We continue our weekly review of the covers from the books we read last week - and this week is another surprisingly good week - no covers we hate, no twisted spines. A couple which are a bit plain and maybe a couple that just fail to fully convey what is within (which is, in most cases, a prime flaw)
Maybe the covers in the genre are getting better?
Simple, bold, striking, beautiful. What more can be said? It reminds me very strongly of Flesh and Blood by Daniel Dersh. In fact, that is telling, because I believe these striking, abstract, figureless covers with their dramatic monochromes and without a central image tend to be something I see far more from male authors than female authors (I think Ben Aaronovitch has produced similar) - makes me cast a curious eye at the publishers for this pattern.
Yeah, this cover doesn’t work for me. The flag, the soldier - I know why they’re there, they are both very important links to the themes of the novel - but if I were shopping and saw this cover I’d think “ridiculously hyper-patriotic American war novel”. Even the destroyed buildings in the distance (and they aren’t even very clearly destroyed) speak more of a soldier in a war zone fighting for Apple Pie or whatever the simplistic slogan is these days.
The Furies by Mark Alpert
I think that The Furies is actually a beautiful cover. There is as woman in the form of a shadow making her way through a forest. It implies that she is mysterious and makes the viewer wonder what her story is. The setting sun implies that something ominous is on its way as well. The cover suggests to the reader that they can even make up their own ideas about what is going on. I suppose the best way to describe this cover is evocative.
The Kraken King by Meljean Brook
I think it’s partly because it’s awfully simplistic, almost childish, but also because the book is Steampunk. Steampunk is usually very much about the aesthetic and the style - ok, not so much in Meljean Brook’s series, I admit and the dirigible is very evocative of the genre - but this is still a genre that has a lot of beauty to it - and a lot of beautiful covers. This seems… plain. The genre has these powerful expectations that seem missing here. It's not that I dislike the cover - I just miss the style (Renee disagrees)
What I like about the cover of The Seven Kinds of Hell is that we are treated to a female form which isn't contorted into some ridiculous pose, baring her midriff and offering the viewer T&A. This is a woman you could actually see walking down the street. In the distance there is werewolves and destruction implying that all is not as normal as it seems. All in all this is one of the better covers for a werewolf book that I've seen in a while.
