If you can’t figure out why I like these covers, then there is no hope for you.

Mockingbird Vol. 1: I Can Explain (2016) Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, Ibrahim Moustafa, Joelle Jones (Marvel)

Mockingbird Vol. 2: My Feminist Agenda (2017) Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk, Sean Parsons, Rachelle Rosenberg (Marvel)

Rivers of London Volume 3: Black Mould (2017) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan (Titan)

Rat Queens Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery  (2013) Kurtis Wiebe and Roc Upchurch (Image)

Princeless: Vol. One: Save Yourself (2012) Jeremy Whitley and Mia Goodwin (Action Lab Entertainment)

The Books of 2017

There are a lot of reasons for me to like a book cover. I (despite what always being told) have always judged books by their covers when searching for new authors, mostly because I’d usually only have a limited time in the book store whomever I was with got bored, so I tended to gravitate towards covers I liked, and covers similar to books I already liked.

And now, with so many eBooks coming at me from sale emails and book blogs, I still simply bypass a cover that is unappealing, unless that book was specifically recommended.

Publisher Tally
Ace: 4/12
DAW: 2/12

Street Magicks (2016) edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books)

I like a lot of things about this cover, from the woman in an active pose (she is obviously doing something) to the colors and swirls making things look mysterious.

Stiletto (2016) Daniel O’Malley (Little, Brown and Company)

This book is similar to the previous book, letting you know the two are tied. But the simplicity is what I particularly like. It’s not busy and although it tells you very little about the book, it definitely made me take a second glance, as it stands out.

Who Killed Sherlock Holmes (2016) Paul Cornell (Pan)

All three covers in this series so far have foggy and mono-chromatic views of the London skyline, but there is much more that is hidden than shown, which is perfect for the stories.

A Long Day in Lychford (2017) Paul Cornell (Tor.com)

Like his Shadow Police series, these covers are also foggy and mono-chromatic, yet they have a different feel, because the backdrop is a forest road rather than a city skyline. And like the previous books in this series (note: these are novellas) the covers all have a similar look, with a single color pallet for each book. And like the other series, the colors and fog give you a sense of mysteriousness, but in this series feeling less threatening.

One negative: that is not a modern-looking woman which gives the book a slightly historical feel, which it does not have. But it’s still a beautiful cover.

Shadowhouse Fall (2017) Daniel José Older (Arthur A. Levine Books)

This cover is so beautiful.

The model is obviously a teen, obviously a minority, and gorgeous but NOT sexualized. She’s not in an active position, and looks like she thinks someone might be following her, yet she doesn’t appear week. She might perhaps be scared, but she is not going to just let things happen to her.

Battle Hill Bolero (2017) Daniel José Older (Ace)

Sasha is clearly going to kick someone’s ass, and she’s going to kick ass while wearing reasonable clothing–she can totally run in those clothes (as well as kick and slash and stab).

I adore all the covers in this series, although I admit that the Kia cover is my favorite.

The Furthest Station (2017) Ben Aaronovitch

The Hanging Tree (2017) Ben Aaronovitch (DAW)

These continue the pattern of the previous books in the series (if you ignore the first American cover) showing a hand drawn map of the various areas in which the stories take place, with line drawings of various items related to the story. I really like how the drawings are both super simple and extremely complex. I try not to get high res images of the covers, lest I fall down the hole of looking at all the details of all the maps.

You know immediately that this is a new Rivers of London book.

The Ghoul Vendetta (2017) Lisa Shearin (Ace)

This is a series that I started because of its cover–Mac is in an active pose and on an equal footing with her (male) partner. She is not simpering or subservient or clinging. She is going to take care of herself, and she and her partner will take care of each other.

Firebug (2014) Lish McBride (Henry Holt and Co)

This cover immediately drew my attention, because those are the hands of a girl who works with her hands.

And sets things on fire.

Cold Reign (2017) Faith Hunter (Ace)

I adore this series, and the covers for this series. Even when they were not able to get a Native American model, they did their best to play up the way the model looked like Jane–and when they did get a model, the covers became even better.

