The volume is named The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and it looks like this:

I am not sure how I feel about this cover. While it is obvious it’s trying to reference the covers of the Twilight series (one central element, mostly red, on a black background), I am not particularly fond of the way the hourglass is drawn — I look at it and think “meh”. Other times it just looks cartoonish. A far cry from the first Twilight cover that captivated me at first sight.

The Amazon summary is very concise:

Fans of The Twilight Saga will be enthralled by this riveting story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and the darker side of the newborn vampire world she inhabits. In another irresistible combination of danger, mystery, and romance, Stephenie Meyer tells the devastating story of Bree and the newborn army as they prepare to close in on Bella Swan and the Cullens, following their encounter to its unforgettable conclusion.

It does make me like the cover a bit more because the “they prepare to close in” part perfectly matches the “time is running out” idea that the hourglass on the cover expresses. I still don’t like the said hourglass though.

What do you think? Do you like this cover? How do you feel about the idea of another book in the Twilight saga?

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is scheduled for release on June 5, 2005.
Preorder at Amazon.com

More details about the book on Ms. Meyer’s website.

First of all, delight your eyes on the UK version of the cover of Bullet, the latest instalment in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series (book 19 no less):

Gorgeous, right? I very much love the colors, and the stained glass vibe. Plus one cannot miss the stake through the heart (it should have been a bullet perhaps? Nevermind, I still love it).

The US cover is less colorful but also interesting in its simplicity:

…and also in the way that matches the covers of some of the other books in the series:

The Amazon summary of Bullet goes like this:

The triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude, necromancer Anita Blake, and werewolf Richard Zeeman has made Jean-Claude one of the most powerful vampires in the U.S. He’s consolidating power in himself and those loyal to him, doing in America what Belle Morte did in Europe when she was at her height of power. She almost owned Europe, and there was those who are determined that Jean-Claude won’t do the same in America. Jean-Claude’s motives may be kinder, but as any lawyer will tell you: motives matter, but you’re just as dead.

Assassins are coming to St. Louis to kill them all. Anita knows they’re coming, but even being forewarned doesn’t mean you can win.

What do you think? Which cover version is your favorite?

Bullet is set to be released in June 2010.
Preorder on Amazon.com
Preorder on Bookdepository.co.uk

Laurell K. Hamilton’s website
UK cover found via Book Chick City

What do you think about the book covers that feature characters who are obviously computer generated?
Case in point:

I would have loved this cover because of it’s exotic look and bright-yet-unclashing colors. Perhaps the very pink of it appeals to my girlish side. Except that I cannot look at it without noticing the character’s blank stare and it kinda ruins it for me.

For the curious, here’s the book summary from Amazon.com:

Ai Ling is past the age when most girls in the kingdom of Xia have married and borne children. The gods, it would seem, have a different destiny in store for her, one that begins to reveal itself when her father travels to the Emperor’s Palace and fails to return. Ai Ling is determined to find him and destroy his captor, a corrupt advisor who has unnaturally extended his life by feeding on the souls of others. On her journey, which is rich in action but a little slight on character development, Ai Ling meets Chen Yong, a young man of mixed race who seeks the truth of his birth and faces a variety of predators, both demonic and sexual.

I suppose the person on the cover is Ai Ling then (a hypothesis supported by her fighting stance). I have to admit it’s a really well done image — if it weren’t for the look.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you pay any attention to the characters depicted on covers? To the looks on their faces? What do you think of CG images?

This book will be released on August 24, 2010.
Preorder at Amazon.com
Preorder at Bookdepository.co.uk

Instead of a new release today I thought I’d try something new: a bunch of covers of an already released book. Without further ado, here are some of the covers of Graceling, by Kristin Cashore (speaking of which, did you know that the third book in The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy, called Bitterblue, is scheduled to be released sometime in 2011?)

