Because one cover reveal in a week is never enough, here’s the forthcoming UK Mass Market Paperback cover for Half a King:
A less graphic, more filmic design choice … This one’s going to be hitting British stores in January, just ahead of the February release of the hardcover Half the World. You can find some further info over here…
11 comments so far
Wow. I loved the graphic design for the US and UK hardcovers, especially the way they complement each other. But the UK paperback version is stunning. If Amazon is to be believed, the US paperback will reuse the US hardcover art.
Joe, do you have a preference in covers?
Oooh! I really like that!
I was ok with the hardcover – it fit the theme, and looked striking, but there was something that didn’t quite sit right for me.
Having read the book this feels like it fits the book overall better, and it has a pretty stunning composition to it!
Good work cover-makers.
Why can’t regular people wear capes or cloaks any more? You could be tired, demoralized and half-dead, but put on a cape, add some wind and you look like a winner.
That’s one lovely cover! Who’s the cover artist/designer?
Hi Joe
I really prefer the photographic option. It creates a great feel.
I don’t want to be too dickish, but I don’t love the typography for either cover.
Your words are what matter anyway, and that my friend is faultless.
Design snob out!
This cover Looks great. I think the German Versions are always the ugliest.
And this “grabbed me and refused to let go” line is getting old a bit.
It’s sort of like a “film me” sticker, innit? “Make me into a three season cable network TV show, post haste!”
Is that not the exact tree/foreground/background as Brent Weeks’ ‘The Broken Eye’…
V,
Ooops.
Brilliant. Perhaps a cover a like this will finally get someone wondering what your work might look like on film, eh? Since I discovered the First Law and obsessively tore through it a few months ago, I’ve always believed it was destined for film. It would be well timed thematically, I believe. People would go in expecting A Game of Thrones, or perhaps more foolishly, The Fellowship of the Ring, and leave with an entirely new perspective on the genre. I do worry though, about how difficult it would be to portray characters that are as internal as Glokta, (or Gorst if they made The Heroes), on screen without resorting to shitty voiceover. You would need a very charismatic person, who was entirely capable of seeming pathetic at the drop of a hat. If it should ever make it to theaters, or television for that matter, do you have any preferences with regards to a director or actors you would enjoy performing your work?
Joe – Love you books. But that cover should be subtitled ‘Half a Photoshop Job’. Tree color/lighting doesn’t match the ground and if an object (in this case the tree) is in the foreground, anything behind it (in this case a couple of study looking gentlemen sporting the latest in dead sheep) should always be washed out in comparison.
I’ll mentally spank the graphic designer on that one (odd turn of phrase that, yeah, I’ll admit it) while I enjoy the book.