Additional, from the get-go, Jane is on control and acting. This cover is a perfect example: she’s dressed in her fighting leathers, she’s got her gorget on, and she is definitely going to stab someone.

Even when the outfits were obviously low budget, they did the best they could with what they had, making Jane look as dangerous as they could with what they had. Even in the earlier covers where they have Jane in a sleeveless leather outfit, they make a point of showing how strong her arms are. Which is something you don’t usually see on female covers.

But I have to admit I especially love this one because she is in full fighting leathers here, no skin to be easily broken by fangs and claws

Flame in the Dark (2017) Faith Hunter (Ace)

Same author, but a very different cover here. While Jane is a brawler, Nell is an ex-church woman who has joined PsyLED and generally follows the rules. The swirling around her does a lovely job of portraying all the chaos and change in her life, and even hits at some of the events in this book (while not depicting anything specific).

The one negative is that Nell doesn’t wear sleeveless dresses. But given the rest of the cover, I’ll give that a pass.

The Books of 2017

Let me remind you again that I know that authors have little-to-no say in their book covers. I don’t blame the authors in the slightest for these covers. But I do blame the publishers, and so will point out covers that are so terrible that I would have refused to buy the book if it wasn’t already an author I love.

Tally
Avon: 3/3

White Hot (2017) Ilona Andrews – Hidden Legacy book 3 (Avon)

I hate all the covers in this series. HATE them. They just look cheap and tawdry and just awful. Which is unfortunate, because this books are SO MUCH MORE than boinking.

This specific book has a passage that I utterly adore them for putting in, not just because of what it says, but because it makes sense.

The man bent his head slightly toward me. His voice was deep and quiet. “Do you need help?”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Do you need help?” he repeated quietly. “One word, and I’ll take you out of here and none of them can stop me. I’ll make sure you have access to a doctor, a safe place to stay, and a therapist to talk to. Someone who understands what it’s like and will help. ”

The pieces clicked in my head. The bruise. Of course. “Thank you, but I’m okay.”

“You don’t know me. It’s difficult to trust me because I’m a man and a stranger. The woman speaking with Augustine is my aunt. The woman across the floor in the white-and-purple gown is my sister. Either of them will vouch for me. Let me help you.”

“Thank you,” I told him. “On behalf of every woman here. But I’m a private investigator. I’m not a victim of domestic abuse. This is a work-related injury and the man who put his hands on me is dead.”

The man studied me for a long moment and slid a card into my hand. “If you decide that the injury isn’t work related, call me.”

That passages tells so WAY more about the book than the cover does.

Wildfire (2017) Ilona Andrews – Hidden Legacy book 3 (Avon)

I do appreciate that he is wearing a shirt in this cover, but I don’t feel a white undershirt really qualifies as being dressed. So still: ICK.

And once again, there is so much more to this story that the cover would suggest.

“I told you twenty-six years ago that if you married him, you would pay the price. I told you to let him go. You didn’t listen. You raised them to fight. They’re not going to cut and run now.”

“They will do what I say,” Mom ground out. “I’m their mother.”

Grandma Frida squinted at her. “Aha. And how did that work out for me?” Mom opened her mouth and clicked it shut.

You’d never guess the book had awesome passages like that if all you knew was the cover.

Into the Fire (2017) Jeaniene Frost – Night Prince book 4 (Avon)

This is not an overtly horrific book cover, except that the main character is repeatedly described as always being impeccably dressed.

(A)s usual, only his face, neck, and hands were bare. The rest of him was covered, the elegant cut of his clothes simultaneously flaunting and concealing that lean, muscled body.

–Once Burned (2012)

As usual, only his hands and face were bare. The rest of him was covered by boots, black pants, and a smoky gray shirt buttoned up to the neck. Unlike most well-built men, Vlad didn’t flash a lot of skin, but those custom-tailored clothes flaunted his taut body as effectively as running shorts and a sleeveless muscle shirt.

