TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT cover art, blurb and opening paragraph

[Graveyardhag]

The UK uses black with a coloured logo for the paperbacks. The hardbacks, since CoT, have been the same design with different coloured backgrounds. Do you have KoD in hardback and CoT in paperback?

 

I know you weren't asking me, but my CoT (the red cover one) is a trade paperback. TGS is also and it has all storm clouds on the cover. I have never even seen a hardcover WoT book in Aus.

[Mr Ares]

What of the mass market paperbacks down there? Of the two CoT covers posted by metalisticpain, the red is the hardback, but the other is the paperback here in the UK.

[Beer Rot]

I see Sweets still has a job at Tor :(

 

Damnit!

 

I'm going to guess Perrin's spectres have to do with the fact that his good ol buddy Dain Bornhald(sp) rides with Galad.

 

As for Imfaral, I do recall RJ being quoted as saying he was not going back to Seanchan in any more detail than he already has done.  Something along those lines, not "I'm NEVER going back to Seanchan, ever, in this series... EVER".

 

Well, Rand and Aviendha had been there for a chapter or so, so there's no reason not to have a prologue or chapter or two in ToM.

 

yay TG is starting finally!

[Owayn The Traveller]

I have to say I prefer the artwork ones over the british and Irish ones. Only one of mine has the artwork on it and thats winters heart. The ones I read from the library first all had the artwork and I liked them. Favourite was lord of chaos.

[Graveyardhag]

What of the mass market paperbacks down there? Of the two CoT covers posted by metalisticpain, the red is the hardback, but the other is the paperback here in the UK.

 

 

I have 2 (plus the guide) that are black with a coloured logo just like you described them. My New Spring and the 2 TGH books (I have the split young adult ones)are like you say the hardcovers are, NS is green, and the 2 TGH books are green and brown. All the other books are the Sweet ones.

[Moghedian]

My Knife of Dreams is black, I think they completely changed to granite with the Gathering Storm. I'm kind of gutted, I have all the rest in the black orbit style.

 

[Dida]

One great unknown' date=' is how many Trollocs & other Shadowspawn does the Shadow have to use in its war plans?[/quote']The Blight is an enormous and thriving ecosystem. Probably millions. That said, 100,000 Trollocs were killed by a handful of channelers at lord Algarin's manor in KoD. And if we look at the channeler groups - AS, AM, Windfinders, Kin, Wise Ones, sul'dam/damane, in none of them do we have reason to suspect a predominance of shadowsworn channelers, and in some evidence directly rules it out (such as the BA). Either the Shadow needs a unmentioned channeler army, or some way to neutralise that supremacy.

 

There already is public information, that there are HUGE numbers of Trollocs the Dark One has access to… but we lack a numeral sense of how many Trollocs that is specifically:

 

Source: Brandon Sanderson during ‘The Gathering Storm” Book Tour in Sandy, Utah on December 5th 2009 – quotation reported by Kavorca.  Source at Terez’s WoT Database Trivia & Quotations.

 

Trollocs. Question was how many Trollocs did the Dark One have access to. He stated definitively that there are lots and lots of Trollocs. The Dark One has access to either "orders of magnitudes more" or "an order of magnitude" more Trollocs that can be supported in the Blight (I can't remember whether there was an "s" there. Sorry). He wouldn't comment on how or where, but was very clear that there was going to be a big big Trolloc army.

 

  For all we know, the Dark One is going to pull millions and millions of Trollocs out of one or more of the Mirror Worlds to use in T’G. 

 

If the Seanchan have access to creatures from a Mirror World on their own continent, why would not the Shadow take advantage of the same strategic resource for its own ends?

 

There is another open question, I think, whether or not Portalstones have an advantage for Shadowspawn over Traveling gateways?  Shadowspawn cannot survive Traveling gateways, however can they survive the use of Portalstones like Grolm can?

 

Rand & Hurin both saw each Grolm in a Mirror World & later in Falme, (tGH book, Ch.16 and tGH book, Ch.45)

 

Brandon’s quote implies that Trollocs are living somewhere else in addition to the Blight's ecosystem.  One question is how would Dark One plan to move this “big big” army of Trollocs from place to place? 

 

For example, are Waygates operational between this world in the Westlands to another Mirror World?  ???

 

Did Shadow sworn Ogiers aid the Dark One in creating new Waygates?  ???

 

 

Even if they can (a multiple front war), there is still the question of what advantage would be gained from it - the Seanchan are, to all intents and purposes, out of the game. It makes more sense to defeat your enemies in detail than to take them all on at once.

