The cover for the first volume in the series, The Magicians, is, in my opinion, one of the most iconic and alluring covers from the past several years. It’s simple, the tree reflected in water is memorable, a wonderful colour palette and strong typography.
The cover for The Magician King, also featuring art from Didier Massard (which, like the first volume, is a photography of a miniature model, giving it a very distinct look), hits on some of those same notes (strong typography, nice colour palette), but the lack of a central point of focus hurts the cover’s initial impact and puts it a few notches below its predecessor. Still, it’s lovely, mystical and calming and will look nice alongside The Magicians as a set on a bookshelf.
The thing is, it would have a really good central focus in the form of the ecllipse but it has been crowded down by that massive blockbuster typeface. So that’s that; a cover that is about words, not images.
[…] Cover: The Magician King by Lev Grossman, posted by A Dribble of Ink […]