Friday Face-Off is an idea originally thought up by Books By Proxy which I stole from the fantastic The Tattooed Book Geek. The idea originally was to compare UK and US covers based on an assigned theme each week and choose the winning cover. I will be twisting it slightly: not specifically US and UK covers, just different editions.

This week’s theme is a cover with mountains or hills: “As old as the hills??”

For this week’s cover I went for a book by one of my favourite new-to-me authors, Neil Gaiman – The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains.

Cover A:

Cover B:

And the winner is… COVER A!

Originally part of an anthology of short stories, The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains is a trip into the imagination of Neil Gaiman. It later became a graphic novel, and is certainly one to be added to my list to read. A won this for me – the superimposed skull was ominous and menacing, while the pine forest in the foothills and the mist added atmosphere. There were elements of B I liked, but it didn’t have the atmospheric effect.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with my winner, or does one of the others work better for you? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s theme: 2nd December – “Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clements” – a cover with fruit.