First, the two English covers (US and UK):

Considering by looks alone, the first cover (the US one) would be my favorite by far. Because of the colors, of the aged-seeming cover that makes it look like it may be a fairy-tale book (a book of long ago, when dragons still lived and magic still existed :) ), not to mention the reflected eye implying a lethal foe. And yet overall, to my surprise, it is the second cover that I like most. While I’m usually not fond of having people brandishing weapons on covers, this particular one seems to me to have caught the very essence of Katsa, the Graceling in the story: her dark hair, her lithe stature, her solitude, her casualness with weapons, the fact that she’s usually seen in pants. Plus the wintery landscape is a reference to one of her adventures :)

The only detail that I am not fond of is the gradient on the title on the UK cover. I imagine however that whoever made the cover has also checked what it look like with no gradient and thought it looked better with it on. Oh well. It does add a bit of light to what might have been too dark a cover. Plus I actually like the way it appears to be an influence of the fog in the background image.

The concepts of each cover has been continued on the covers to Fire, Graceling‘s prequel. On the US cover we have the weapon, a detail of a face, and the aged look, although of course the colors have been changed to better match the title:

On the UK cover we have the girl with an unseen face, the weapon brandished, the dark colors and the abstract landscape. Oh, and the same colors for the title, together with the gradient matching the light in the image:

This being said I am intensely curious about how the cover to Bitterblue will be and whether it will match the previous concepts. I think I would like the US version to have a golden crown on a blue background (might sound clashing but the way I’m imagining it it looks quite good :) ). I have no idea about the UK cover (pretty normal given that we currently know nothing at all about Bitterblue herself. :)

Until then, two other covers of Graceling:

This is the German version, which I don’t much like (despite the curlicues), because it is too feminine for our Graceling Katsa (although the seemingly carelessly tied hair may disagree with me). Compare this one to the UK cover :)

And another:

The French version, which I kinda like (despite my not being fond of composites) because of the way it stays true to the story (although I cannot decide whether the boy has gold hoops in his ears or not :) ).

Well, that’s it for today :) What do you think? Which one is your favorite? If you read the book, which cover to you think matches the story best?

Graceling on Amazon.com | Graceling on Bookdepository.co.uk
Fire on Amazon.com | Fire on Bookdepository.co.uk

The cover that has caught my eye today is this:

Silver mask! Intense blue eyes! Curlicues! Pretty flowers! What more can a girl want?

Well, truth be told, while I do find the imagery of the cover quite stunning, another detail had me interested in the book: the novel is marketed as “a modern Phantom”! I do not dare to hope they are referring to Susan Kay’s Phantom, one of my absolute favorite books ever, especially as the intensity of that book is pretty hard to match, but I am thinking it is nevertheless something along the lines of the Phantom of the Opera story, a thing that is in itself quite cool (there have been many sequels and many retellings to that, Susan Kay’s included, however Ms. Keyes idea is quite novel — at least to me). This being said I do hope the Phantom’s story won’t end up the way the Tudors and Jane Austen did (with so many books based on them one grows tired of even hearing the names, and not all of them good), but for now I find Ms. Keyes book quite promising and fun.

Not to mention the cover is beautiful too :)

Admitedly, the book summary found on Ms. Keyes website doesn’t look that Phantom-ish to me:

Seventeen-year-old Esti Legard spent her childhood in the Shakespearean world of her famous father, and when he died, she knew she could never give up acting. After she and her mother move to a Caribbean island for her senior year, she realizes that nothing at her new school’s theater department is quite as it seems. Stunned by the death of a fellow student on her first day of class, Esti is soon surrounded by legends of the wicked jumbees that haunt the West Indies. She finds herself snubbed by the school’s star actress and relegated to a minor part in Romeo and Juliet.

Only her intriguing new friend, the elusive Alan, shares her passion for Shakespeare. Hiding in the dark recesses of the theater, he leads Esti deep into her own soul to explore the limits of her talent. When Esti’s childhood best friend moves to the island and back into her life, however, Alan disappears. Rocked by growing accusations of befriending a jumbee, Esti realizes she must find out who – or what – Alan really is. She is soon forced to defy everyone and everything she’s ever believed in, as she plunges into the mysteries of Shakespeare and the legends of the West Indians, discovering shocking truths about her own past that will forever shape her future.

