Cover VS Cover: The Mortal Instruments series

Cover VS Cover is a semi-weekly meme where we compare YA book covers from around the world and face them off, head-to-head against each other.  Today we're covering the many, many international faces of the urban fantasy phenomenon that is Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series.  Be sure to tell me what you think, as always, and suggestions for covers to feature are welcome!

US Hardcovers

Yes, they're gorgeous and shiny and beautiful hardcovers.  I love looking at all of Cassie Clare's books lined up on my bookshelves-- but though I love my US editions, it would certainly be cool to have any of these others from countries around the world...

Italian

I like the effect of darker covers... the claw marks on the models' faces are a little puzzling, though.  The City of Ashes cover is my favorite.  Italian always seems like such a beautiful language, written or spoken.

German

German YA covers tend to have this picturesome feel to them, a lot of focus on setting or a single specific, intricate object.  I like the different gargoyles peering into the panorama, but otherwise these covers are a little too similar.  That said, the Germans are the only ones to come out with a new cover for City of Fallen Angels other than the US-style one-- all the other countries where CoFA has been released released it with the US cover, if you were wondering.

Bulgarian

I wonder if these Bulgarian covers were inspired by covers from some other country...?  Hmm, they do look rather familiar.  As remakes go, though, these are pretty good.  I love Clary's hair and the rune on her shoulder, but what's with the smear over Jace's face on the City of Bones cover?

New US

I thought these were from the UK, but apparently they're now being sold in the US.  Sorry, and thanks for the tip-off, Amy!  Sometimes it's hard to track down where all of these lovely covers come from.  I'm not overly fond of these, though the preview of the third book in this edition (featured an Avatar-blue-skinned dude) on Cassie Clare's website looked promising.

Polish

 

 Personally, I'm a fan of the first cover-- Jace looks kind of like a Second Life character here, to me.  The third book must feature Isabelle, but who is that on City of Ashes?  Clary..?  She looks rather vampiric, with that cape-like jacket and the dagger.  And her scrunched-up face reminds me of Drusilla's "game-face" in Buffy, so that's not helping!

 New Canadian

These are the new Canadian paperback editions, marketed to adult readers. They're basically just simplified versions of the originals with only the skyline of the city.  Still, I bet they're *shiny*. ;)

Japanese

Yes, it is the Japanese cover of City of Bones!  I love the manga-esque feel, though at first glance I was a little confused as to who's who.  The guy with the glasses has to be Simon, and I guess the dark-haired dude is Alec... the girl must be Isabelle because of the whip and the heart pendant, but at first I just assumed it was Clary.  Odd that the secondary characters appear on the cover, but I do love the way Isabelle's whip is curled around her!  Can't wait to see what the next Japanese covers look like.

Whew! Well, that's 23 covers from 7 countries, and that's all for now, folks.  Hope you guys enjoyed scoping out all the different covers as much as I enjoyed hunting for them!