From The Stamp:
Last week, we saw a version of the cover with a juicy black bar slapped across it; not exactly the most effective measuring stick for the quality of the cover (we couldn’t see the characters, which were the biggest failing of the cover for The Gathering Storm), but it was exciting nonetheless. Now, we’ve finally got a look at the full cover (likely in progress, but much further along than the early leak of The Gathering Storm…).
Though it’s not saying much, I’d consider this one of the better covers the series has seen in a number of volumes, thanks mostly to the pretty colours. If the previous volumes have taught us anything, mediocre cover art won’t hurt the sales a lick.
you know a series has bad cover art when this is considered one of the better :)
I’m still surprised that it’s something of a spoilerish cover, though I suppose most WOT fans aren’t surprised one bit by it.
Much farther along than TGS early leak? Dude, it’s much farther along than TGS final cover.
Yeah… it’s a rather damning indictment. Though, after The Gathering Storm, it would be hard to release a cover that didn’t feel like an improvement.
It’s better for the simple reason that the faces of the characters do not appear to have been smudged by the finger of the Dark One.
Just because the books will sell no matter what their cover looks like, it doesn’t mean that they should be copped out and not paid attention to. If anything these last few covers should be mind blowing. Not complete garbage. And I’d have to say that The Gathering Storm had one of the worst covers I’ve seen for the series. This one’s a little bit better, but not magnificent. The covers need to do the series justice, especially since Jordan has passed on, but unfortunately they’re not.
Wasn’t Mat’s spear supposed to be black? And I imagined it less…curvey…
Also, I’ve never really liked any of the artwork for the novels. The artwork on the e-book versions, though, is AWESOME.
I am surprised that with the outstanding art that they are using for the re-release of the E-books that they are still putting out this subpar type of cover art for their new releases. Could it be that they are contractually bound to use the same guy for the covers, and that it is HIS work that is lacking?
@Darth Touma – I doubt they’re contractually obligated to use Sweet’s work, but they are making an effort to remain consistent with the cover art, so that those who’ve been collecting the series from the beginning will have a nice row of books on their shelves. I appreciate that Tor made that decision, rather than changing the covers with only three books to go. Sweet, the artist, is roughly 80 years old, and one blogger confirmed that his age is one of the major reasons for the dramatic decline in the quality of the series’ cover art.
As I mentioned earlier in the comments, I expect we will see the series re-released with the ebook art sometime after the final volume has been released. There’s no way Tor rounds up that many great artists, puts out that much money, just for ebook covers (many of which are read on devices with black and white eink screens).
well, confirmed second or third hand anyway.
At JordonCon a couple of weeks ago it was basically confirmed that there will be a re-release with new, fresh cover art. Whether it will be the ebook covers as we’ve seen them, something similar but just a bit different, or if Tor is using it as a selection process for one of the artist to do covers for all the books remains to be seen.
Wow. I’m in the UK so I haven’t had the privilege of seeing the TGS cover but it must have been awful!
littleicesterfox- It was horrid! Link below:
http://tinyurl.com/25hzgt9
@Jon, a good representation of Mat’s staff is on the cover of Book 5, Fires of Heaven. I also don’t get why in this cover he isn’t wearing his hat.
Any chance of a larger version of that pic being posted it’s so small it’s hard to make out detail
@Darth_Andrea – I doubt we’ll get a high resolution version until the cover is officially unveiled by Sanderson, but I’ll certainly be posting it as soon as I get my hands on it.
I’m with aidan. At least the covers will be consistent for those fans who have been with the series from the publishing of TEOTW. That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m not eagerly awaiting a release of the series with artwork like those on the ebooks. Personally, I’m more concerned with reading whats in between the covers – bring it on!
I don’t mean any disrespect to the artist but I would be ashamed to have this to my shelves.
Ridiculous covers are part of the reasons why I now read exclusively ebooks.
It always bother me when I read a terrific book outside that people think stupid/childish because of the cover.
I’d rather have a black cover with just a title.
No surprise why SF/fantasy is dismiss as a genre.
That isn’t Mat, it’s clearly Robin Hood. :)
@FRChris You can disrespect Darryl K. Sweet all you want. The rest of the WOT fan base does. His covers are terrible. The new Ebook covers are awesome though. And once the series is finished 2nd editions of all 15 novels (including the prequel New Spring) will be released with new covers. Sweet has said in interviews that he doesn’t consider Novel covers to be real Art so he doesn’t put his whole heart and talent into the work he does for them. Which honestly doesn’t make sense considering from what I understand he has won awards for his fantasy novel covers.
So, the three to enter the tower are Mat, Thom and….random brown haired guy?
I absolutely agree. (with both your posts)
Considering the AARP artist’s meticulous dedication to detail, “brown-haired guy” could be anyone. Bring on the ebook re-releases!
[…] The Gathering Storm before it, the first image available of the cover for Towers of Midnight was an early mockup, giving a good idea of the final cover, but lacking polish. Unlike The Gathering Storm, the final […]