Favourite Cover Art (NA covers)

[Jambo]

I know there are some people who are not fond of the NA cover art, but I for one started reading these books purely becasue I saw the cover of EotW. That was the first book in the series and IMO the best cover bar none. It gave an idea of what each of the major characters looked like (even if it was slightly off of the in book descriptions) and depicted a major scene from the book. On the other hand I didn't really like the cover for KoD because it's hard to tell who is in the scene (besides Perrin obv.)and what scene is being shown. Not only that but Perrin just looks completely different than I had him pictured in my mind.

 

So what I want to know is, which cover(s) are your favourite, and why, or if you hate one in particular (or all of them) why do you hate them, and how should they look.

[Hybrid]

KOD.  I think it's the one that is the closest to the books' descriptions.

[Vemynal]

while the knife of dreams is the most scene specific cover art I can't abide it because of all the awesome moments they passed up in book 11 to choose...Perrin talking to Galina...

 

imo the dragon reborn has the best rendition of all the characters

[stapes2007]

I went with CoT, Mat's my favorite character and it's his cover.  It was either that or PoD.

[Hybrid]

Yeah, COT and POD both have good covers.  Funny, because they're both pretty low on the general enjoyment list.

[stapes2007]

Yeah, COT and POD both have good covers.  Funny, because they're both pretty low on the general enjoyment list.

And then there's LoC and romance novel Rand, bad cover, good book.

[Hybrid]

Darrell K. Sweet, destroyer of worlds.  ;D

[stapes2007]

Does anyone else think that on the cover for tEotW that Rand (I think it's Rand, the first of the TR boys) looks like Nicholas Cage? 

[RAND AL THOR]

Since I got sick of Perrin afterwards, I found the KOD cover disappointing after I figured out what it was.

 

My vote's for TDR

[trakand_01]

I HATE the one ... Fires of Heaven, perhaps? Where Rand is stood (blue-coloured cover) with ripped sleeves doing his Hulk impression.

 

I just hate it - looks nothing like him! He's supposed to have long hair that 'curls around his ears', not short, spikey hair and built like a brick sh!thouse... If he's a brilliant swordsman, it's unlikely he'd be that stocky, either. Muscular and toned, yes, but not stocky - he's 6ft+ for god's sake!!

 

I like the one... can't remember which one it is, but it's where Rand, Mat and Aviendha are in what I take to be Rhuidean. Actually I think THIS is FoH so I dont know what the other one is... good picture of Mat, and Rand too.

[Hybrid]

Blue-cover is ACOS.

 

I think the cover of TFOH is supposed to be Rand, Mat, and Aviendha in Caemlyn, due to the presence of the ubiquitous Trollocs (or, as DKS draws them, men with horned helmets  :P).

[trakand_01]

Was it Caemlyn? well anyway, you knew what i meant.

 

I also despise... PoD...? Rand on horseback with the CoS on his head, with flag bearer and army at his back.

 

He looks more like a fat Gary Barlow than Rand alThor

[Spirit1025]

I used to think the covers were great, when I was younger. Now I don't like them at all. I've realized Sweet's cover art doesn't vary from series to series. The ones he did for L.E. Modesitt's Recluce books look just like the ones for Wheel of Time. I think the people he painted for the cover of Towers of the Sunset look like Rand and Aviendha from his Wheel of Time art. I don't even display Lord of Chaos with that cover lol...it's embarrassing! I picked The Path of Daggers as my favorite, just because it seems to be the most well-done of them. Rand's face looks sort of how I picture him, if not the rest of him. And I think he did a good job on the soldiers behind him. The horses are well-done, but their saddles and bridles are not feasible. The bridles are too heavy for the horses' heads--the bits in their mouths (the metal pieces the reins attach to) are way too long to be practical. The front and back of those saddles he paints would make it very, very difficult to get on and off the horse. Should a rider fall, they would probably get caught and dragged. I did like his Moiraine on the cover of The Eye of the World, though. Oh, and the Trollocs...lol...Jordan specifically mentions that the Trollocs wear little armor, and what they do wear is plain, and definitely no helmets, because Trollocs make their own armor (they aren't very skilled at it) and it's difficult to make helmets to fit them. Ok, my art critiquing rant is over. That made me feel like I was back in my Drawing 101 class...lol...pretty much all it taught me was how to shred other people's work to defend my own pride after they talked about how bad my own was...

[reyler]

I'd probably go with TDR just because it has the least that's actually wrong with it from an artistic perspective. If you're looking for accuracy to the books themselves (or physical practicality, re: the saddle nitpicks), then every last one of the covers fails. Sweet is an absolute disaster when it comes to the human form. You need only to look at the deformed monstrosity on the cover of LOC, or Lanfear's face on TGH to realise that. Plus, most of his covers are just boring. FOH's cover had a couple of people standing around. Aviendha wasn't even facing the reader. KOD's cover had some people standing around a table (and Gaul, or whoever, looked like he was hoping nobody noticed he'd just farted). TSR had them telling campfire stories. The only thing even slightly interesting about ACOS was the Beastmaster-esque (and thusly total failure on adaptation) rendition of Shadar Logoth.

 

And yeah, I've seen other Tor books on the shelves at Barnes and Noble and immediately recognised them simply because A) Sweet does the exact same work no matter what the book, and B) Tor always uses the same typeface for the titles.

 

I'm hoping that, maybe when the series is complete, they reissue the books with new covers done by somebody whose idea of "artist" is more than just the ability to put paint on a canvas. Maybe somebody who has actually taken the time to read them.

