Cover Study
The title sounds academic, but I’m not sure yet if this will actually be academic. We shall see.
Poison Study was one of my favorite books of 2007. I’ve blogged here before about it and how much I lurv the cover. The one shown above is it’s U.S. mass market release. Splendid, gorgeous and it connects so well with the actual story inside. On the shelf it is absolutely striking.
I happened across this one though today and thought to myself, Could they be making a movie out if this?! The woman on the cover, combined with the leafy greens (like she’s rolling in a big seaweed salad), just automatically made me think it might be a new cover release, you know, like they do every time a movie based on a book comes out. Uh, no. Strike that off the list, apparently it’s the upcoming mass market release from Mira, whereas the original mass market was produced by Luna. Oy! My head is spinning. And that seaweed salad is starting to look like it’s eating her.
Head is spinning because there’s also a trade-sized version from Mira:
And these too!
The one on the left is the UK adult version and the one of the right is the UK young adult version. I get why the different versions for the UK readers. That’s pretty much a given as it’s always been that way across la pond – but one version for adults and another for kids?
First off, I never would’ve expected this book to be appropriate for children and it’s a bit disturbing for me personally that it would be targeted for children to read. So let’s talk about a tad slight trip here for a sec.
Again, I really heart this book and think Snyder is one of the most talented fantasy writers I’ve read in recent years. I’m very much looking forward to her upcoming Storm Glass. Poison Study deals very much in adult themes, or themes I would have only thought of as adult before. By that I mean *spoiler – highlight to read* the many counts of child rape talked about within. *end spoiler* It’s handled as well as the subject matter can be without being too gross or gratuitous, but it is still not a theme I would expect to see in childrens literature. Am I behind on the times? Being too stodgy and a dead bore? There are numerous other acts of violence too that would make me question personally the wisdom of letting my child read the book. Seventeen-eighteen and up, have at it, IMHO. Perhaps this is an edited version for children…
But to get back to strictly cover speak, what do you think about this needing to have so many dang covers? I think all of them, even Seaweed Salad, have merits, but why did the publishers, mainly MIRA in this case, see the need to do so many? Three different ones alone for U.S. versions is amazing enough. Maybe it’s simply more pretty cover art to go around?
November 2009
October 2009
September 22, 2009
December 1, 2009
December 29, 2009
August 2009
December 29, 2009
August 25, 2009
September 2009
November 3, 2009
August 4, 2009
October 13, 2009
September 1, 2009
December 1, 2009
January 5, 2010
February 23, 2010
October 28, 2008
February 2, 2010
February 2, 2010
February 2, 2010
February 23, 2010
March 2, 2010
March 23, 2010
May 3, 2010
I love the old covers better. I am ashamed to say I haven’t had a chance to read Snyder yet :( You may smack me silly.
Katie, no smacking – promise! I like the older covers the best too, the first one up top and then the trade size. So beautiful.
I have had Magic Study in my TBR pile for awhile but I still haven’t had a second to get to it.
Ladytink, did you get to read Poison Study first then? Did you enjoy it?
Hiya! First of all, apologies for a long post but I have a lot of responses to your review! (I also use lots of parentheses. I sometimes wonder if I just have too many conversations going on in my head at one time…)
“Seaweed Salad” is right on, you took the words right out of my mind.
I think when you say “children” in the above post, that makes me think of elementary-age kids, and the YA covers are targeted (I think) at teens, about the same demog. as Twilight (some of whom would probably take some kind of offense at being referred to as children ^_^).
I run the GoodReads group for MVS (link above) and we have had a pretty lengthy discussion on the age-appropriateness of the books (most of that takes place in the “Does Your Public Library Have The Study Series?” thread). Long story short, most of us believe the reader earns the responsibility of choosing what is appropriate for his or her age, that it’s awesome when parents are involved with what their children are consuming but that censorship often triggers reverse effects anyway. So while parts of the book may be disturbing to younger readers, some may be mature enough to read it without harm (I know I would have been ok at 9 or 10, but that’s just me), while others may self-censor (one of our 15-year-old readers skips those when she gets to “yucky” parts).
The author also points out that ALA nominated the book for an Alex award (i.e. adult books which may appeal to younger readers; it didn’t win but you can check out other winners here). I think it’s more or less as disturbing as some of the others that did win (like The Thirteenth Tale or Never Let Me Go). The Kite Runner? Jeepers. Beautiful book, but definitely would have shaken me up when I was a teen! (I was 27 when I first read it, and was pretty shaken up even then.)