And the cover is…just as ugly!
The cover for the final volume of Robert Jordan’s and Brandon Sanderson‘s the Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, has just appeared. Although the artist has changed, from Darrell K. Sweet who passed away before completing his cover to Michael Whelan, I find the cover as appalling as the previous thirteen covers in the series… With the same frozen features and caricaturesque characters, unrealistic depictions (look at the way Rand holds this sword!) and women at the back. I know, I know, I should not expect highly creative covers for fantasy books, but other recent books have managed much better, from Sanderson’s Mistborns (other series of Sanderson do not succeed so well, incl. Elantris) to Abercrombie’s trilogy (and his The Heroes), admittedly the coolest covers so far, to Morgan’s The Steel Remains, to Karen Miller’s series of The prodigal mage … Even the alternative e-book covers for the Wheel of Time are quite acceptable, so I really wonder why the publisher sticks at those ugly and outdated covers. Anyway, this is now a sort of tradition! The final volume is planned for early January 2013, which is in tune with what Brandon Sanderson told us last year when giving a public lecture in Paris. There is much expectation about this book, the culmination of a series I started reading more than 20 years ago!
May 14, 2012 at 11:07 am
As cover goes, the cover of the 1990 french Pocket editions of David Eddings’ Belgariad and Malloreon are remarkable. Too bad the 2000s editions are so ugly. Or am I just stuck in my birth century?
Comparison:
http://www.lagardedenuit.com/bibliotheque/index.php?title=La_Belgariade
May 14, 2012 at 11:10 am
(and http://www.lagardedenuit.com/bibliotheque/index.php?title=La_Mallor%C3%A9e for the malloreon)
May 14, 2012 at 11:14 am
Actually, 1990’s cover artist:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Wojtek+Siudmak&tbm=isch
compared to 2000’s cover artist:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Marc+Simonetti&tbm=isch
You can really see the shift in style, from a more esoteric to a more figurative.
May 14, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Uh-oh, I think we strongly disagree on the definition of ugly there!!!
May 14, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Well, in full format Simonetti’s big pieces look good, but with details singled out in cover format, not so much.
May 14, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Anyway, I must add David Eddings is not my favourite type of fantasy: too caricaturesque!! (And also because “Eddings’ wife, Leigh Eddings, was uncredited as co-author on several of his early books, but he later acknowledged that she contributed to them all“, quoting from Wikipedia!)
May 14, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Agreed for caricaturesque, but that was fine by me when I discovered it at 13 ;-)
May 13, 2012 at 7:12 am
These books have been disorienting for me. Some passages or whole chapters are very much Jordan’s style (so obvious how he drones on and on) and then suddenly other chapters are Sanderson’s. Of course, I still cannot wait to read the final book.
May 12, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Just as ugly… you’re right…
what is more problematic is the fact that the two books already written by Sanderson are not so good… there is something missing… characters, plots are the very same but no deepness in it… nevertheles, as a lot of people, i’ll be happy to see the end of this fantastic saga…
by the way, will we see the end of game of thrones before we die? not so sure as the two last books have made the plots moving no more than an inch…
the problem is that the tv serie is moving forward at a fast pace!!! (and i find this serie quite good… the young girl playing arya is excellent and the dwarf playing the imp is just perfect, as the character is perfect in the book… definitely my two favorite ones!) will they choose their own story when G. Martin will not be able to deliver the story when needed…???
May 12, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Yes, this is not as inspired as the best passages of Jordan’s, but the latest Jordan’s were not always that great either. I am very glad anyway to see the end of it, hoping for some sparkles at the end!!!
As for Game o’ Thrones, this TV series (I also like Tyrion and Arya very much, Jon Snow is not in the same league!!!) may be the best thing that happened to the book series as it will force Martin to move on (even though it stopped my son from reading the books)! No news of the next volume (6th) though… Com’on!!!