Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a fair bit of time splooging with unbound excitement for Spellwright, the debut novel from Blake Charlton. The US Version has a great cover, the premise sounds fantastic and an early peak at the novel was promising. I was bloody eager to get my hands on the UK cover for Spellwright. Charlton released it earlier today… and my heart shattered.

Spellwright by Blake Charlton

Well, I guess all good things must come to an end, huh? Clearly inspired (or created by the same designer) as Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt series, this cover is one of those cases where North America wins the battle of the Cover Art. At least the art intern at Charlton’s UK Publisher is getting to live out his dream of being a model of Wizard’s Robes.

Discussion
  • James (Speculative Horizons) October 28, 2009 at 1:29 am

    I didn’t think much of the US artwork, but it is indeed better than this crap. I’m so sick of hooded figures on book covers – I know it sells books, but seriously…enough already. All these books look the same…

    I have to say that I’m not really anticipating this book. The central premise sounds interesting, but I read a few pages of the opening chapter and thought the writing was poor. Sure, it was unedited, but even so I wasn’t at all impressed.

  • aidan October 28, 2009 at 5:49 am

    I’m not sure what it is about this book that’s caught my attention so heavily. It just seems like the type of thing that will end up being totally up my alley, given Blake’s tastes and the early buzz.

    I should be getting my hands on a review copy soon enough, so keep any eye out for a review.

  • […] yesterday’s travesty, I thought it was time to redeem the Cover Art section of the website to its former glory. As with […]

  • Shawn October 28, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    Terrible cover.

    I disagree with James. I think the US artwork is absolutely gorgeous. But I think TOR did a terrible job with the cover DESIGN, especially the fonts they used. Fack.

    You see. These are the kinds of things that would utterly destroy me as a debut writer. So much depends on artwork, layout, cover design, etc… all of those things mean more than money put into publicity or marketing, in my opinion.

  • Jacob Topp-Mugglestone October 31, 2009 at 4:39 am

    I disagree, really. Not too bad, but pretty generic!

    Looking forward to your review, Aidan – sounds an interesting premise for a novel.

  • […] funny). Aidan’s criticisms are always well-informed and thoughtful (even when they’re directed at, say, one of my covers). If you’re curious about what’s happening in Speculative Fiction, it the place to be […]

  • […] apparently Blake Charlton’s UK publisher reads my blog. I tore his UK cover apart when it was released a few weeks ago, and just today, a new cover for the novel was released. […]