–Twice Tempted (2013)

He wore sand-colored pants and a white silk shirt, an open button at the neck showing only the cleft at the base of his throat. The rest of his body was concealed by the rich material, which stretched to highlight his muscles as he moved with his usual stalking grace. The effect was sexier than all the bare-chested men I’d glimpsed around the pool earlier. Vlad didn’t show off his seething masculinity by wearing fewer clothes. Instead, he wore more to taunt people with what he didn’t allow them to feast their eyes on.

–Bound by Flames (2015)

That is why I hate all the covers in this series so very much.

So those are the worst three covers this year. They weren’t bad books, they just had terrible covers that would have–back when I read paper books–walk past without a second glance.

The Books of 2017

Since the majority of the historical fiction I read was old, there weren’t many books that qualified for inclusion. But there were some.

To be clear, I don’t know much about historical costuming, and I know less about the accuracy of such, so it’s quite possible that the clothing is completely ridiculous for the time period, but I’m okay with that.

This is an obviously photoshopped cover, but despite that, I like it. It evokes the tone of the book, and the main character is neither passive nor submissive, while still looking reasonably like a creature of her time.

Could it be improved? Yes. But for what it is, I think it’s pretty good.

Published by Miz Kit Productions

Magic and Manners (2016) C.E. Murphy (9/10)

This cover is quite simple, but I think it does an excellent job evoking the feeling of the time and place of the book.

I love the silhouette of Riverside, and even more I love the sword hair sticks.

Published by Serial Box

Tremontaine: Season One Volume One (2016) by Patty Bryant, Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Ellen Kushner, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Paul Witcover (7.5/10)

All of these covers are good, but I particularly liked this one.

On most of the covers, the main character is facing away from the viewer, and generally looking like she is moving away from you, with some building or structure in the far background.

What I liked about this cover is the use of color–her purple dress against greens and greys of the background.

As I said, all these covers are good, but I especially like this one.

Published by Berkley
As Death Draws Near (2016) Anna Lee Huber  (8/10)

I have no idea of the historic accuracy of her clothing, but as I said, I’m not particularly worried about that part of the cover (I’ll leave that criticism to fashion historians). I just know that I like pretty much everything about this cover.

This is a boinking romance, yet she is fully clothed, and there is no guy looming over her.

I love how she is looking back over her shoulder and the look on her face–and the fact that although she’s not being particularly active, she’s definitely not passive or submissive.

And I find the color scheme especially appealing.

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca
A Talent for Trickery (2015) Alissa Johnson (7/10)

—

Four books here, and four different publishers, although one of the publishers is Berkeley, of which Ace and ROC are imprints.

If you click through any of the Amazon links and buy something, it’ll get me hapenny or so, which will eventually let me buy another book.

I complain a lot about terrible book covers, so I figured that I should make a point of noting good covers, and why I like them.

Sadly, that doesn’t seem to stop the terrible covers, but I keep hoping.

To make this post, the books had to have been published in 2015 or 2016. I decided to break these posts into two parts–modern covers and historical setting covers.

First up, the covers of books with a modern-day setting.

The Witches of Lychford

Paul Cornell gets some very good covers. I also love the covers for his Shadow Police series, but The Severed Streets was published in 2014 and so missed my cut off.

These covers are deceptively simple, but you can tell they are in the same series, and the fog evokes the mystery of the books themselves.

Published by Tor
Witches of Lychford (2015) Paul Cornell (10/10)
The Lost Child of Lychford (2016) Paul Cornell (9/10)

Jane Yellowrock

The Jane Yellowrock series is a good example of what I think are good covers. They had difficulty getting a good model (you can see that one model looks Native American while the other, not so much) but they’ve done their best to make the model on the cover look like Jane.

Although I think that Jane shows a little too much skin, and her hair is never down when she fights, but it’s not a horrible issue. At least they put her in her neck guard.

But most importantly, Jane is active and in control on these covers. She looks like a woman who is in the midst of kicking someone’s ass, which is, well, that’s Jane.

