Posts Categorized: Art

Cover Art

Cover Art | ‘Before they are Hanged’ by Joe Abercrombie (UK Paperback)

By Aidan Moher January 6th, 2010

Thanks to Joe Abercrombie, we’ve got a look at the new cover for Before they are Hanged, the second volume of his First Law Trilogy. Similar to the paperback release of The Blade Itself, this new cover is a definite departure from the original cover. That said, I’m a fan of artist Chris McGrath, and don’t mind the figure-centric cover – it fits the tone of the novel and, though he doesn’t look at all as I pictured him in my head (he’s described as being much uglier, for one, which is the same criticism I had for Logen Ninefingers on the paperback release of The Blade Itself, but it’s nearly impossible for every reader’s image of a character to line up), the image of Glokta with Dagoska burning in the background is certainly compelling. Can’t ever go wrong with blue and a hint of orange, either. It’s hard to stand up to the iconic original, but it’s a decent cover all-around.

Cover Art

Cover Art | ‘The City and The City’ by China Mieville

By Aidan Moher December 28th, 2009

I’ve posted a few covers for China Mieville’s The City and The City, and they’ve been top quality each time. This one, the UK paperback release, is clearly targeting a non-Fantasy audience, as it should, given the crime/thriller/fantasy crossover nature of the novel, but it’s a striking image nonetheless (especially in person; I just recieved a copy). It perfectly captures the tone of the novel. My only gripe is that I’d like to have seen the two structures bordering the figure look slightly different from one another, given the main conceit of the novel.

Cover Art

Cover Art | Kraken by China Mieville

By Aidan Moher December 21st, 2009
Kraken by China Miville
US Edition

 

Kraken by China Mieville, UK Edition
UK Edition

 

The Natural History Museum’s prize exhibit – a giant squid – suddenly disappears. This audacious theft leads Clem, the research scientist who has recently finished preserving the exhibit, into a dark urban underworld of warring cults and surreal magic. It seems that for some, the squid represents a god and should be worshiped as such. Clem gradually comes to realise that someone may be attempting to use the squid to trigger an apocalypse. And so it is now up to him and a renegade squid-worshiper named Dean to find a way of stopping the destruction of the world as they know it whilst themselves surviving the all out-gang warfare that they have unwittingly been drawn into…

A couple of takes on the cover art for the upcoming Kraken by China Mieville. I really like ’em both, but if I had to choose I’d probably go towards the subtler look of the US Edition. Which one do you like better?

Cover Art

Cover Art & Synopsis | Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky

By Aidan Moher December 18th, 2009
Blood of the Mantis by Adiran Tchaikovsky

Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, but he has only days before the magical box is lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering over winter for their great offensive, gathering their soldiers and perfecting their new weapons. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather what allies they can before the Wasp armies march again, conquering everything in their path. If they cannot throw back the Wasps this spring then the imperial black-and-gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year’s end. In Jerez begins a fierce struggle over the Shadow Box, as lake creatures, secret police and renegade magicians compete to take possession. If it falls into the hands of the Wasp Emperor, however, then no amount of fighting will suffice to save the world from his relentless ambition.

A few weeks ago, I posted the covers to two of Tchaikovsky’s novels, Empire in Black and Gold and Dragonfly Falling, which I was quite fond of, in a schlocky-ass-kickery-Fantasy kinda way. Pyr Book released the cover to Tchaikovsky’s third novel, Blood of the Mantis, also with art by Job Sullivan and I’m not quite so enamoured with it.

It’s full of energy and evocative imagery, which I’ve come to expect from Pyr, and I don’t even mind the dreaded ‘hooded-figure’, but the CGI artwork is a bit more obvious this time, compared to the previous two covers. Reminds me a bit of that scene in The Lord of the Rings movie when Frodo falls in the Dead Marshes and is attacked by those weird ghosts. Still, the colour scheme is great, and it’ll certainly stand out on the shelves next to its two companions.