Cover Judging #3

We all judge books by their covers in one way, shape, or form - don't try to deny it.
Book covers are more often than not the first introductions we get when it comes to a book. Unless, of course, someone tells you about a book before you see it. Either way, we all cover judge. And that's fine. And at least once in our reading lives, we have looked at a cover of a book and then moved past it to another book, not deeming the first book worthy of being picked up off the shelf. Be it the front cover or the spine. Covers catch out attention. That's what they're there for.
Sometimes a lot of thought go into the making of a book cover, and sometimes we can tell little thought was put into a book's cover (or at least, the wrong kind of thoughts). I'm sure you've all thought of a book you've read with a less-than-spectacular cover, or perhaps a cover that has nothing to do with the material inside of the book.

But that's not what this post today is about. Not entirely.

I read this wonderful book last year. It's name is Seraphina, and the lovely Rachel Hartman (I'm assuming she's lovely - her writing in this debut novel certainly was) is the author.
For once it was a description of the book that caught my attention. Or rather, a word:

Dragons.

However, I adored the cover when it was revealed, and I'm sure you can see why:

Gorgeous, isn't it?

But then a new cover was released, and I'm sure you'll understand my current dilemma when you see it (or maybe not - we all have different opinions).
The new cover:

Same deal, except it's PURPLE

Purple, guys. Purple is my favourite colour, so maybe that makes me extremely biased, but I LOVE this cover. I seriously, really do. The problem? I already own the other cover.
Wait, is that really a problem? I can justify buying this even-more-gorgeous cover to add to my collection, right?

Well, I can. And I have, for the most part. I will pick up this cover one day. I will.

But anyway.

If you look at the two covers side-by-side (here - I'll make this a little easier)

There are some pretty cool differences, and I'm sure a lot of thought was put into those differences. For example, I found the purple cover in the 9-12 section of the bookstore. It *IS* very 9-12y if you think about it. The purple makes the cover slightly more childish. And the writing and colour is more flashy. Those are the things that catch a kid's eye, for sure. Kids are more likely to pick up a book with a colourful cover than one not. Heck, most people are. Then the original cover is in the 13+ section. A little more mature and artsy with its black and white drawing and the gold writing and red border. It's still awesome, and there are probably a lot of people who prefer that cover over the purple one.

As for me, I like both, but prefer the purple purely because of favourite colour bias.

All right, I'm done my babbling now. It's your turn. Which cover do you prefer? Let's discuss in the comments :)

(Also, I don't understand why they would put a book in two sections of a bookstore. I guess to reach out to more readers? But then that just leads into the whole 'but if 9-12ers can read it and teens can read it too, and a lot of other books are suitable for pre-teens, teens, and adults, why are these age labellings necessary?' conversation, and that topic just gives me a headache because I both understand the marketing side of it and don't understand the marketing side of it. Mostly because there are some books in certain sections I don't agree with. But anyway. *pulls fingers away from keyboard*)

PS, if you haven't read Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and love fantasy and dragons as much as I do (or even if you don't *shrugs*), you can read my review on the wonderfully-written book here. Spoiler: It's a 5/5 star review, so I highly recommend this one. AND it's the first of a series.

PPS, There's a photo to the UK cover in my review - which is also awesome, but very different from the above covers, which is why it was not included in this post. I do like the font on the UK cover more than the US covers, though, I must admit.