No, I didn’t make a mistake. Yes, both volumes of the upcoming Omnibus edition of Paul Kearney’s The Monarchies of God appear to have the exact same cover. It would have been nice to see some variation between the two, even just a palette swap, similar to the covers for The Last Wish and Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski), which leads me to believe we might still see a new cover for the second omnibus, Century of the Soldier. In any case, hopefully this means the re-release of the series is closer to publication.

From the new Tor Books edition of Michael Moorcock’s The Sword of the Dawn:

I’d not been aware of Vance Kovacs, the artist, before this, but he’s certainly on my radar now. Looking at his web portfolio, I’m absolutely blown away.

Seriously. As an art junkie, I feel ashamed not to have heard of Kovacs before. Can anyone point out any covers he’s done besides the Elric re-issues?

Okay, I gave the UK edition of Hoffman’s The Left Hand of God a hard time, but this is just ridiculous. Are they marketing it as a literary novel (with the inclusion the Name of the Wind–esque ‘A Novel’ tag) or a schlocky Fantasy novel (with the ham-fisted inclusion of a jackass in a hood)? I understand the idea that they want to hit a broad market with the release, but a complete mish-mash of styles is just as uncomfortable an unappealing as when Orbit tried it. I’m terrified that the hooded figure is looking out through a window cut from the front cover, his hood ending at his shoulders and revealing him in all his glory once you open the book.

I’m all for Fantasy novels trying to break new ground an broaden their appeal by straying away from the typical dude-in-a-hooded-cloak-fighting-an-orc-with-a-flaming-sword-and-a-castle-in-the-background covers, but if you’re going to do so, you’ve got to go one hundred percent, like Orbit’s recent re-issues of K.J. Parker’s The Engineer Trilogy.

James over at Dazed Ramblings has a similar rant about this charming cover.

Generally, I’m not a huge fan of Baen Books‘ cover treatments, but these recoverings of Elizabeth Moon’s The Deed of Paksenarrion appeal to me in that it-reminds-me-of-being-fifteen-and-liking-badass-fantasy kinda way. Though the style of the artwork stays consistent, it’s odd that Baen would switch artists mid-way through the trilogy. Why not just commission either Harman or Lockwood to do the art for all three?

Anyone know if the books are any good?

Paul Hoffman’s The Left Hand of God has received a fair bit of hype leading up to its release, but this little preview from The Mad Hatter that really caught my attention:

Abercrombie meets Rothfuss? Me likey. Shockingly standard cover with slightly-higher-than-average ambience? Me give up