 

  I understand your points, they are very logical.  However, that logic is partially based on the Shadow having limited resourced of Trollocs, limited goals for remaking the Pattern, and an odd sense of trust that the Shadow believes that no future threat will arise to its goals from the Seanchan mainland & continent. 

 

I do not get any sense, that the Shadow has any great scarcity of Trollocs. The Dark One wants to remake the Pattern by destroy it, and everything.  The Dark One and Moridin do not trust anyone, not even one of their own allies in arms.  The Shadow never trusted the Seanchan Empire, it just used them as pawns for their own ends.  The Last Battle, Tarmon Gai’don is total war, not a limited war for ends.

 

Metaphorically speaking, one could say that the side of the Light  has symbolically has gone into a mind-set of Total War too, after Perrin throws away his axe and replaces it with a blacksmith’s hammer (CoT, Ch.27).  In the Aiel Clans traditions, a Blacksmith is a maker of tools including items of war, yet a Blacksmith does not fight himself in war.  For a Blacksmith to fight in war, it symbolizes a start of total war, from an Aiel perspective not a limited war.

 

Source: Winter’s Heart, Chapter 6 “The Scent of Madness” Perrin pov with Sulin[/i]

 

Every man but the blacksmiths will pick up a spear at need. 

(Sulin, a Goshien Clan Maiden speaking to Perrin.)

 

“This blacksmith has picked up a spear,” Perrin murmured.

(Perrin spoke to Sulin)

 

 

 

The UK uses black with a coloured logo for the paperbacks. The hardbacks, since CoT, have been the same design with different coloured backgrounds. Do you have KoD in hardback and CoT in paperback?

 

I’m still surprised how plain looking the UK & AUS versions the covers of the books are, compared to what is on the USA version.  Although the USA version of the cover isn’t particular known for its accuracy, either, no matter how much more colorful & descriptive it is.

 

 

Going in order from left to right sides:

 

  I do not recall Noal or Thom using a staff before, both seem to prefer various types of knives for use in combat, however the short haired man in blue pants has a staff. That should be Thom, though.

 

  Isn't Mat missing his trademark scarf & black hat? Although Mat's pants and boots do look similar to the ones painted in CoT artwork by Sweet.

 

  I thought Valan Luca's character would have had painted nicely curved strong calves muscles, and wide, big shoulders too.  And wasn't Valan Luca supposed to be wearing a "Cape" as well? Granted the "Cover Not Final" is hiding Valan Luca's big shoulders & "Cape", yet his well-turned calves are TOO small in the shown cover artwork!   

 

  It is not curious that the publisher removed from the cover artwork any hints of what I believe should include: Thom's mustaches, Mat's scarf & coat, and Valan Luca's bright cape?  ;D

 

  Hiding Thom's mustaches helps keep vague, who the person's identity on the far right side is specifically.

 

 

  Linda noticed a few errors in the previewed ToM cover artwork as well:

 

 

Mat had a red headband as though he was a siswai’aman instead of his trademark hat' date=' there was only one white haired man, instead of two (;)) and the triangle was pointing in the wrong direction.[/quote']

 

  Mat Cauthon and Thom each look different from their previously 'The Crossroads of Twilight" USA book cover artwork:

 

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/bestselling-sci-fi-fantasy-2007/385-1.jpg[/img]

 

  Wonder if the cover artwork will change as much or more, than 'The Gathering Storm" did?

 

http://davebrendon.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/the-gathering-storm.jpg?w=450&h=683[/img]

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/tgs_us_book_cover01.jpg[/img]

 

[Reeve]

Wow, those are crappy covers. I am from the UK, and much prefer the plain ones, mainly because I don't think Rand looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, like in one of early books. Then there's that one where they are all looking at a map, thats another classic lol. Right up there with "hanging by the wagon" and "looking confused on a hill".

 

Anyone ever read Stephen Donaldsons site? He does a rolling interview and had a lot of interesting things to say about artwork and how publishers basically do whatever the hell they like regardless of the pictures relationship to the story. Its about selling the book, and thats all.

 

[Hadilmir]

I love how the steps in front of the retreat on the cover of tGS are untouched, as is the ground surrounding it. I much prefer the UK cover for aMoL and though I've never seen them, I'd probably prefer all the other UK covers. Sweet is a good artist, but does he even care to be accurate?

[MsDanya]

Since when was Valan Luca confirmed as the third to go with Mat to the tower? Is there something I've missed? I thought the one with the biggest chance of going was Noal..

