The one about cover art

I was linked by a fellow blogger to this video of the design process for the cover of a Victorian/Steampunk novel. The cover is quite striking, and so is the creativity that goes into it!

It got me thinking about recent cover art. I am a sucker for a good cover. I have been known to buy books simply because the art was beautiful. Here's some covers that have caught my eye in the last year or so.

Of course, there are things I can't show with 2D pictures. You can't see that the cover of Dreaming of Dior is textured, and you can't see that Enchanted Hunters (besides wearing an incredibly detailed dust jacket) looks good naked.

View on fishpond: Fire, Friendship, Family, Love and Laughter (M.I.L.K), Dreaming of Dior, The Lady and the Chocolate, The Arrival, Enchanted Hunters: The Power of Stories in Childhood

Graceling- a review

Graceling is a curiosity. The first few chapters were rather disappointing in their clichés, the flatness of the characters, the lack of original plot. I usually refuse to finish a book I’m not enjoying, but for some reason I stuck with this one. I was richly rewarded.

Graceling is author Kristin Cashore’s first novel, and simultaneously suffers the marks of inexperience whilst being an exceptional first novel.

This is what I will say of the first few chapters: the story is set in a rather typical medieval fantasy world with seven kingdoms and (surprise surprise) a few kings grappling for more power. The protagonist is Katsa, a feisty, bad-tempered girl who happens to have a supernatural knack (a ‘Grace’) for killing. Aside from her killing Grace, Katsa could be lifted straight out of a Tamora Pierce novel; she’s exactly that kind of hot blooded, strong young woman.