,

WORST Book Cover Art

Do you have a really abominably painfully ugly book cover to nominate? Something so bad that you feel a need to put a post-it note over it while reading what is inside to keep from cringeing? Please feel free to add to the list.

PLEASE NOTE: Nominations should be considered only on the Cover Art--the outside packaging. Not to what is inside. Remember, authors rarely get to influence their cover art choice and bad covers are usually not their fault. (There are different lists for criticizing the insides. This is not one of them.) Ugly cover art only, please!

Again, this Listopia list refers only to the outside packaging! Not to the book inside.

Let's try to be nice about self-published books. But publishers that can afford to hire professional artists are fair game.
1

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3.06 avg rating — 113 ratings
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3.85 avg rating — 11,676 ratings
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4.02 avg rating — 33,580 ratings
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4.43 avg rating — 87,940 ratings
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3.85 avg rating — 535 ratings
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3.92 avg rating — 30,777 ratings
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4.12 avg rating — 798 ratings
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4.02 avg rating — 14,889 ratings
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4.12 avg rating — 650 ratings
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3.88 avg rating — 52,110 ratings
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3.23 avg rating — 30 ratings
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3.76 avg rating — 463 ratings
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3.91 avg rating — 17,311 ratings
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19

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4.06 avg rating — 104,613 ratings
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3.91 avg rating — 1,966 ratings
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21

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3.86 avg rating — 171,755 ratings
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22

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3.85 avg rating — 1,004,246 ratings
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23

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3.36 avg rating — 134 ratings
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3.31 avg rating — 140,412 ratings
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25

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4.08 avg rating — 23,496 ratings
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4.22 avg rating — 1,124 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 5,339,507 ratings
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4.07 avg rating — 287,925 ratings
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30

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3.86 avg rating — 8,320 ratings
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31

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3.88 avg rating — 836 ratings
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32

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3.86 avg rating — 1,023,150 ratings
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33

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3.85 avg rating — 17,095 ratings
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34

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4.32 avg rating — 15,855 ratings
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3.76 avg rating — 1,913 ratings
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36

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3.40 avg rating — 225 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 33,207 ratings
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38

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3.62 avg rating — 683 ratings
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39

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3.74 avg rating — 53,330 ratings
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4.23 avg rating — 1,865,842 ratings
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41

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4.04 avg rating — 10,609 ratings
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42

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4.30 avg rating — 90,791 ratings
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43

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3.43 avg rating — 380 ratings
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44

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4.23 avg rating — 1,900,923 ratings
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45

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3.94 avg rating — 509 ratings
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46

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3.27 avg rating — 4,134 ratings
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47

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4.43 avg rating — 86,381 ratings
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48

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3.86 avg rating — 25,159 ratings
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49

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3.79 avg rating — 1,691 ratings
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50

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4.07 avg rating — 9,661 ratings
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51

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3.59 avg rating — 5,182 ratings
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52

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3.89 avg rating — 1,519,754 ratings
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52

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3.73 avg rating — 104,645 ratings
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54

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3.81 avg rating — 31,140 ratings
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55

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3.80 avg rating — 38,436 ratings
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56

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4.01 avg rating — 387 ratings
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57

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3.75 avg rating — 222 ratings
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58

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3.90 avg rating — 1,989 ratings
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59

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4.23 avg rating — 11,641 ratings
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60

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3.92 avg rating — 4,981 ratings
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61

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3.09 avg rating — 231 ratings
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62

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3.77 avg rating — 231 ratings
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63

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3.70 avg rating — 840 ratings
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64

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3.94 avg rating — 537 ratings
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65

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
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66

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3.69 avg rating — 2,212 ratings
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67

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3.77 avg rating — 452 ratings
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68

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4.15 avg rating — 211,243 ratings
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69

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3.70 avg rating — 164,730 ratings
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70

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3.99 avg rating — 347 ratings
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71

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4.06 avg rating — 129,275 ratings
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72

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4.44 avg rating — 2,575,170 ratings
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73

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4.12 avg rating — 6,612 ratings
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73

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4.02 avg rating — 985,739 ratings
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75

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3.55 avg rating — 86 ratings
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76

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4.13 avg rating — 3,784 ratings
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77

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4.23 avg rating — 133,574 ratings
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78

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3.92 avg rating — 930,349 ratings
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79

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3.73 avg rating — 15,089 ratings
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80

