 So, the first thing you see if you're walking down the aisle at a bookstore is obviously the cover of a book, followed by the title. Now, I know a lot of people say don't judge books by their covers and, well, that's not what I'm doing here at all. I'm judging them just based on the covers, okay? I'm just looking at the covers and the titles and saying, hey, this is really good or hey, this is really bad. And some of you might be thinking, James, are you only doing this low effort video because it's taking forever to edit your next one and you're really busy? I will neither confirm nor deny that. The point is, let's get started. I'm doing top 10 best first and then the top 10 worst. Let's go. This is the introduction song. It's not very good, but it's not too long. All right. First up on the best list is The Reigns. Now, I haven't read all of the books on these lists. I'm just looking at the covers here. But I really like this one because if you look at it, you can tell, obviously, it's very dark because from what I can tell, it's supposed to be a pretty dark book. The sky is overcast. It has this whole oppressive feeling to it. You can see the main characters walking through the road in this rural area. And the whole thing is from the first person perspective of a zombie, which, while not totally original, is at least kind of neat. I don't think I've seen it done on a book cover before. And then there is the title itself. Rather than just having letters that spell out the words, it's kind of stylized. It looks like glass with bits of raindrops on it. It's kind of cool. That's all. Number 9, The Red Knight. So this is a book that I couldn't even finish, honestly, because, well, it's just not that good, but the cover is pretty great. It has fire coming in from the bottom. It has stylized title letters. It says Book 1 of the Trader Sun Cycle, so you clearly know it's a series getting into it, which, honestly, I find it annoying when a book is part of a series and it's not made immediately apparent because sometimes you pick up one that's farther along and, I don't know, it's just annoying, is all. And then you can clearly see someone's hands holding a sword, and they're wearing armor as well, which seems to suggest that, yes, they are some sort of experienced powerful badass. And then the tagline, Slaying Dragons is a bloody business. That's, overall, it's just kind of cool-looking. I mean, there's not a whole lot else to say on it, but it's a pity that the book itself couldn't leave up to that. Number 8, The Great War, American Front. This is pretty much the quintessential example of a book that's cover immediately caught my attention, because just look at it. You can see in the background, the United States Capitol building is burning. It's being attacked by some sort of planes, and then in the foreground, you can see soldiers wearing World War I-era uniforms carrying a confederate battle flag, and then the title, The Great War, American Front. So I could immediately tell this was some sort of alternate history, the United States was actually a battleground during the First World War, and that the confederate states of America was somehow involved. That just immediately caught my attention and made me think, well, how did this happen? What changed from our world to have this nightmare escape happen in theirs? While it's not as detailed as it possibly could be, I think this one really deserves a spot on the list just because of how intriguing it is. Number 7, Battlesaurus, Rampage at Waterloo. OK, just fucking look at this. You have a French Napoleonic dragoon riding on the back of a T-Rex while a bunch of British red coats are running away scared. Like, come on, do I even need to say anything else? Number 6, Go the fuck to sleep. This is great because the cover just leans into the entire joke of the book, which is that it's a book for adults done in the style of a children's book. So you look at the cover and you think, yeah, this is pretty much like any other standard children's book. There's just a kid hanging out with his animal friends and they're all sleeping. It's kind of cute. And then you look up and you see the title. And then you realize, what? And then you laugh. And that's it. It's just really funny. And then you open the book and it's pretty much the same thing on the inside. Like the cover really does convey exactly what the book is like. So in this case, you kind of can judge a book by its cover. Number 5, Kill or Be Killed. So I did review Kill or Be Killed a long time ago, but it doesn't have many views. So basically it's just a graphic novel series. And I think you should all check it out. But volume 4 is the final volume in the series. And it shows the main character wearing his mask, acting as the vigilante, but he's also wearing a straight jacket. And in the background, you can see all the snow and the mental institution where he was put at the end of volume 3. Unlike the other covers, which are really dark and brooding and kind of violent, this one seems a lot lighter and more hopeful. But somehow, even with all the bright snow and white in the painting, it still gives off this foreboding tone, which fits in exactly with the tone of the series. It's a dark, really depressing series. And while out of context, it might look a little silly. In context, after I've already read the series, it really brings this whole thing into focus for me. So while it might be a little weird for me to put it this high in the list, I'm going to do it anyways. Number four, Doppelgangster. Okay, come on. Like, this is beautiful. Okay, I want to say that this one's so bad, it's good, but honestly, it's like this on purpose. Okay, you can see the main character holding an axe surrounded by several beheaded corpses, except they all have glowing stumps on their necks so you can tell there's something supernatural going on. And then there's a police tape line, whatever