Yes, boys and girls, it's time to delve once more into the murky world of crap fantasy book covers. Today I thought I'd look at one which I actually saw in Waterstones earlier on today: Fallow Blade, by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, book four of the Crowthistle Chronicles. Now, I actually like the artwork for the other books in this series. I like the colour tones and the borders, with all the little critters around the edges.
But the artwork for Fallow Blade is a bit rubbish. Five words: horses with bright green manes. What is otherwise a decent picture is ruined by the ludicrous colour of their manes. Look at the tones of the other colours: earthy, moody, natural. Then look at the colour of the manes: luminous, almost neon-like. In short, they stick out like a sore thumb.
I think I know where this misguided inspiration came from:
Yes, My Little Pony. Shock. Horror. But's it's true. Look at the pony on the right. It's the spitting image of the horse on the front of Fallow Blade. It's like My Little Pony versus the evil goblinoids.Shame! Such blatant plagiarism! Shame on you, Mr Artist Sir!
Crap-o-meter rating - 6/10
6 comments:
It's like My Little Pony versus the evil goblinoids
This just made my day.
I'm glad I made your day, TD. :)
By the way, I'm really pleased you enjoyed Waylander. You're absolutely right, Gemmell's writing is concise and pretty blunt, but the emotional weight is all there. In my opinion, Legend is an even better book so I look forward to seeing what you think when you read that!
For your information, two of Gemmell's other books involve Waylander - Waylander II (obviously) and Hero in the Shadows. Waylander II is the weakest Gemmell novel I've read, but Hero in the Shadows is awesome, with a terrific ending.
Yeah, I'm a fan for sure now. Just browsing the bookstore doesn't give you any real luck with finding great fiction, particularly if it is "old," and I've gotten stuck reading nastiness like The Bastard King.
I read the interview that you posted a link for, too, and I can definitely tell how Gemmell's personality comes through in his writing. I loved the way he talked about himself as a storyteller in comparison to the other writer talking about "the room." I tend to think more like Gemmell in that kind of case rather than to describe how many chairs are there and what they look like. I thought perhaps that I just wasn't good at description but now I believe (or rather I hope) that I'm just more focused on the action than the color of the drapes.
Nice updated post. Had to send it to my wife for a laugh.
BTW, I plugged you and Gemmell multiple times in a Writing episode of a podcast that I was a guest on last night. The first portion should get posted sometime this week on http://www.pipesandpints.com.
Wow, what can I say. Thanks very much! I'll be sure to check out the podcast when it's up.
Hey, the first part of the podcast has been posted.
Here's the direct link.
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