Wow; that looks terrific. And it has a Kindle edition! I'm on a nonfiction and short story kick at the moment, but have this queued to download. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I absolutely love some of the ideas he's using (then again, poetry+shapechangers is practically tailor made for me).
I agree with you about the cover type on the mass market, though. Yikes.
Looking forward to what you have to say about Locke Lamora.
I read this years ago and really enjoyed it. I recently found that he has published book 1 and 2 together, called the Long Price. Book 2 takes up where Bk 1 left off after a bit of a gap.
I didnt like the 2nd one so much, there were some fairly unpleasant characters and I felt like he forced Otah into the place he ended up being. Perhaps I need to read again.
I see the 3rd book An Autumn War is due out in hbk in July
Sounds great, thanks for this, I get so many good fantasy recs from you! I haven't heard of this author and I don't think I would have noticed his books in the bookshops.
Tor does the worst covers of any publisher. Often they ruin perfectly good cover art with hideous fonts etc., but often the cover art is hideous too. I don't understand what their marketing strategy is, except that customers don't have a choice. Do they save money on these designs? With all the gilt, I wouldn't think so. They're vulgar, gharish, loud, tacky, out-of-date looking (they always look like they're from the 70s and 80s), and they give the genre a bad image. And a bad smell. Ok maybe not the smell but still. There're a lot of books that I'm holding off on buying in Canada because I'd rather wait till I go home to get the Voyager edition instead - HarperCollins does amazing, beautiful covers.
See, I like Martiniere's art: I've seen his work with Pyr and Tor, and my only complaint about his art, usually, is that too often, he uses the same "pose" and perspective (the one used in this cover, to be exact--go look at the covers for BRIGHT OF THE SKY and INFOQUAKE (mass market) and you'll see what I mean).
Care to show me links to covers you really like? I'm curious to compare tastes. :) Or at least, the Tor covers to the Voyager versions you describe. :)
ugh, sorry about the long reply, got a bit carried away :)aurilliaJune 18 2008, 19:16:56 UTC
I really like the cover of Bright of the Sky (that's one I bought thanks to your review, but I haven't read it yet) but covers like that are few and far between for Tor. Daw and Roc do ok, Bantam better, usually.
Okay, here's a bit of a comparison, and it doesn't seem to matter if the two publishers being compared are essentially the same but in different countries. I haven't actually read all of these, but as cover examples...
Jennifer Fallon is a big one. I was dismayed to see what they'd done to her books. She's also one of my favourite authors, if you're looking for a rec :) Her Australian editions are lovely, but the North American ones are awful ugly things, especially the Second Sons Trilogy - no, I take that back, Tor's versions of her books are all atrocious.
Except for the new Darkglass books published by Eos, Sara Douglass copped tacky covers from Tor too. Her earlier Voyager ones weren't great, but they weren't that bad either; the newer editions are lovely (and in looking her up I discovered that she now lives in
( ... )
Re: ugh, sorry about the long reply, got a bit carried away :)calico_reactionJune 19 2008, 00:12:37 UTC
Wow, I see your point. I don't think I've ever paid attention because those covers would've never caught my eye anyway, so I never associated them with a specific company.
The prologue actually sounds -very- Asian-inspired. Beating as a method of achieving perfection was the common and accepted teaching method in historical East Asia.
Abraham has been on my list for a while, just recently moving up it after I read his amazing short story "The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics." Thanks for the review!
There's no doubt the prologue is very Asian-inspired. Unfortunately, it made me think of spoofs. :) But on the whole, the writing isn't up to par with the rest of the book, but the rest of the book is definitely worth it. :)
Where did you get to read that short story of his? :)
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I agree with you about the cover type on the mass market, though. Yikes.
Looking forward to what you have to say about Locke Lamora.
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Can't wait to hear what you think of the Abraham!
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I didnt like the 2nd one so much, there were some fairly unpleasant characters and I felt like he forced Otah into the place he ended up being. Perhaps I need to read again.
I see the 3rd book An Autumn War is due out in hbk in July
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Tor does the worst covers of any publisher. Often they ruin perfectly good cover art with hideous fonts etc., but often the cover art is hideous too. I don't understand what their marketing strategy is, except that customers don't have a choice. Do they save money on these designs? With all the gilt, I wouldn't think so. They're vulgar, gharish, loud, tacky, out-of-date looking (they always look like they're from the 70s and 80s), and they give the genre a bad image. And a bad smell. Ok maybe not the smell but still. There're a lot of books that I'm holding off on buying in Canada because I'd rather wait till I go home to get the Voyager edition instead - HarperCollins does amazing, beautiful covers.
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Care to show me links to covers you really like? I'm curious to compare tastes. :) Or at least, the Tor covers to the Voyager versions you describe. :)
Reply
Okay, here's a bit of a comparison, and it doesn't seem to matter if the two publishers being compared are essentially the same but in different countries. I haven't actually read all of these, but as cover examples...
Jennifer Fallon is a big one. I was dismayed to see what they'd done to her books. She's also one of my favourite authors, if you're looking for a rec :) Her Australian editions are lovely, but the North American ones are awful ugly things, especially the Second Sons Trilogy - no, I take that back, Tor's versions of her books are all atrocious.
Except for the new Darkglass books published by Eos, Sara Douglass copped tacky covers from Tor too. Her earlier Voyager ones weren't great, but they weren't that bad either; the newer editions are lovely (and in looking her up I discovered that she now lives in ( ... )
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Abraham has been on my list for a while, just recently moving up it after I read his amazing short story "The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics." Thanks for the review!
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Where did you get to read that short story of his? :)
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