[Dreamwalker]

Since when was Valan Luca confirmed as the third to go with Mat to the tower? Is there something I've missed? I thought the one with the biggest chance of going was Noal..

 

It has not been confirmed who the third to go will be, but Dida's theory is that it will be Valan Luca (hence the mention) - I'm sure if you find a thread about the rescue mission where Dida's posted you will be able to read all of that theory.

 

I, however, agree with you and think it's going to be Noal. I will say that I think it's great that the cover art does not show you the third's face, hence upholding the mystery a bit. But if it was Noal I would have thought he'd have white hair, so I'm not sure if this is a mistake on Sweet's part (it would not be the first time), or if that means that it actually isn't Noal.

 

The fact that this scene is what they're putting on the cover makes me unbelievably happy though, especially showing them drawing on it with the bronze knife (even though the symbol's upside down for now). I saw it and thought - whoa, we're actually going to get to read about Moiraine's rescue really soon. I must confess I'm actually looking forward to reading the Tower of Ghenjei stuff even more than Tarmon Gai'don or anything else in the whole series (anyone who's read my theory blog could probably tell that since I spent three consecutive posts dissecting this rescue - as opposed to just one when I discussed the body swap theory) YAY  ;D

[mikael]

Those covers looks like a child drew them, I never understood why they let a child do it, but maybe he´s related to someone?

 

This is what my first WoT book looked like when I was like 10.

 

[Shard]

I really hope that isn't Valan Luca, it just would be completely out of no where and out of character for him to even risk his life in the Tower.

[Werthead]

On the UK book covers, all of the books up to WINTER'S HEART were published in hardcover and paperback with the American cover art. There are some editions of the earlier books with different cover art, which I think were specially-for-library editions which were a bit rubbish. Otherwise they were identical, except there was a different font and typeface for the author's name and the book title.

 

WINTER'S HEART was the last book published in the UK with the Sweet artwork. When WINTER'S HEART came out in paperback in November 2001, it was switched to the current design: pure black with the Wheel and Snake logo (different colours on different volumes). Oddly, a sliver of the original American cover can be seen on the back. The cover blurbs were also all rewritten to be a bit more helpful and accurate, and the spines were redone to include the volume number in bold numbers at the top of the spine.

 

CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT was the first book to come out in hardcover under the new regime. It retained the spine arrangement of the previous hardcovers, maintaining some consistency with the Sweet-covered hardcovers. The hardcovers are also different colours: red for CROSSROADS, green for NEW SPRING, jade-green for KNIFE and a storm cloud-infused dark red-pink for STORM, and as we see now, some kind of black/grey combo for TOWERS. However, in paperback CROSSROADS and KNIFE are both identical to the new covers for the earlier books: pure black with the Wheel and Snake logo.

 

As you can see here, THE GATHERING STORM paperback will also be the standard black design with a different-coloured logo. The multiple colours are purely on the hardcover and tradeback releases, the mass-market paperbacks are consistent (aside from NEW SPRING, where the paperback is also green to differentiate it from the main series).

[Mr Ares]

Anyone ever read Stephen Donaldsons site? He does a rolling interview and had a lot of interesting things to say about artwork and how publishers basically do whatever the hell they like regardless of the pictures relationship to the story. Its about selling the book, and thats all.

I gather that the change of covers helped sales in the UK. Personally, I don't care for attempts to depict scenes from the book on the cover. It is very rare that it impresses.

 

I understand your points, they are very logical. However, that logic is partially based on the Shadow having limited resourced of Trollocs, limited goals for remaking the Pattern, and an odd sense of trust that the Shadow believes that no future threat will arise to its goals from the Seanchan mainland & continent.

Not so. As I said, defeat your enemies in detail - destroy Rand's armies, then the Seanchan can be dealt with at leisure. You cannot break open the prison with a victory in Seanchan, as far as we know. The key to victory lies in the Westlands, there is no reason to get involved in a pointless sideshow. The Seanchan can wait a little while.

 

I'm still surprised how plain looking the UK & AUS versions the covers of the books are, compared to what is on the USA version.

Plain is a distinct improvement over crap.

[Ishmayl]

I must confess I'm actually looking forward to reading the Tower of Ghenjei stuff even more than Tarmon Gai'don or anything else in the whole series

 

I agree completely.  Moraine is by far one of my favorite characters in the series, and is hands down my favorite female character.  Plus, I've been waiting for Rand's reaction to seeing Moraine alive again for years.  All his thoughts recently have been to the tune of "Everything was fine before Moraine died," or "Moraine was the first name on his list."  I literally get a bit giddy thinking about this coming up.  Unfortunately, though I'm sure she'll be rescued in the book, I doubt she'll meet up with Rand until the last book.  Unless it's at a massive cliffhanger at the end of TofM.

