Saw this book cover recently and immediately thought it was another entry on the crap fantasy book covers list.On first inspection you might think that this cover is not half as bad as previous ones I've featured, and to some extent that is true. But if you consider this cover in more depth, it becomes apparent just how crap it really is.
The worst thing about it is that it looks so dated, like its come straight out of the 80s. Intrepid adventurers riding boldly towards an ominous tower...it's just dull. Nothing about this cover excites me, or makes me want to read the book (thought admittedly it's not helped by the novel's boring title either).
Given the standard nature of the book's storyline (magical daggers, dragons, good vs evil, etc) perhaps such a bland cover is no surprise. After all, the book is clearly aimed at those readers that enjoy more 'traditional' fantasy, so it makes sense to have a cover showing the heroes and their destination.
The thing is, surely it's not difficult to - if you're going to have a cover like this - at least do it with a bit of style. Look at what Solaris did for Gail Z. Martin's books - they feature the most standard fantasy characters (a wizard and a king) and yet they're done extremely well. The above cover however is just half-arsed.
Perhaps the publisher ought to take a leaf out of Solaris's book...or better, look at their covers and see how it should be done.
Crap-o-meter rating: 7.5/10
2 comments:
And to think the author is something like 21 years old as well. Depressing.
Keep up the awful covers list, I'm loving them - the posts, not the covers. :)
Thanks Jebus. I'd be a bit worried for you if you did like all the covers... ;)
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