universe is what originally made me pick the book up off the shelf, so obviously I love the first covers. They just seem to have the universe/mystery/adventure look to me. I wish the publisher would’ ve had a hardback Shades of Earth designed like the other 2 originals, then the new 3 designs in paperback. I just think they all should match!
I totally agree. Keep the hardcovers the same, and keep the paperbacks the same. It’s so frustrating to be one of these people who likes her book covers to match!
I agree. The new covers are not as impressive as the old ones.
I agree, the new covers are nice but the old covers are the sole reason I took an interest in this series. If the books had had the new covers, from the very beginning, I’m not sure I would’ve ever read them at all. I don’t understand why they changed.
I would have to agree. The original cover for Across the Universe is stunning. Somehow it shows emotion. The original covers allowed me to connect to the story without reading a single word. I would read those books.
The new covers, to me, seem cold and disconnected from the relationship aspect of the story… the main reason I would have picked up that book in the first place. I doubt I would’ve taken a second look at that trilogy. Luckily, as long as someone picks up those originals and gives good reviews, their friends will likely pick up the trilogy unbiased by the covers.
I have no idea why they would change perfectly good covers. Maybe they have how widened their base for an audience, but they just lost this reader. I think it was the wrong decision.
I love the original cover of Across The Universe. Its sort of an optical illusion. I don’t like the new set so much but I think as a set it looks better than the original set did. The second one didn’t have as great a cover as the first did.
It appears to me the publishers wanted to make the series more attractive to boys and men, thus the somewhat industrial feel of the second cover set.