Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.

Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts – who cannot lie.

Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts.

Very sharp. I like the way the alphabet is raining down on the city, an obvious nod to the importance of language and communication in the novel. You can also never go wrong with red, black and white.

My biggest nitpick is that the city is clearly a manipulated photograph, and while the background buildings look suitably SF, the foreground (along with the use of the Roman alphabet) is too familiar. Would Embassytown, ‘a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe,’ really look like Shanghai?

Still, a nice cover in my books.

So, I’m a little late to the party with this one, but better late than never, right?

One of my favourite aspects of the originally leaked cover was the red tapestry background. It gave the novel a more historical feel and felt confident. The new version feels more generically Fantasy (though that font still belongs on a John Grisham novel…) which will likely help it find a broader audience, but won’t look quite so dignified on my shelf. The new dagger is much better (and more believable), too. Oddly, the new cover seems like a crossover between the covers for the UK paperback and US Hardcover editions of Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains.

And the official synopsis:

Summer is the season of war in the Free Cities.

Marcus wants to get out before the fighting starts. His hero days are behind him and simple caravan duty is better than getting pressed into service by the local gentry. Even a small war can get you killed. But a captain needs men to lead — and his have been summarily arrested and recruited for their swords.

Cithrin has a job to do — move the wealth of a nation across a war zone. An orphan raised by the bank, she is their last hope of keeping the bank’s wealth out of the hands of the invaders. But she’s just a girl and knows little of caravans, war, and danger. She knows money and she knows secrets, but will that be enough to save her in the coming months?

Geder, the only son of a noble house is more interested in philosophy than swordplay. He is a poor excuse for a soldier and little more than a pawn in these games of war. But not even he knows what he will become of the fires of battle. Hero or villain? Small men have achieved greater things and Geder is no small man.

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. What should have been a small summer spat between gentlemen is spiraling out of control. Dark forces are at work, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon’s Path — the path of war.

I’ve made my excitement for this book pretty clear… and this synopsis changes nothing. As much as I adore the unique setting in The Long Price Quartet, Abraham playing in a familiar playground is a dream combination. I will admit to having a problem with the name ‘Cithrin’, but that’s a small niggle amongst my general enthusiasm.

Via Del Rey’s twitter:

It uses the same artwork as the UK cover. I like it, though I prefer the tight typeface on the UK version. It’s interesting to note that they’ve removed the fellow standing on the platform watching the blimp/ship/thing. Weird.

Big change here. I actually think the US cover executes the idea much better than the UK cover. The ship looks more impressive, the setting more interesting and the general perspective of the scene is a lot more realistic. It reminds me of Stephan Martiniere‘s work on The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham. That said, I prefer the grimy typeface used on the UK cover, which stands out from the crowd better than the typical san-serif font of the US cover. Plus, Black Lung Captain is a barely different, but way cooler title than The Black Lung Captain.

From Marmell’s website:

I like it. It’s campy and tells you exactly what to expect between the pages. Plus, I’m always a fan of a more organic, hand-painted look on the cover of a Fantasy novel and Lucas Graciano‘s art nails that style. I like that each of the beasts has its own well defined personality that comes through in the art. Another winner from Lou Anders and the team at Pyr Books