In a bubble, I don’t mind them. They match up somewhat well stylistically with the original cover for Boneshaker (which is used in both North America and the United Kingdom), even if the technique is a different and not nearly as appealing. I also appreciate that they feature strong heroines that haven’t been over-sexualized. But, compared against the covers for the North American editions, including the fourth volume, The Inexplicables, Dreadnought and Ganymede can’t hold a candle. Another case of the pendulum swinging slowly in favour of North America when it comes to covers.
They got “leviathaned”. I would much rather see cool graphics / stylized art than photorealistic faces. Meh.
Funny, Westerfeld is the first author I thought of, too, when I saw these.
These are baffling to me. The U.S. covers are so good, why would you change them?
The faces look crduely dropped in – I agree with the other folk that there was no need to change the US ones, which were nicely stylised and understated.
I actually kind of like these better, maybe because I hadn’t seen the N.A. version first. I also think seeing the back of the guy’s head on the N.A. cover seems awkward.