I completely panned Orbit’s first attempt at creating a cover for Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold. It was a disaster. A cover that tried to please everybody from every angle, and ended up as mish-mashed as Frankenstein’s Monster and missed every mark a good cover should hit. Furthering the pain was the beautiful cover for the UK edition.
The second time around, the new Art Director at Orbit Books, Lauren Panepinto, does a much better job of capturing the character of Joe’s novels, while also producing a Mass Market Paperback book that wouldn’t look amiss in the hands of any reader too shy to admit they read Fantasy. And really, you can never go wrong with simple, red, white and black. With a cover that wouldn’t look amiss in the Literature or Mystery section of a bookstore, it seems clear that Orbit is going after the non-Fantasy reader with this release. It’ll certainly look sharp sitting at the front of a bookstore, unidentified by genre. It still doesn’t hit the same level as the UK eidtion, but kudos to Orbit for getting far away from their original cover, and coming up with something that I’d want to pick up in the bookstore.
What’s that??? A new crime thriller series? For me the cover is totally misleading. It may be arouse the interest non-Fantasy readers. But as soon as they will detect the content…. I definitely don’t like this cover.
I definitely like this one more than the terrible mash-up of the original US cover. I still haven’t bought/read Best Served Cold and the cover is actually one of the reasons why. Need to order it from the UK when I get a chance. A shame that this is a MMPB cover, can’t stand that pesky format.
Also, this cover definitely scores a point against the art for the UK MMPB of The Blade Itself.
As for the cover and the potential for misleading, I just don’t see it. How many people buy a book without reading the synopsis on the back/front flap?
This cover is… well I just puked in my mouth. Its so dull makes it look like some mediocre novel which I never even bother to pick up. It does not convey any sense of mystery or fantasy. Frankly, I’m shocked that anyone who reads this great auther likes this crime of a cover, and a cover it is, covering up the genius inside.
hmm “puked in my mouth” – yummy.