Published by ROC
Shadow Rites (2016) Faith Hunter (8/10)
Blood in Her Veins (2016) Faith Hunter (8/10)

Soulwood

The covers of Faith Hunter’s are quite different from the Jane books, but they are still evocative, and are a good representative of Nell.

I particularly like two things: first, the use of color, which seems to represent Nell’s magic use, but most importantly, even though Nell is a magic user who does not typically fight, she is still in an active pose. I actually think that’s a good way to depict Nell’s magic use, as described in the book, so extra bonus points for that. The only marks off are for (like the Jane covers) too much skin. But all else considered, these are really great covers.

Published by ROC
Blood of the Earth (2016) Faith Hunter (8/10)
Curse on the Land (2016) Faith Hunter (8/10)

Bone Street Rumba

This is, hands down, one of my favorite covers.

There are three main characters in this story: Carlos, Reza, and Kia. Not only did they make Kia, the teenage girl, the cover character, she looks like a teenager girl and is not sexualized.

I look at that and immediately know it’s Kia.

But even better, she’s 1) in an active pose 2) wearing a leather jacket and showing minimal skin and 3) has wild, natural hair.

Even though Kia is just standing there looking like a tough and surly teenager, it’s still obvious there is action in this book from everything happening behind her.

Kudos to ROC for putting out such amazing and marvelous covers.

Midnight Taxi Tango (2016) Daniel José Older (9/10)
Published by ROC

Mercy Thompson

Although I could quibble with some elements of this cover (why do they always have Mercy exposing her stomach and showing boobs? She’s a mechanic, she’s not going to dress like that. And she’s too skinny.) I generally let them slide because 1) Mercy looks like a capable human being 2) she is never in a passive or submissive pose.

Published by Ace
Fire Touched (2016) Patricia Briggs (8/10)

The SPI Files

Despite the cartoonish look of these covers, I do like them.

Mak is in the forefront with the male character behind her, she is in an active pose, and the figure looks like the character–small and unassuming.

Published by Ace
The Brimstone Deception (2016) Lisa Shearin (9/10)

I love Charles de Lint’s writing, and I love the covers to his older books. He’s been reissuing his older books himself, and although I realize that the art of the original covers belongs to either the publisher or the artist, I miss those covers.

But this cover actually does a very good job of evoking the Crow Girls.

Published by Triskell Press (the author)
Newford Stories: Crow Girls (2015) Charles de Lint (9/10)

What is interesting about this cover is that–like the descriptions in the book–you really have no idea what the main character looks like.

My reflection met my gaze with a cold, mistrustful stare. A very familiar face because it hadn’t changed in so very long. Not the one I would have chosen; but good enough. I was tall, slim, dark-haired and handsome enough if you weren’t too choosy. A long rangy figure who appeared to be in his mid twenties. Dressed well, but anonymously. The kind of stuff you can buy anywhere, so you can fit in anywhere. An easy smile, a casual look, and dark eyes that gave away absolutely nothing.

I also like the feel that something untoward is possibly going to happen. Plus, of course, snow, which I love.

Published by Severn House Digital
The Dark Side of The Road (2015) Simon R. Green (8/10)

YA

I have so much love for this cover and almost can’t stand it.

The model is Sierra Santiago. No really, here’s a quote from the book.

(T)he words crept in, made a home in Sierra’s mind no matter how much she fought them off. Her wild, nappy hair. She ran her hands through her fro. She loved it the way it was, free and undaunted. She imagined it as a force field, deflecting all Rosa’s stupid comments.

And although she is just standing, she is not an a submissive position–she looks strong and capable. And the colors (along with the brick behind her) evoke the painting Sierra does.

This is a marvelous cover, and I am so very happy that Daniel Jose Older gets such great covers.

Published by Arthur A. Levine Books
Shadowshaper (2015) Daniel José Older (9.5/10)

—

Here’s an interesting thing. There are 12 covers here, all fantasy in some way.

Tor has 2 covers
ROC has 5 covers
Ace has 2 covers

But ROC and Ace are both imprints of Berkely (which is now part of Penguin I believe). That means that just over half of the great covers I loved this year come from a single publishing house.