 

"Rand stepped into the room to see Caroline Damodred with her back turned to him.  Why was Caroline in his room.  She turned around, looking weak and tired.  The blue gem on her forehead sparkled in the lamplight of the room. Wait, Caroline never wore one of those..."

 

To Be Concluded in "A Memory of Light"

[Beer Rot]

"Rand stepped into the room to see Caroline Damodred with her back turned to him.  Why was Caroline in his room.  She turned around, looking weak and tired.  The blue gem on her forehead sparkled in the lamplight of the room. Wait, Caroline never wore one of those..."

 

I thought* Caroline did wear one, just a different colour than Moiraine's.

 

Also, if Rand doesn't out right faint or cry like a little girl, I'm throwing the book across the room.

 

As for the discussion on cover art, why hasn't Sweets been accosted at a convention yet?

 

*edit, spelling

[Tel Janin]

I thought* Caroline did wear one, just a different colour than Moiraine's.

 

I believe it was a white stone (moonstone?), if I'm not mistaken; of course I may be thinking of someone else...

 

Also, if Rand doesn't out right faint or cry like a little girl, I'm throwing the book across the room.

 

I would expect his knees to hit the floor a half-second after his jaw... :o

 

My two coppers...

[Dreamwalker]

I thought* Caroline did wear one, just a different colour than Moiraine's.

 

I believe it was a white stone (moonstone?), if I'm not mistaken; of course I may be thinking of someone else...

 

Caraline apparently has several kesiera, because we've seen her with three different ones: a green stone (ACoS), a ruby (KoD), and an opal (tGS). I suspect she has these three because her house colors are red, green, and white. The moonstone you're thinking of belongs to Daigian, which makes sense b/c she's White Ajah.

http://encyclopaedia-wot.org/items/kesiera.html

[DemandredFO]

While I don't think Luca will go into the tower he must have some larger purpose since he's been around for 7 books or so.

[Ishmayl]

..The DO maybe waiting on Lanfear to be relesed from the tower in order to continue his attacks on the westland and everywhere else...

 

Wait... wha-... huh?

 

Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're saying here, but I think that if you think Lanfear is still in the Tower of Genji, you may be behind a little bit on what's been going on since tPoD..

[Shard]

I think Valan Luca served the same purpose that Bale Domon did, transport our heroes from point A to point B.

[DemandredFO]

Yes but if that's all they did why are they still there?  I mean Bela been there from the beginning too but the diferrence is that despite some peoples fondest wishes Bela is just stupid @$#%^& horse.

[Owayn The Traveller]

One great unknown' date=' is how many Trollocs & other Shadowspawn does the Shadow have to use in its war plans?[/quote']The Blight is an enormous and thriving ecosystem. Probably millions. That said, 100,000 Trollocs were killed by a handful of channelers at lord Algarin's manor in KoD. And if we look at the channeler groups - AS, AM, Windfinders, Kin, Wise Ones, sul'dam/damane, in none of them do we have reason to suspect a predominance of shadowsworn channelers, and in some evidence directly rules it out (such as the BA). Either the Shadow needs a unmentioned channeler army, or some way to neutralise that supremacy.

 

There already is public information, that there are HUGE numbers of Trollocs the Dark One has access to… but we lack a numeral sense of how many Trollocs that is specifically:

 

Source: Brandon Sanderson during ‘The Gathering Storm” Book Tour in Sandy, Utah on December 5th 2009 – quotation reported by Kavorca.  Source at Terez’s WoT Database Trivia & Quotations.

 

Trollocs. Question was how many Trollocs did the Dark One have access to. He stated definitively that there are lots and lots of Trollocs. The Dark One has access to either "orders of magnitudes more" or "an order of magnitude" more Trollocs that can be supported in the Blight (I can't remember whether there was an "s" there. Sorry). He wouldn't comment on how or where, but was very clear that there was going to be a big big Trolloc army.

 

  For all we know, the Dark One is going to pull millions and millions of Trollocs out of one or more of the Mirror Worlds to use in T’G. 

 

If the Seanchan have access to creatures from a Mirror World on their own continent, why would not the Shadow take advantage of the same strategic resource for its own ends?

 

There is another open question, I think, whether or not Portalstones have an advantage for Shadowspawn over Traveling gateways?  Shadowspawn cannot survive Traveling gateways, however can they survive the use of Portalstones like Grolm can?

