Holy guacamole. Raymond Swanland‘s work on Cook’s The Black Company series has always astounded me, even if it often looks samey and retreads familiar ground too often. This cover for Towers of Midnight might be my favourite piece of art by him, and, perhaps, my favourite of all the Wheel of Time eBook covers. Just the look in Perrin’s eyes is enough to make me feel a little giddy… and I’ve not even read the book!
Irene Gallo, art director for Tor.com, has similar thoughts:
Raymond Swanland was on the top of my wish-list from the begining of this project. With so few books left, I couldn’t help but to look around carefully. Still, I never realy wavered from my first impression. I knew that Raymond could handle the dramatic lighting in play and be able to invoke tremendous power in the figure work. Even assuming the best, I was still blown away by the depth of emotion he captured in Perrin. Those eyes, lost in a trance, unminding of the natural world but absolutely focused on the chaos and activity around him…. You don’t have to know the story beforehand to get shivers looking at it.
Sure beats the tepid cover for the Hardcover release.
They had better put these covers on paperback versions of these books. You know like a real book that i can hold in my hands. -.-
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Aidan Moher. Aidan Moher said: New Blog Post — An astounding piece of Raymond Swanland art for the TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT eBook: http://bit.ly/fsxbE0 #WOT […]
Wow, that’s an awesome cover! My thoughts on Swanland’s covers mirror yours, including my reaction to this one.
What a fabulous piece of cover art! The red forge light catches his amber eyes. It’s a great visual moment in the book and Swanland captures it perfectly. I particularly love the wolf’s head emerging from the flames on the right hand side of the picture. A great touch.
Wow, now that is one badass Perrin! Actually even mores than he is in the books, but I love this cover, great intensity.