I didn’t have any covers I utterly despised this year, but Avon has released the cover for Ilona Andrews upcoming book and it is just as horrific as the cover for first book in that series. (1)

I don’t know what is wrong with Avon that they keep putting out such abysmally bad covers, but I wish they’d take a good look at what ROC and Ace are doing.

(1) Ilona Andrews has no say in their book covers. That horrificness is ALL on the Avon.

If you click through any of the Amazon links and buy something, it’ll get me hapenny or so, which will eventually let me buy another book.

I’m a huge fan of Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series, and although I don’t love how much skin the covers have Mercy showing, I otherwise very much like the covers, since Mercy is typically shown being a mechanic or doing some other activity.

Orbit just released the cover of the next Mercy Thompson book.

I. Hate. This. Cover.

If I were coming across this series for the first time, I would most likely not give this book a second glance.

This cover tells me nothing about the book, and the model doesn’t look at all like Mercy. Mercy doesn’t have fancy hair. Mercy is usually covered in either grease or blood.

I have no idea why they shifted from an artist’s rendition to this photograph thing, but I do not like it.

No sir, don’t like it at all.

I also despite BOTH the title font and the author font. They’re fussy and unappealing and also do not suit Mercy.

To whom it may concern at Orbit: Please go back to the original style of the covers. This is simply not appealing.

OK, now we’ve seen my least favorite cover of 2015, here are my favorite covers of the year.

First up, the final cover of Fables.

Fables Vol. 22: Farewell (2015)

Everyone is in this cover.
 
 
 
 
And another cover, quite different from the first.

Ms. Marvel Volume 2: Generation Why (2015) G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jacob Wyatt

I love the way she’s portrayed as on the surface paying no attention to the world around her because she’s on her phone, but she is paying attention–and doing something about it.

It just pleases me.

Just a note that although I loved several of the issue covers of Black Widow (they were gorgeous in fact) the actual covers of the graphic novels were… meh.
 
 
 
 
And to close, an actual book!

Half-Resurrection Blues (2015) Daniel José Older

In contrast to the worst cover of 2015, this cover depicts the actual main character, acting in a way the main character acts.

AND it depicts something that actually happened in the book, without giving anything away.

I do believe that ROC has some of the best covers, usually getting things right AND being attractive in the meantime.

ADDENDUM the First:

Dark Heir (2015) Faith Hunter

I really do love the Jane Yellowrock covers. Yes, the models don’t always look Native American, but they are obviously trying very hard to get the model to match Jane, and she is never in a submissive or ridiculous position, which I love. (This is ALSO a ROC cover.)

Deadly Spells (2015) Jaye Wells

This one isn’t anywhere near as good as the Jane Yellowrock covers, but it’s still pretty good. It shows Kate in an active position, she looks pretty much like Kate is described, and the background matches what you’d see in the Cauldron. So good job Orbit.

Only one this year! (There were lots of meh covers, but only one terrible cover.)

It is, completely unexpectedly, for a Jeaniene Frost book. I have no idea what she did, but she totally doesn’t deserve some of the abysmal covers she gets.

This isn’t the worst cover she’s ever gotten, but it’s still pretty terrible, since the man on the cover is totally and completely unrelated to the man (vampire) described in the book.

Vlad didn’t show off his seething masculinity by wearing fewer clothes. Instead, he wore more to taunt people with what he didn’t allow them to feast their eyes on.

It’s as if the person doing the cover purposefully and willfully refuses to depict that man described between the pages.

But I suppose I should expect nothing better from Avon–who seems to want to have The Worst Covers Ever.

But I have to admit, that only a single terrible cover this year isn’t doing too badly.

There were some very good and some very terrible covers this year.

First, The Bad

I’ve already ranted about how much I hated the cover for Burn for Me:

It’s awful. And there was an alternate that was gorgeous, which is just adding insult to injury.

