My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.
Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden . . . and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair. The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.
Here’s the UK cover,
Here’s the US cover,
If 2010 has taught me one thing (other than the whole changing nappies thing…) it’s that the reputation held by US covers for being a bit, well… you know… is unfair to say the least. Have a look back over the year and you’ll see that US cover art can more than hold it’s own with what we have in the UK. It’s kind of nice then to end the year with a decent bit of UK cover art lording it over its counterpart. ‘Midnight Riot’ does the whole ‘bad ass cop’ thing very well but ‘Rivers of London’ gives you a real look at a city that you only think you know and you’re cordially invited to delve a little deeper. I the ‘blood red’ river thing as well, very intriguing. The book is due out here in the next ten days, and has already been reviewed Here, so I’ll be doing some delving fairly soon I think :o) Urban Fantasy that promises Mike Carey is just my kind of thing.
What about you though? Which cover would you go for and which title do you prefer…?
How very strange. The two covers give a completely different first impression of the same book. With the UK version being very clean and 'artsy' whilst the US version is much more 'in your face', appealing to two completely different audiences.
ReplyDeleteI'd pick the US version on the visualisation the contents (a male protagonist, magic elements, probably heaps of violence) whereas purely based on the art, the UK one does a great job of intriguing potential readers. It's likely the actual cover has more detail that I'm missing as the image here isn't that large.
Lets be honest here, the U.S. cover is shit. Most U.S. book covers are shit. You saw what they did with Abercrombie's gorgeous 'The Blade Itself' covers in the states? Turned them into turgid and generic flap-stains. Never mind two decades of shitty Pratchett covers...
ReplyDeleteI'm in the US, but the UK cover (and title) by far is better of the two. Sadly, the US title says "ignore me among the multitudes of crap". I feel sorry for the author that the publisher did this.
ReplyDeleteUK one. Totally. The US one is pretty lame aside from the cool font. The UK one has nice art. IMHO anyways.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you put the blurb up as I would never have guessed at what was inside from either of those covers or titles. Really love the blurb and am leaning towards the UK cover art as the US one is a bit samey samey compared to a lot of other covers out there :)
ReplyDeleteI have to say the UK cover is the superior one. The US cover may say modern thriller with magic; however, it doesn't really say much more and doesn't stand out from the crowd. Ths UK cover evokes images of a city you may know, but not how you know it so tread with care ...
ReplyDeleteI prefer the UK cover. The U.S. cover definitely doesn't grab me; I'm not the right audience.
ReplyDeleteI tend to prefer UK covers, though. The U.S. is always trying to sell books to a different kind of audience than in the UK. (Or so I think).
(I'm in the U.S. by the way).
Just Googled this guy and found out he wrote Battlefield and Remembrance of the Daleks - two of my favourite story lines in Dr. Who. I am going to buy this book. The U.K. version that is, being the one with the non-shit cover.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I like the UK cover art better, but the title doesn't do much for me. I think I'd much prefer the US title with the UK cover art.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the UK cover, though I wouldn't peg it for an urban fantasy novel based on it. I suppose the UK cover is cooler, but I admit the US cover is probably a better marketing endeavor.
ReplyDeleteI prefer both the UK title and cover. I read the review of this a few days back and thought the idea was awesome. The US cover looks pretty standard urban fantasy. The UK cover puts me in mind of Abercrombie (for obvious reasons).
ReplyDeleteUK title for sure. Both covers are rather dull, but if i had to choose one of them, probably the UK one again.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: "You saw what they did with Abjavascript:void(0)
Publishercrombie's gorgeous 'The Blade Itself' covers in the states?"
- Err, they did absolutly nothing? The US covers are exactly the same as those of the first UK edition...
I wouldn't buy it with US cover. I stopped to check this book thanks to London map.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the UK cover. The US one coukld just as easily be for a 'straight' murder/detective novel.
ReplyDeleteit looks worth checking out.