Our weekly look at the fabulous art work, evocative images and twisted spines that have adorned the books we reviewed last week.
The Fourth Bear (Jack Spratt Investigates #2) by Jasper Fforde
I’m interested - it works for me. It’s a little vague and doesn’t really show the fairy tale elements - but it is both cartoony and faintly ominous which is a surprisingly good representation of the book itself. I don’t think I love it, but I think if I were scrolling past covers I would stop on this one and read a little more out of sheer curiosity. The only thing is, I suspect it would be filed under the children’s section
Sundark (Elle Black Penny Dread #1) by Elizabeth Watasin
Ooooooooooooh yes, I like this. I like the darkness, I like the gothic spookiness. i like the nice scroll work and moulding and night sky behind her. I like the action pose of the protagonist - which is kind of awesome - and I like the Victorian theme. What I particularly have to praise is the strong Victorian theme - carried by the clothing - without being so very over the top about it. I love victoriana covers - but to have all that Victoriana without the steam engines is an interesting achievement.
This cover works, I like it.
Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon
Meh. I have no opinion. I don’t think there’s an opinion to have. We have some vague Scottish imagery with the thistle crest and crown and… that’s it. There’s some faded pattern on the back of the symbol is… something, I guess, but I can’t really see what it is - and staring at it for more than a minute is already way more time than I want to spend on it
I don’t dislike it, because there’s nothing there to dislike. But it tells me nothing about the book except “Scotland is involved… somehow in some way”.
The Astounding Antagonists by Rafael Chandler
I love it! And don’t. Yes, conflicted. I love it because it’s a perfect representation of the characters (though I pictured Motley’s costume as more motley-ish). It’s also excellently unwhite-washed. This is how I pictured the characters - and if you’ve read the book I think you’ll love the cover simply because this is exactly how the characters look
But, if you haven’t read the book then what you see a superhero cover - certainly more racially diverse than most, but still a superhero cover. I think it misses some of the nuance and enormity of the excellence that is inside. It is selling me an intriguing super hero book - but it’s so much more than that and this cover doesn’t convey the extent of that. Not that, in all honesty, I can think of how you would depict that
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Second Daughter (The Dharian Affairs Trilogy #2) by Susan Kaye Quinn
Oooooooh soooo pretty. So very very pretty and gloriously unwhitewashed. It has all the wonderful signs of steampunk while at the same time making its Indian setting excellently apparent. what more can I say? It’s beautiful and I love it… Curse books for having such good characters! I want to snark!