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3.68 avg rating — 3,239 ratings
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81

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3.46 avg rating — 2,575 ratings
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82

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3.80 avg rating — 910 ratings
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83

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4.19 avg rating — 17,177 ratings
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84

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3.85 avg rating — 165 ratings
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85

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3.18 avg rating — 266 ratings
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86

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3.36 avg rating — 1,169 ratings
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87

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4.34 avg rating — 9,036,836 ratings
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88

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4.29 avg rating — 17,123 ratings
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89

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3.49 avg rating — 2,206 ratings
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90

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4.52 avg rating — 1,003,730 ratings
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91

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3.74 avg rating — 2,748 ratings
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92

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3.87 avg rating — 4,979 ratings
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93

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3.06 avg rating — 33 ratings
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94

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3.89 avg rating — 1,881,412 ratings
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95

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3.29 avg rating — 28 ratings
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96

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4.12 avg rating — 5,931 ratings
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97

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4.31 avg rating — 8,286 ratings
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98

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3.69 avg rating — 396,058 ratings
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99

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4.03 avg rating — 487,960 ratings
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100

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4.12 avg rating — 18,516 ratings
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495 books · 225 voters · list created January 26th, 2011 by MB (What she read) (votes) .
14 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


MB (What she read) 8584 books
116 friends
Nina 995 books
55 friends
Brad 2654 books
710 friends
Alethea 4039 books
1102 friends
Kimberly 2004 books
281 friends
Rachel 415 books
57 friends
Zuzana 728 books
111 friends
Cindi 2420 books
62 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Alethea (new)

Alethea A Dude! I love The Dark Divine's cover! :) I just won't vote for it, hehe.


MB (What she read) No problem, our tastes are subjective. It'll be interesting to see what gets the most votes.

I'm going to add a lot more when I have a chance to think about it.

Frankly, I look at this as constructive criticism for publishers. Ha!


message 3: by Alethea (new)

Alethea A Don't get me started on indie publisher covers. It's like they're not even trying.

Notable exception: Flux Books, of which there is already one on this list (imho just meh but not the WORST I've seen!) I loooove the cover for Mahoney's Iron Witch.

I'll be back to vote (and abstain from voting) some more!


message 4: by Cindi (new)

Cindi I especially hate when they just put a bulging body with no head showing...it's too embarrassing to read them in public. It says, "Who cares about brains or personality...I only care about animal physicality!" What an insult to the author and the readers!!!!


MB (What she read) Oh, me too, Cindi! That is a style I dislike. For some reason the older style of romance covers that was popular a few years ago with a woman's legs and shoes didn't bother me as much. But chopping off the head/s is just annoying.

Subliminally, I feel like I'm being told to 'check my brain at the door' while reading.


Therealbadkitty All of the newer Nightshade covers are awful. The orginals are so beautiful why did they change it?!


message 7: by [deleted user] (new)

Cindi wrote: "I especially hate when they just put a bulging body with no head showing...it's too embarrassing to read them in public. It says, "Who cares about brains or personality...I only care about animal p..."

I agree!


message 8: by Lu (new)

Lu I vote for any cover with a shirtless dude and little else on the cover...then again I don't think I've ever read a book like that. Not my genre :D


MB (What she read) Lu wrote: "I vote for any cover with a shirtless dude and little else on the cover...then again I don't think I've ever read a book like that. Not my genre :D"

I hate those covers too. Unfortunately, they must sell well.


message 10: by Jan (last edited May 07, 2021 10:40PM) (new)

Jan All these covers are beautiful. I will not comment that somebody thinks ugly book cover art is possible. To each their own, but these are evocative covers that take me places. Anyone who thinks they're ugly is missing out on magical dreams.


message 11: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen Jan wrote: "All these covers are beautiful. I will not comment that somebody thinks ugly book cover art is possible. To each their own, but these are evocative covers that take me places. Anyone who thinks the..."
It's very nice of you to think everything is beautiful, but you are pretty unique with that opinion.
I'd rather let the book take me places.


message 12: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen Laura The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Donald Zochert
WHY THE HECK DID THEY USE THE TV SERIES THAT HAS PRACTICALLY NOTHING TO DO WITH LAURA INGALLS WILDER!!!??!?!?


message 13: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen Yes, one could fill up this list with self published and the "Chinese" classic covers where they have just whacked on some image that may or may not be some way associated with the story itself...


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