For the other book, I hate to do this, because it’s not a horrible cover, but she’s had such gorgeous covers in the past, I found the cover of Why Kings Confess to be terribly disappointing.

It doesn’t look at all like Sebastian, and there is nothing in the cover that draws me in. But the fact that previous covers were so gorgeous, I have a much higher bar for this series than I do for many others.

Now, The Good

Luckily, there were far more covers I really liked this year.

I really loved the cover of Jaye Wells Dirty Magic:

ML Brennan’s Generation V series also has good covers:

But as the main character is male, that’s not particularly unusual. But they do a good job getting Fort right.

Faith Hunter, as usual, gets fabulous covers for her Jane Yellowrock books.

I adore how powerful Jane is.

As always, kudos to the latest Cal Leandros book

That all the covers do such an excellent job of portraying the essence of Cal (and Niko when he makes an appearance) continues to astound me. Every cover in the series is immediately recognizable as a Cal & Niko book, and Cal looks exactly how he is written: like an obnoxious asshole with an obsession with guns.

And I want to draw special attention to Fairest Vol. 3: The Return of the Maharaja

The book had FANTASTIC art.

With caveats, Patricia Briggs also gets good covers.

For some reason they always have Mercy showing more skin than seems at all realistic for her character. But she is shown as strong and acting (as opposed to being acted upon) so I’ll take what I can get.

I read the new Ilona Andrews book (first in a new series) Burn for Me.

I had a couple problems with the story, but overall, I found it quite enjoyable.

What I did not enjoy was the cover.

Here is the cover of the book.

I don’t like it. I just don’t. The female character is weak, and looks needy and defenseless, and I JUST CAN’T EVEN with men wearing their shirts like that.

But, you know, bad book covers happen to good people.

Then I discovered they had another cover, that was rejected.

THIS cover:

I. LOVE. THAT. COVER.

It is AWESOME. She is powerful and taking action. In fact, he’s the one standing there clutching her hand and looking handsome while she is taking action.

THAT IS AWESOME.

But instead, someone decided they had to go with the bare chested man, with the woman all but swooning in the man’s arms cover.

WHAT THE HELL?

And even though the female character didn’t actually hold balled lightening when fighting, she was smart and able to care for herself and others. She had no need to clutch needily at a man. A man who doesn’t even know how to wear a shirt for gods’ sake.

The woman on the cover that went to print is NOT the woman I read about in the book.

WHY did they need to show her as weak? WHY?!

Let me be clear: Avon? You SUCK at covers.

ADDENDUM the First:
Another salient point. I purchased the book solely because it was written by Ilona Andrews. If I was browsing, I would have immediately skipped right over that as a book of no interest to me. And in fact Despite the fact I had pre-ordered the book, I put off reading it because I found the cover so unappealing, I presumed it wasn’t the kind of book I typically enjoy.

But I did get around to reading it, because I love Ilona Andrews and the books they write. But if I was a reading, looking for a new author? No way in hell would I have picked that up.

Since I pointed out covers I hated, it’s only fair I point out covers I loved. And there are quite a few of them.

YA

The Raven Boys (2012) Maggie Stiefvater

Grave Mercy (2012) Robin LaFevers

Romance

Midsummer Moon (1987) Laura Kinsale

I absolutely adore the hedgehog.

Scarlet Sails (2013) TS Rhodes (short story)

In general, I don’t like headless models, but it works here, and more impressively, this is for a short story.

I complain a lot of female cover models, so here are some well done covers for stories with female protagonists.

Fantasy : Female Covers

Chimes at Midnight (2013) Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire almost always gets marvelous covers for the Toby Daye series.

Magic Rises (2013) Ilona Andrews

I’ve not cared much for many of the earlier covers in the Kate Daniels series, but this is marvelous and gorgeous.

Blood Trade (2013) Faith Hunter

Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock covers are always good, and this was no exception.

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne (2011) Kady Cross

This is a short story cover, and I really like the lack of a cover model here. And it’s quite clear this is a steampunk story.