[son omerc]

I officially voted for TEotW as it is my favorite, but must admit it sucks as to actual book related details. Moiraine is on a white Bela, if that is Rand just after Lan and Moiraine then someone took shoe polish to his horse as it was described as Gray with black tail and mane, Rand never wears his sword on his back he has a belt and sheath. Lan shouldn't be in Plate, he has a scale tunic and so on and so forth.

 

My second favorite is TPoD as the detail is so much better as to Rand. But alas I had to pick one only and that in all honesty was book 1.

 

Need a poll as to the worst two. The bodice ripper and hulklike Rand will probably tie though. Does anybody have links to say some European covers that are different?

 

 

[trakand_01]

if that is Rand just after Lan and Moiraine then someone took shoe polish to his horse as it was described as Gray with black tail and mane,

 

Hilarious, I've got visions of someone viciously rubbing Kiwi-Brown/Black into his horse  :D

[GrandpaG]

I'd probably go with TDR just because it has the least that's actually wrong with it from an artistic perspective. If you're looking for accuracy to the books themselves (or physical practicality, re: the saddle nitpicks), then every last one of the covers fails. Sweet is an absolute disaster when it comes to the human form. You need only to look at the deformed monstrosity on the cover of LOC, or Lanfear's face on TGH to realise that. Plus, most of his covers are just boring. FOH's cover had a couple of people standing around. Aviendha wasn't even facing the reader. KOD's cover had some people standing around a table (and Gaul, or whoever, looked like he was hoping nobody noticed he'd just farted). TSR had them telling campfire stories. The only thing even slightly interesting about ACOS was the Beastmaster-esque (and thusly total failure on adaptation) rendition of Shadar Logoth.

 

And yeah, I've seen other Tor books on the shelves at Barnes and Noble and immediately recognised them simply because A) Sweet does the exact same work no matter what the book, and B) Tor always uses the same typeface for the titles.

 

I'm hoping that, maybe when the series is complete, they reissue the books with new covers done by somebody whose idea of "artist" is more than just the ability to put paint on a canvas. Maybe somebody who has actually taken the time to read them.

 

 

I can think of someone who could do the job nicely, given time and desire (rey).  :)

[reyler]

*polishes her nails on her shirt* Flattery will get you flattened.

 

Which isn't to say I haven't given thought to some covers with more thematic visuals as opposed to reproduction of specific scenes.

[triadruid]

Path of Daggers. It actually looks something like I imagine that scene...

 

The Dragon Reborn isn't bad either for accuracy, but it's weirdly laid out.

[Sila Darklover]

Hey, could be worse.  DK Sweet did the covers for the later Xanth books, too, and some of those show scenes which never happen in the books and/or characters that were described with explicitly, blatantly different appearances.  >:(

 

As for WoT covers...hmm.  TEoTW is the most dramatically picturesque.  CoT showed characters which looked most like I imagined them.  TGH, TFOH and ACoS get points because I likes to see Trollocs (although the ones on TGH were totally inaccurate, as already noted, and the other characters on that cover stunk as well).  So it's hard to say. 

 

My least favorite would probably be TPoD, because I'm personally bored by pictures of armies (even on horseback) standing around.  I prefer to see people pictured in various mundane actions, such as on the cover of TSR. 

[GrandpaG]

They're not trollocs, they're Seanchan.

 

I like something about all of them...I am very envious of artists...I have always tried hard, but lack ability...lots of creativity, but little talent.  :(

 

New Spring had an interesting vision of the city in the mountains (Chachin?).  The Dragon Reborn was OK but it must have been about Rand's dreams and not the actual event of capturing Callandor...I liked the Aiel in the shadows on the back cover.  Some of the horses in some of the covers look fake...others are very real, right down to the tone of their muscles and the fire in their eyes.  Art is art...I like most of it...I try not to criticize the art of people with real talent that I could never match in a thousand years.  :)

[Sila Darklover]

Wha?  Where does it say that the Seanchan had ram/goat/antelope horns on their helmets? 

 

I agree that, whatever their flaws, the covers displayed Sweet's enviable talent for showing people and things in great realistic detail.  I sure couldn't do that.  :P

[Hybrid]

I'm pretty sure they are supposed to be Trollocs.  Seanchan have funny looking helmets, but they look more like the chapter icon.  Also, the scenes depicted (assuming they are actual scenes and not figments of Sweet's imagination) have Trollocs, not Seanchan.

[GrandpaG]

Sorry.  :-[

 

I was only referring to The Great Hunt...Matt with the Horn of Valere...the Seanchan at Falme.  The picture shows human figures in armor with strange helmets (which should have been insect-like instead of with horns)...I'm guessing they were supposed to be Seanchan.  The other books indeed show trollocs (kinda).

 

edit:

Now I'm really confused.

I just took a closer look at TGH.

Looks like RAND, not Matt...(my bad)...and Loial...and Selene/Lanfear?

The three of them had the horn in the world beyond the portal stone.

But, they didn't encounter trollocs or seanchan there...just grolm.

Trollocs were at Carhien, but Rand, Loial and Selene didn't look at the horn there, did they?

With the figures being human and not mutants, I'm still guessing that they were meant to be seanchan even though they are not prominent until Falme.

 

Even though the accuracy is not there, the artwork is still VERY good, IMO.  And, as in music, sometimes the artist expresses what they feel in spite of accuracy or rules.  It might be possible that this artist was given license for self-expression?  Don't know.  I'm still envious.

:)

[Hybrid]

I'm pretty sure that the scene depicted on TGH is the scene where Rand steals the Horn from Fain, hence the presence of Loial and Selene (don't know why Hurin's not there though).