My Mismatched Series | A Discussion

Greetings readers!

Since I decided to read more from my shelves this year, I decided to do a little rearranging the other day and I noticed that a system of organization for this is not my strong suit. How I organize my shelf is rather complex: favourites, author and size are all taken into account when choosing how to fit my books on the shelf. And sometimes the system really lacks efficiency.

But Shelf Organization is a topic for another day, today I want to talk about my mismatched series. Series of books that I have on my shelves that just do not match (and thus mess up the organization of my books). It ranges from size to cover changes to just having completely different editions.

So let us begin:

Size: Too Big, Too Small, Too Fat, Too Thin:

This category takes up most of the mismatched-ness of my shelves. I am the person to buy the first couple of books in a series in paperback because they have been out for a while and then I buy the final books in hardcover because I am too eager to wait for them all to be out in paperback!

Size especially sucks when you are trying to organize because super short paperbacks don’t look the greatest next to giant hardcovers.

The Following is a list of my mismatched series by size:
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (4 paperbacks, 2 hardcovers)
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (3 paperbacks, 2 hardcovers)
The Snow Like Ashes trilogy by Sara Raasch (2 paperbacks, 1 hardcover)
The Legend trilogy by Marie Lu (1 paperback, 2 hardcovers)
The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski (1 paperback, 2 hardcovers)
Ruby Red Trilogy by Kiersten Gier (1 paperback, 2 hardcovers)
A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas (This is the worst case because paperbacks are like half the size of the hardcover.) (2 paperbacks, 1 hardcover)

The Different Editions: Colour is all wrong!

I have only a few series where the covers are off. This doesn’t bother me too much but again it makes my organization much harder to do.

The Legend series by Marie Lu
I am actually okay with this series since the the cover edition of the first book I have is very similar to the original version, it’s just a little more muted in colour and smaller in size obviously because it is paperback.

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir in the Ember Quartet
I’m not mad at the cover change. I thought the change was really important especially for the message Sabaa wanted to send. I actually am very please that it is the same size as the previous hardcovers which is *blessed*

Smoke in the Sun by Renee Ahdieh in the Flame in the Mist duology
I think both covers are stunning so…I’m good. Plus I have an ARC of the second book so this one is really mismatched hehehe

The Biggest Disaster I Own:

The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

(A disaster in more ways that one and that’s my tea)

I have the first three books (Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire) in the UK edition which are super petit and white and then I have the sixth book (yup I skipped, four and five) Tower of Dawn in the Indigo Hardcover Exclusive Edition. And I’m never going to complete my collection…

So in short, it is a mess.

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Let me know what you think!

How matched are your book shelves? Do you own a lot of mismatched series like I do? Are you a stickler for having the same editions of books?

I love my books in any shape they come in, the story is what really matters to me. But having a beautiful set of all matching covers in size and shape that fit perfectly in one spot on the shelf is a really pleasing feeling.

Happy reading!

~ Rendz

Tower of Dawn Cover & My Thoughts

Greetings readers!

I don’t even now how to start this. I am laughing to myself right now really because of the emotions I feel when I saw this…

The Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas cover reveal.

via sarahjmaas.com

I hate it.

I hate it immensely.

When I saw it, I actually hated it with a passion.

Rage was not a word to describe my anger.

It was a mix of fury, disappointment, sadness, feeling offended, insulted.

A whole lot of that.

Context:

This book is part of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas which I had a huge fall out with because of the turn of events and the 180º character personality changes. Mind you, I have yet to read the fifth book, Empire of Storms, but I am not anticipating it. 

This book specifically is about the captain of the guard, Chaol Westfall and his journey to the Southern Continent. It takes place in the same timeline as EoS but will not feature any of the characters like the main character Aelin. 

I was so happy that Chaol was going to get his own book. So damn happy. No Aelin. No Adarlan. No Fae (for now at least). No Rowan. NO AELIN! A breath of fresh air. Chaol and other side characters like Dorian, Manon and Elide are the only real reason I stick around this series.

So this cover was supposed to be epic. Chaol Westfall on his own cover! YES! GIVE IT TO ME! He deserves it! After all the hate and dramatics he has been put through in the books and from the fandom, he deserved to be on his own book cover.

But NO.

I open Instagram and all I see is a shield, with a bird and the Southern Continent cityscape.

via giphy.com

What makes it worse is that I had just written one of my exams and it went so well. I was so thrilled, only to have to be have my day crushed by this cover.

CHAOL SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE COVER! I DON’T CARE IF THE SHIELD IS A SYMBOL OR WHATEVER, HE DESERVED TO BE ON THIS COVER.

HE DESERVED IT.

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I don’t think it’s ugly. 

It is just not what I wanted, nor what should have been decided as the final cover art.

There was so much opportunity here.

*spoiler for QoS* 

Chaol is paralyzed right now, they could have showcased an impaired character on the cover of a huge YA series. That would have been powerful. Respectful. The amount of cookie points it would have given SJM in the diversity sector because we all know she is lacking. Nesryn is a person of colour! (Well I pretty sure she is!) HELL, they could have put her on the cover just to keep in tune with the fighter girl front cover and the dressy girl back cover.

*end of spoiler*

BUT  NO.

A lame shield.

So now these art directors have really messed up.

Although, Chaol is not a woman, he being on the cover would have resembled the other covers with a HUMAN PERSON!

BUT NO!

*say it with me now*

A LAME SHIELD.

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So yes, I hate this cover. Call me petty for hating a cover. But yeah, I hate it.

I know Chaol is not in the good graces of many of you. A lot of you think he is an ass, rude…blah..blah..blah. I cannot and will not agree with you on that.

But do you honestly think this cover matches the flow of the others?

It’s up to you.

IF IT WERE UP TO ME THAT COVER WOULD HAVE NEVER LEFT THE SKETCHING STAGES.

It’s the truth and I will not guard my opinion.

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Then people on the internet started being amazing and adorable people. Hence why I love the internet at times.

They blessed my eyes with these.

There are others out there too that are pretty funny too! So thank you people for making these and making me feel a little better.

 

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On a final note:

DEAR SARAH J. MAAS, BLOOMSBURY ART DIRECTION TEAM, THE COVER DESIGNER AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAD A SAY IN THIS COVER,

If not, then I have other means.

This calls for divine intervention.

Thank you,

Sincerely,

The Heartbroken Rendz

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End of long rant. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I know it has been the talk of the town lately. You can try to woo me to like it, but I won’t. Still I respect your opinion and there as there is no room for bad blood among bloggers. 

I just have bad blood with this cover, okay!

Happy reading!

And here is to hoping this cover is a joke and something better will come along.

~ Rendz