I’ll still have my hopes up though :)

What do you think? Does the summary sound interesting? Does it sound Phantom-like? Do you even like the idea behind the Phantom of the Opera? Do you think it might be the next trend? Would you welcome it if that ends up being the case?

Jumbee is scheduled to be released on October 14, 2010.
Preorder on Amazon
Preorder on Bookdepository.co.uk

Cover first seen at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf :)

Another cover that has been released lately is that of Nightshade, by Andrea Cremer. This is the first book in a planned trilogy (the next books are to be called Wolfsbane and Bloodrose — now these are some covers I am looking forward to seeing), and is scheduled to be released on October 19, 2010.

Here’s what it looks like:

I for one am in love with the lavender shade (implying cold? death?) overall, and I also find the golden eye irresistible (it alone is the reason why I mentioned this cover). The bloody calla lillies are a nice touch too. The little drop of blood hanging from the T looks a bit fake though — I wonder if the cover wouldn’t have looked better without it, especially as the little color spot does not belong there in my opinion (I imagine that two planes, one lavender, one red and white, would have been stunning), but it is quite a good cover nevertheless.

Now for the summary (straight from the author’s site):

While other teenage girls daydream about boys, Calla Tor imagines ripping out her enemies’ throats. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Calla was born a warrior and on her eighteenth-birthday she’ll become the alpha female of the next generation of Guardian wolves. But Calla’s predestined path veers off course the moment she saves the life of a wayward hiker, a boy her own age. This human boy’s secret will turn the young pack’s world upside down and forever alter the outcome of the centuries-old Witches’ War that surrounds them all.

So, what do you think? Do you find the golden eye as fascinating as I do? Does the synopsis sound promising or are you tired with all the werewolves stories already?

Whoever liked Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will probably be happy to find out that the cover for the sequel, Beautiful Darkness, has been released today. According to the Beautiful Creatures website, the book will hit the shelves on October 26, 2010 and will look like this:

For a comparison, the cover of the first book looks like this:

I certainly love the continuity (and must admit I am pretty curious to see the color on the third book’s cover — I would vote for green but it probably needs to be something darker than that).

I also find quite interesting the way the new cover has clear and starry skies, unlike the first one, whose sky was covered by branches. I wonder what the new book is about (the only summary on the site is: Some secrets are life-altering… others are life-ENDING.).

What are your thoughts? Did you love Beautiful Creatures, and are looking forward to the sequel? Is there anything more interesting you think could have been done with the cover?

I was browsing around today, when I run into some covers of Vanora Bennett’s. I love historical fiction books, and their covers, usually women in velvet period dresses. I love velvet and period dresses, can you tell? :)

However, something I’m not that fond of is the fact that the women on covers are usually headless. Or, at most, only their chin is visible. While I do understand the reason why such covers exists, I do not care for them nevertheless.

Back to Vanora Bennet’s covers, here are two that have particularly interested me:

Faceless but not headless. How cool is that? The second one is my favorite because it implies movement, so it seems more alive than the first, but on the whole I like the ideas behind both.

(find out more about Vanora Bennett’s books on her website)

What do you think? Do you like these? Do you know of any similar ones?

Scheduled to appear in August 2010, Clockwork Angel is the first book in the Infernal Devices Trilogy (doesn’t it sound interesting?). The other two books will be named Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess.

I find the cover fascinating, mostly because it sends a vibe of 19th century England that I am quite curious to explore. Not to mention the little mechanical angel, arousing my curiosity because, while matching the book name, it is very much in contrast with the series’ title. Or so I think :)

And a detail:

Doesn’t it look pretty?

About the book (the summary from Amazon.com):

Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

What do you think? Does it sound promising or not? And, of course, what do you think of the cover? :)