Fiona McIntosh's 'Royal Exile' is hovering around the top end of the 'to read pile' and I should get round to it in the next week or so. In the meantime, I thought I'd say how much I like the cover art :o)
Here's the blurb just in case you haven't read it already,
Led by Loethar, an ambitious and ruthless tyrant, a terrifying army of mercenaries and renegades from the great southern steppes threaten to overwhelm the Kingdom of Penraven, having already overthrown its two neighbouring realms, leaving a trail of devastation and broken lives in their wake. Penraven is Loethar's most desired prize, not only because of its wealth, safe harbour, extensive coastline, and abundant natural resources. This time the tyrant wants more than a crown. Driven by dreams of empire, fuelled by his increasing obsession with magic, Loethar's plan to overthrow King Brennus of Penraven, 9th of the Valisars, was cemented the hour upon when he learned that Brennus possessed the power of coercion. All of the Valisar heirs have been blessed down the ages with the sinister ability to bend people entirely to their will and Loethar is convinced that if he consumes these empowered people he will then be imbued with their skills and magics and be unstoppable.
My reading is leaning towards fantasy right now and 'Royal Exile' sounds like just what I'm after. Anyway, back to the cover...
It's nice and simple with no overload of pictures to distract me. It also makes it pretty clear that this is going to be a book about warfare and the way that the cloak kind of fades into mist tells me that there's magic in the air as well... Me and art generally don't get on so well but this time it feels like it's telling me all I need to know.
How about you? Are you thinking, "ooh, nice artwork", "urgh, that looks awful" or, "meh', I've seen better but I've seen worse as well..."
4 comments:
Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Nice cover art, but my experiences with McIntosh are not good. I attempted to read one of her trilogies last year and it is one of the very few times where I didn't finish a book/series. I found the story clicheed and the characterization very poor.
I like cover art and this one is nice..
BUT
for my decision whether I read a book or not it is totally unimportant!!
If you read books from different countries
you will notice that most of the time covers are very different.
Example:
The Blade Itself: Book One of the First Law (Gollancz) by Joe Abercrombie
German cover
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/images/3453532538/sr=8-2/qid=1223637056/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=299956&s=books&qid=1223637056&sr=8-2
UK cover
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/images/0575079797/sr=8-9/qid=1223637056/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=52044011&s=books-intl-de&qid=1223637056&sr=8-9
I bought the German edition and to be honest the cover didn't inspire me.
Of course it's easier to sell a book with a good cover.
And I also know that there are people who buy books just because they like the cover.
As always in the end it is your private decision.
I love that cover and suddenly feel a urge to get the book. I often buy books because of the cover and I often regret it as well... The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks seems to have been a good choice while The Summoner by Gail Z. Martin was a mistake.
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