those things are called. I don't feel like figuring it out. But anyways, it's covering her up and then it has the title on it. And in the background, you can see New York, you can see all the lights, you can see helicopters flying around. It's funny, okay? That's the biggest thing about this. It's funny, it grabs your attention, it has personality. Okay, that's the thing. And granted, personality isn't always good. But when you consider how many generic book covers there are out there, like how many there are that just have the title and some sort of vague, color-corrected photo in the background or just some sort of symbol, or particularly in the young adult genre when it's just a young girl looking away from the camera. Yeah, there's a lot of those if you hadn't noticed. But I just like this one because it's so much different than anything else I usually see. Number three, Death's Shadow. Okay, so this is another one that has a really, really dark, depressing, and let's say foreboding feel about it, which most of the books in the Demonada series have a cover like that. This one is one of my favorites though because you can see the Death's Shadow in the background and it looks like some sort of Cthulhu eldritch abomination thing that, well, it just looks dangerous and scary. And then you can see the main characters right in the middle and they seem really small and weak compared to it. And then the things, tentacles are actually covering up parts of the title, which makes the whole thing even more stylized, even more dark. Like I don't even have all that much to say about this one, it's just really neat. Number two, Santa Steps Out. Okay, so I'm probably going to wind up censoring this before I put it on YouTube, but some of you might have seen this one around before. Basically, it's Santa Claus on some sort of throne of fire leaning back, he's also naked by the way, and he's holding on to these two, I don't know, pole things, and meanwhile the tooth fairy is sitting on his lap because they're having sex. And, well, even if you haven't seen it before, just the mental image of that should give you an idea of why I like this cover so much. It's insane, okay? It's like the doppelganger one only kicked up to 11, like what am I supposed to even say about this shit? Like Jesus Christ, it's just so weird and so out there, like whatever, let's move on. And my number one pick is Hell's Heroes, which is another book in the Demonada series. Okay, just look at it. From a distance, it's a skull. You zoom in close, you can see all the main characters. You can see grubs on the right, you can see back in the middle, you can see Colonel on the left. These designs perfectly fit all three of them, but at the same time they seem kind of twisted and dark and evil, which does accurately reflect the way that those characters change over the course of the series, and particularly in the last two or three books. And when you consider just how dark, just how dark and depressing the Demonada gets at times, I mean, come on, just look at it. Just look at it. It's beautiful, it's amazing, and that's why it's my favorite book cover ever. And now we get to the more fun part of the video, at least I think it's the more fun part of the video, about the 10 worst book covers ever. And like I said, I'm not going to put any Chuck Tingle ones on here because that's just cheating. If you've ever seen Chuck Tingle book covers, then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, then check it out. But yeah, these are just bad, okay? They're not so bad that they're good, they're just bad. Coming in at number 10, we have Big Rock. All right, so look, just looking at this, you know what kind of book it is, but honestly, having a romance novel with a shirtless dude in the cover, not that big a deal normally, but just look at that guy, he has like 18 abs. What is that? And then it says Big Rock, and it has an engagement ring on there, but we all understand the double entendre. Number nine is Red Knight. Now I know that might sound weird, considering that I put this one on the best list as well, but well, this is a different cover for the same book. I mean, what is that? There's a knight with a spear and a really big cape, which I guess is supposed to kind of look like dragon wings facing off against a, I guess that's supposed to be a dragon or a weavern, but it's really small, so it doesn't seem that impressive or scary. And then he's covering up part of the title, but not in an interesting way, it's just his cape. And then in the back, there's just blank dead space, but not in a dark way or a foreboding way or anything. It's just, it looks silly. It looks kind of like someone took one of those really old weird medieval paintings and then tried to do it in modern style, but it just doesn't work. And it doesn't catch my attention. This looks like, well, it looks like schlock, quite frankly, and not in a good way, just in a bad way. Number eight, On Basilisk Station. Okay, this whole thing looks like it was made with CGI from the early 90s. There's the main character in the forefront staring off to the side and she doesn't look awful, I guess. I feel like you should have just gotten a picture of an actual actress there or maybe just hand drawn it so it would look a little less, whatever. And then in the background, we just get this station, but we can't get a clear view of it so it looks like just a bunch of lights in space. And then there's that weird hell cat thing with a pug's face on her shoulder. It just, yeah, this is not good. Number seven, The Manly Art of Knitting. Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I chose this one partially because of the title, which is just, it's pretty funny, honestly. But the cover is just weird? Like, okay, it's an old black and white photo. There's a cowboy just sitting on his horse's back while the horse is staring at us and he's knitting. And okay, I get that this is trying to go with the title. It's trying to say, knitting can be manly. It doesn't have to just be a thing for women, which I guess that's fair, but also, is this really the place that you would do knitting? I feel like I'm not an expert, but this just feels inconvenient? Like, I feel like you could easily drop something. I'm just confused mostly. Number six, Anybody Can Be Cool. Okay, so if somebody from many years in the future were to ask me what the 90s were like, I think I would just show them this picture because what is this, devotionals for teens? And the full title is actually Anybody Can Be Cool, dot, dot, but awesome takes practice. And then we just have a couple of friends sitting around in a circle, but they all look like they were rejected extras from Saved by the Bell because they're like, no, no, you guys are two 90s even for our show. But at the same time, they managed to have a certain level of, I don't know, ethnic diversity, whatever you wanna call that, like they always managed to get those, you know, whatever, just no, what is this shit, no. Number five, City of Bones. Okay, so I get that with adult romance stuff, you can have a shirtless dude on the cover and that's fine, that's not a big deal. But this one is meant for much younger people and honestly it's supposed to be some sort of magical story about fighting demons and shit. Why would you have a shirtless dude on the, okay, that just, that's weird, whatever, but then we can see like he apparently drew all over himself with crayon and then there's a city in the foreground, but it's a little too small and squished to really be anything other than a generic city. And then there's a graveyard, but it's all covered up by the title. Well, that's cool, I didn't wanna actually see the artwork. And granted, this does actually cover like the setting and some of the aspects of the world of this book, like he has the runes drawn on himself, I get that, they're not just random drawings, but it still looks stupid. Number four, The Gathering Storm. Okay, I feel like I'm cheating by putting Wheel of Time covers on here because even people who like the series admit that most of the covers are just absolutely awful. I mean, Daniel Green did a whole video on it not long ago, but just, what is this? Okay, there's Rand up in the front with one hand at the sky looking like he's saying, curse you, man in the sky, there's something going on there, I'm not sure what he's supposed to be doing. There's a pristine house behind them that has a almost perfectly round hole in the side, which opens into a cavern of darkness for some reason. And then there's a woman behind him, I think that's supposed to be Min, but she looks like she crawled out of hell head first and then had Hermione's hair put on top. It, yeah, this is just not good art and I really don't have any better way of explaining that. It just, what is this? This is not Wheel of Time. Well, it kind of is Wheel of Time actually because honestly, I feel like the stupid covers are part of that series' identity. Nonetheless, it belongs on this list. Number three, the missionary position. Okay, come on, Hitchens, you knew exactly what you were doing here. Don't give me that cheeky grin from Beyond the Grave, you prick. Number two, Empress Theresa. Okay, I'm not going to go into the history behind this book, nor am I going to go into the contents because quite frankly, other people have already covered that better than I could and I haven't actually read it, but just look, what is this? Okay, did a three-year-old draw this? That's the only time this kind of artwork would be acceptable. Like, there's no sense of scaling for the soldiers in the background or for Theresa and her boobs are asymmetrical and there's like two buttons right over where her nipples are for some reason. I can't even, do I even need to explain? Look at this shit. This is awful. Now, I know what you're probably thinking. What could possibly be worse than this pile of crayon drawings put together by a six-year-old with multiple learning disabilities? Well, just wait. And finally, number one, zombie raccoons and killer bunnies. What the fuck is this? Okay, what is that? You have that killer bunny in the front with like one giant tooth and then you have the zombie raccoon It has vampire fangs and its eyes look like they were pasted on? Like, are those googly eyes or something? Like, what is this? I don't feel like this is trying to be serious, but it's just too stupid. It's not even funny stupid. Like, it's trying to make bunnies and raccoons look evil. They're not evil, okay? Raccoons are adorable. They're like cats with hands and bunnies are like, well, you know, they're bunnies. They're just adorable on their own. And then, what is that font? Like, the zombie raccoons looks okay, but killer bunnies with like the dripping stuff coming off of it that looks like the old Goosebumps logo. Except for some reason, the words are tilted so I feel like the drippings should be going down and instead they're going off at an angle and that bothers me. Just, what is this? This is too stupid. I can't even just, what is this? If someone has actually read this book, tell me what it's like. Actually, don't, don't. I don't care. Just, this is the worst cover I've ever seen. I can't even laugh at it the way I was laughing at a bunch of these. This is awful. And that's it. That's the top 10 best and worst book covers I've ever seen. My other videos are in the works. Don't worry, they're coming along. If you're worried, if you're waiting, it's, I'm sorry, it's fine. Thanks for watching. Thanks to all my patrons. Thanks especially to my $10 up patrons, Oppo Savilainen, Brother Santotis, Christopher Hawkins, Christopher Quinton, Joseph Pendergraft, and Tobacco Crow. Along with all the others, you guys are, you guys are cool. And please subscribe if you haven't. Please press like if you haven't and bye.