Timewaster's Guide Archive

Showing what's different about this series on the cover may thwart what marketing is trying to do.  As with most of Brandon's books, KINGS has wide appeal and a broad audience.  It's a tough job as an illustrator/art director to pick just one thing to represent the whole book without alienating one audience or another.  A war scene on the cover is going to draw in one kind of reader and put off another.  While a huge part of KINGS deals with war, the individual character conflicts go way beyond that, for example.  With this in mind, Whelan has captured the feel of the book without illustrating one scene in particular.

Having said that, there will always be critics ready to slam the book's cover when it comes out.  But the majority of readers are going to hold the book in their hands and say, "This is one fine-looking novel."  And in that regard, the cover will have done its job.

Very interesting observations.   I personally hadn't noticed the land mass looking reminiscent of Antarctica until you brought it up.   I wonder if this was an unconscious decision on the part of the artist or if it was unconscious/conscious on the part of the author (who undoubtedly provided map reference for the cartographer to use as a guide).

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.  This is the book that kept me sane while I was sequestered in Germany over the summer.  Very fun and readable book by a first time author.  Rothfuss has also spoken very highly of the Mistborn books.

This picture is growing on me a lot...especially now that it's getting more refined.  The white dress makes a huge difference.  There's still resonance of romance, but as a piece of artwork, I'm enjoying seeing how the artist is refining it.

So, overall, my opinion is changing.  I'm beginning to think that this could be the most-striking cover for any of your books.  The simplicity paired with the intense colors and black to white contrast will draw people's eyes.  A cover like this may very well help the book sell more successfully.  Who is the artist?

I'm with Not Bookstore Guy Anymore on this one.  This artist has a track record of making really nice covers that fit the urban fantasy/dark fantasy market.  If anything, having a cover done by him will bring in more readers from these markets who might not have picked up the book otherwise.  I'm excited to see what he comes up with for Mistborn, since I loved the covers of the Greywalker series.

I think I may be in the minority on this one.  While I still like it, it's my least favorite of the three.

Isaac Stewart, read and commented, etc.

The art is the strong point of the YA covers for the  Garth Nix books.  The more I look at the "adult" covers for that same series, the more I want to pull them from the good category and put them in the mediocre.