Funny enough, while on first glance I see how people consider this cover "generic" (ooh, guy in armor with a sword, that's new), I think people are missing out on the details in that cover that will only become apparent once they've read the text. They might appreciate Whelan's work more, then.
It's not a lack of appreciation for Whelan's work. The artistry is fantastic, and in some instances utterly gorgeous.
The problem, going back to the details on the cover, is that
most of us do not know these details. From an outsiders standpoint, there is nothing special about the cover, and whatever details these are are lost upon us. It comes across as 'guy in armour with a sword' because that's what it looks like. If what makes it special is in the story itself, that's not good enough - there should be something on the cover to indicate that the story within is something special, something you haven't seen before.
You look at the cover and see stuff you recognize, and that excites you - you're able to connect the cover with what you have read/had read to you of the book. I'm unable to make that connection. These details are utterly lost upon me. On Writing Excuses they often talk about how writing is about making promises to the reader. The cover is the first promise made - one that, admittedly, the author has little to no control over in most cases - a promise of what kind of book you can expect if you read this. This cover, going with almost no foreknowledge of the story, tells me it's going to be generic epic fantasy. The author's name belies this a bit, as I know Brandon Sanderson writes anything but generic epic fantasy, but it doesn't wash away the notion.
I'd prefer it if the details from the story you people keep mentioning were made more obvious, so that while I still wouldn't know what they were about, I'd become intrigued enough to WANT to know what they're about. I know I'm repeating myself, but the statement still holds true: I don't know what the story inside is. The cover should give me some idea, but the idea it gives me is 'generic epic fantasy - little to nothing new here'.
In all honesty, based on this cover, I wouldn't be surprised to find elves in the book.