Rejoice, good people of Holland, for The Blade Itself is available in Dutch translation, in hardcover, via the good people at Mynx. It goes under the title, De Macht van het Zwaard, or “The Power of the Sword” and it looks a little something like this:
I like it. It’s unashamedly a fantasy cover, but it’s a nice one. Satisfyingly un-cheesy. Doesn’t relate too closely to the precise content of the book, maybe – but the mood is really pretty nice, and the mood is way more important than the specifics, far as I’m concerned. It’s a good sense for the harsh and rugged North. Windy up there, huh? As far as the Logen goes (I’m assuming he is a Logen) – it’s always weird to see your characters represented in the flesh, as it were, because with literal cover art there are an infinite number of ways it can go wrong and a much narrower band of right. Still, I think this (in spite of the arcane stick with the mysterious glow) hits a lot more than it misses. So thumbs up…
11 comments so far
Lovely cover, very nice. Although until you said it, and apart from the sword, I’d assumed the figure was Malacus Quai on the cover. Just seemed to fit better in my head, as I see Logen as a big, beardy, rough and ugly SOB. Still, as you say, it’s eye-catching and it has an epic LOTR feel to it. Mind you, I’m not going to buy another copy in another language I can’t read, just for the cover. I like it, but not that much!
That is a lovely-looking cover, although the juxtaposition of the guy with the staff and “Logen Ninefingers” in the blurb made me chuckle. Logen with a staff. Can you imagine! He’d feel like such a ninny. 😉
Isn’t that Gandalf before he went grey?
😛
It looks good but doesn’t reflect anything about the book’s content (IMHO) but book covers rarely do anyway.
I still like it,
Best,
Bob
I hate my own language – Dutch is fugly, more so written down 🙁
But! Its a nice cover, and ofc brilliant that it’s getting translated. Grats Joe, looking good 🙂
The little blurb on the front is a bit weird though:
“This is the story of the imfamous Logen Ninefingers, the Hero of the Union, who holds the fate of the nation in his hands…”
Worse still if you read the longer blurb on the Mynx link you posted, Erik is proven right…Dutch is fugly. If I translate it to English it does sound cool, but in Dutch it just makes me cringe. So they probably translated the blurb from English instead of coming up with their own.
Also the little ‘about the author’, is seriously dated. It still says you’re working on the third novel.
Bt at least Mynx did not change any names, like some Dutch publishers did with Tolkien and Feist. And they do make goodlooking hardcovers that’s for sure.
@ erik: Awwww how can you say that? Dutch is so cool! It sounds sooo cute, and writting down it looks strikingly bizarre. I love it. I’ve been wanting to learn it for years. Any language that has words like “lieveling” can’t be fugly!
I do like that cover! But if that is Mr Ninefingers then it’s missing the skulking hoodie yoofs behind him, preparing to snatch his bag and thus get clobbered in return by a banister wielding barbarian.
That aside, Joe, hope you are OK after your recent street scrap – and not too much post-event stress. It can affect people in weird ways.
Tho I’m sure a healthy expression of visceral violence in your next few books will be the best therapy!
The uk covers are better, you little mynx
Steve,
Malacus Quai, with a sword?
Susanne,
Yeah, the staff is an odd choice. I guess nothing says fantasy like that mysterious glow about a crystal orb…
Bob,
Content Schmontent. Mood is more important for me. And sales a good deal more important than that…
Erik, Susanne,
Perhaps this is a case of the grass is always greener when it comes to language. I find Dutch undoubtedly angular, strange, and unusual. Kind of ugly, but also very cool. A bit like Donald Sutherland.
Wilfred,
Bizarrely, I think that’s the German blurb they’ve translated. Perhaps with every language it drifts a tad further from the content. But hey, as I was saying to Bob, content schmontent.
Ady,
I’m fine. Blood didn’t come out of my jacket, though…
Swainson,
I love the UK covers, but I can see the bonus of aiming squarely for the core market too…
Well the character on the cover isn’t Logen, since he has 10 fingers
The cover first turned me off, I though ‘oh no, not such a fantasy-story again’. But lukily I still bought it.