 

Rand & Hurin both saw each Grolm in a Mirror World & later in Falme, (tGH book, Ch.16 and tGH book, Ch.45)

 

Brandon’s quote implies that Trollocs are living somewhere else in addition to the Blight's ecosystem.  One question is how would Dark One plan to move this “big big” army of Trollocs from place to place? 

 

For example, are Waygates operational between this world in the Westlands to another Mirror World?   ???

 

Did Shadow sworn Ogiers aid the Dark One in creating new Waygates?  ???

 

 

Even if they can (a multiple front war), there is still the question of what advantage would be gained from it - the Seanchan are, to all intents and purposes, out of the game. It makes more sense to defeat your enemies in detail than to take them all on at once.

 

    I understand your points, they are very logical.  However, that logic is partially based on the Shadow having limited resourced of Trollocs, limited goals for remaking the Pattern, and an odd sense of trust that the Shadow believes that no future threat will arise to its goals from the Seanchan mainland & continent. 

 

I do not get any sense, that the Shadow has any great scarcity of Trollocs. The Dark One wants to remake the Pattern by destroy it, and everything.  The Dark One and Moridin do not trust anyone, not even one of their own allies in arms.  The Shadow never trusted the Seanchan Empire, it just used them as pawns for their own ends.  The Last Battle, Tarmon Gai’don is total war, not a limited war for ends.

 

Metaphorically speaking, one could say that the side of the Light  has symbolically has gone into a mind-set of Total War too, after Perrin throws away his axe and replaces it with a blacksmith’s hammer (CoT, Ch.27).   In the Aiel Clans traditions, a Blacksmith is a maker of tools including items of war, yet a Blacksmith does not fight himself in war.  For a Blacksmith to fight in war, it symbolizes a start of total war, from an Aiel perspective not a limited war.

 

Source: Winter’s Heart, Chapter 6 “The Scent of Madness” Perrin pov with Sulin[/i]

 

Every man but the blacksmiths will pick up a spear at need. 

(Sulin, a Goshien Clan Maiden speaking to Perrin.)

 

“This blacksmith has picked up a spear,” Perrin murmured.

(Perrin spoke to Sulin)

   

 

 

The UK uses black with a coloured logo for the paperbacks. The hardbacks, since CoT, have been the same design with different coloured backgrounds. Do you have KoD in hardback and CoT in paperback?

 

I’m still surprised how plain looking the UK & AUS versions the covers of the books are, compared to what is on the USA version.   Although the USA version of the cover isn’t particular known for its accuracy, either, no matter how much more colorful & descriptive it is.

 

 

Going in order from left to right sides:

 

  I do not recall Noal or Thom using a staff before, both seem to prefer various types of knives for use in combat, however the short haired man in blue pants has a staff. That should be Thom, though.

 

  Isn't Mat missing his trademark scarf & black hat? Although Mat's pants and boots do look similar to the ones painted in CoT artwork by Sweet.

 

  I thought Valan Luca's character would have had painted nicely curved strong calves muscles, and wide, big shoulders too.  And wasn't Valan Luca supposed to be wearing a "Cape" as well? Granted the "Cover Not Final" is hiding Valan Luca's big shoulders & "Cape", yet his well-turned calves are TOO small in the shown cover artwork!   

 

  It is not curious that the publisher removed from the cover artwork any hints of what I believe should include: Thom's mustaches, Mat's scarf & coat, and Valan Luca's bright cape?  ;D

 

  Hiding Thom's mustaches helps keep vague, who the person's identity on the far right side is specifically.

 

 

   Linda noticed a few errors in the previewed ToM cover artwork as well:

 

   

Mat had a red headband as though he was a siswai’aman instead of his trademark hat' date=' there was only one white haired man, instead of two (;)) and the triangle was pointing in the wrong direction.[/quote']

 

   Mat Cauthon and Thom each look different from their previously 'The Crossroads of Twilight" USA book cover artwork:

 

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/bestselling-sci-fi-fantasy-2007/385-1.jpg[/img]

 

  Wonder if the cover artwork will change as much or more, than 'The Gathering Storm" did?

 

http://davebrendon.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/the-gathering-storm.jpg?w=450&h=683[/img]

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/tgs_us_book_cover01.jpg[/img]

 

 

Is that what it looked like orignally. I cannot believe how crappy that is! And I thought the artwork on the book was bad

[MsDanya]

Mhmm, yeah, we had this exact same discussion last time around when we first saw Sweets draft. Its horrid, truly horrid, and I'll really rather have the "plain" black covers, which I think arent plain at all, but very tasteful.