Something that irks me: Bad book covers

[Tsyr]

Does this irk anyone else? I was looking around on ebay for hardcover copies of a few books of mine that are falling apart, and I came across this auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3500033696&category=273

Now, not only is that just BAD cover (That guy in armour is supposed to be an elf that is supposed to be amazingly attractive), but it totaly miss-portrays... well... damn near everything about the book.

Does it irk anyone else as much as it doesn me when a book cover is just so totaly... wrong? If that had been the cover it had when I got the book, I wouldn't have even picked it up long enough to read the back cover.

 

[garyh]

Try the Wheel of Time series. While you may or may not care for Darrel K. Sweet's art (I don't), the main character appears on over a half-dozen book covers, and not ONCE does he look like any of the other covers.

 

[Tsyr]

I dunno... I just looked at Shadow Rising, Lord of Chaos, and Crown of Swords (Only three I have near me) and rand looks pretty similar in all of those... different clothes, but...

 

[garyh]

I think the face looks different each time. And never do I get the impression that Rand is actually tall.

Just so we don't get too stuck on WoT, I'll give my favorite covers as well. The mid-60's copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings that feature Tolkien's artwork. It's pretty spiffy when author can do the cover for his own book, and the illos have a charm to them.

 

[Chauzu]

That is one ugly book cover. I think it repells readers.

 

[Apok]

I think that is the worst book cover I've ever seen. It's Dudley DoRight as an elf. Ugh.

 

[WayneLigon]

That's a pretty terrible cover, alright.

Some time ago, Holy Lisle's Diplomacy of Wolves came out. The cover features a young woman and a wolf. Now, this was perhaps around the time that several 'young woman bonds with animal' books were out, so perhaps that was the reason for the cover. I didn't buy it for a long time, because I'd already read enough books and stories like that. Which was a mistake, since the book has nothing to do with actual wolves. There is a wolf in it for a grand total of, like, two paragraphs. Judging a book by it's cover robbed me from enjoying a wonderful series for a long long time.

 

[Jamdin]

Fantasy & Science Fiction books has a history of really bad covers. It's almost like they want them to be cheesy & I think very few artists actually read any of the books. They just get a summery of the story & told to make a cover. Don't get me wrong there are good book cover artists but they are just few and far between.

 

[jonesy]

Don't get me wrong there are good book cover artists but they are just few and far between.

And most of them work for WotC now.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

I have long believed you could judge a book by its cover- not completely, but it does give you a solid idea of the commitment the publishers and/or authors have to the book.

I have also read so much fantasy that I tend to avoid anything with a dragon on the cover. Villians By Necessity , iirc, was the last one I got like that.

SD