Monday, July 11, 2011

Shelf Analysis - Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

So, I've just gotten a look at the cover for the next Lauren Oliver novel, Pandemonium, the sequel to her dystopian YA novel, Delirium.  The cover is pretty different to the original Delirium cover, so I think the publishers may be going for a bit of a re-branding.  It matches the "special edition" version of Delirium is supposed to be coming out with this new cover sometime in the fall - which will include a Q&A with Lauren Oliver and an excerpt from Pandemonium.  Anyhow, take a look:


OK, so the new cover style is very different to the original (which I loved, by the way), but I like it.  It's fierce and a little bit scary, and the fall colours make it look somewhat apocalyptic...  In fact, I'd say it's more like the long lost cover The Hunger Games.

No, seriously.

Is anyone else looking at these covers and seeing Katniss Katniss Katniss?  I can just picture Katniss looking just like that, peering at me from behind a bush before killing me.  And to prove that I am not the only one who has thought of this, I present the following evidence: the cover to the German edition of The Hunger Games (aka Die Tribute von Panem - Tödliche Spiele)


See what I mean?

I am pretty sure this is just me, but it irks me none the less.  Delirium was a fantastic book and, yes, it's a dystopian YA novel.  But is it anything like The Hunger Games?  No it is not.  And unless the protagonist, Lena, has a dramatic character-modification in the next book, I am not picturing her as the next Katniss.

3 comments:

  1. I can definitely see what you mean about the similarity of the covers. And while I may not have thought of Katniss upon seeing the cover for Pandemonium, I also wouldn't have thought the book had anything to do with Delirium, either. I rather like the cover of Delirium the way it is, and don't think it needs a style update or change for the next book in the series. It stood out because it was so simple and yet with a touch of chaos to it, which fits quite well with the theme of the book, I think.

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  2. @Bibliotropic - Simple but chaotic... yep, that's the right way to describe the original cover! Delirium was such a delicate novel, in a way... the new covers just seem far too bold. Nice, but not for these books.

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  3. Pandemonium looks nothing like the Delirium, cover and i would have never looked at this and guessed it was book two.... I guess I do not see our protagonist in this cover at all....

    who is that lady? :)

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