Graveminder (2011) Melissa Marr

Again, no model on the front, but I really like this cover. Some combination of the font and the colors and the title drew me in and made me look at this book.

Fantasy : Male

Slashback (2013) Rob Thurman

I love the covers in this series almost as much as I love the stories. This is Cal.

Libriomancer (2012) Jim C. Hines

I love the tone of this cover, and how it describes the story. I just wish I’d love the story itself, more.

Thieftaker (2012) D.B. Jackson

This is another cover that perfectly nails the story.

Midnight Riot (2011) Ben Aaronovitch

I really like how the model is a mere outline, but you can still tell he’s a man of color.

Fated (2012) Benedict Jacka

No people at all on this cover. I just think it’s gorgeous.

Fade to Black  (2013) Francis Knight

This is another cover that is very different from what else I generally see out there, but represents the book very well, and is what drew me to consider the book in the first place.

Fantasy : Other

Here are the rest of the covers I loved, including what might have been my favorite cover of the year.

The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius (2013) John Joseph Adams

This is fun, goofy cover that matches the tone of many of the stories

Heaven’s Net is Wide (2007) Lian Hearn

All the covers in this series are beautiful. There are alternate covers out there that I don’t like at all, and can’t understand why anyone would have changed from this.

River of Stars (2013) Guy Gavriel Kay

I believe this is my favorite cover of the year.

Simply gorgeous.

It’s time for my wrap up of the books I read in 2013, and once again I’m going to start with covers.

And the first covers are ones I hated, to get that out of the way.

There are two types of terrible covers: ones that are just plain awful, and ones that are good, but I personally disliked.

We’ll start with the former. Neither of these covers are terrible, but…

Twice Tempted: A Night Prince Novel (2013) Jeaniene Frost

Jeaniene Frost has had some absolutely horrific covers, and this in no way stoops to that level. But that doesn’t mean I like it. Which is too bad, because despite the boinking, it’s a good book and one I enjoyed.

First, it’s the male equivalent of the butt-n-boobs shot, although this is at least anatomically possible.

But that’s not really what bothered me. What I dislike is that the model doesn’t match Vlad. (Yes, Vlad the Impaler, but it’s a good book. Trust me.)

Winged eyebrows framed eyes that were a blend of copper and emerald, and sleek material draped over a body hardened from decades of battle when he was human. As usual, only his hands and face were bare.
…
Unlike most well-built men, Vlad didn’t flash a lot of skin, but those custom-tailored clothes flaunted his taut body as effectively as running shorts and a sleeveless muscle shirt.

Vlad is described as always being impeccably dressed, so we get… man titty.

Next up, a cover that isn’t horrible, but I just did not like.

Fair Game (2012) Patricia Briggs

That just doesn’t look like a wolf to me. And it certainly doesn’t look like the bad-ass enforcer wolf. The position of the two characters is just … weird. And I keep thinking that’s a Pringle floating in front of them.

Now, two covers that are just terrible.

I liked and enjoyed these stories, but thank goodness I read them in eBook format, so I didn’t have to actually LOOK at either of these covers.

The problem with reusing images for book covers, is that if an image is particularly striking, it’s obvious the image has been reused.

For weeks I was staring at the guy on the cover of Lilith Saintcrow’s The Damnation Affair, KNOWING I’d seen that guy on the cover of another book.

How did I know that? Because the guy creeps me out.

He looks like a redneck stalker.

Not hot. Not sexy.

Creepy.

I finally ran back into the image as I was cleaning up my book blog and book site.

The cover for Moira Rogers’ book Wilder’s Mate: Bloodhounds.

Mind you, I find the guy disturbing in both settings, but I find the first image MORE disturbing, because he and the girl are not in the same setting AT ALL. At least in the second image, the guy is being made to look threatening and dangerous–though Im’ never a fan of Photoshopped red eyes.

But in the top image, he looks not like he’s going to save the girl, but that he is threatening her.

Additionally, the female model looks about twelve, which makes it all the more squicky, because it reinforces the stalker/pedophile vibe.

So now we both know.

Yesterday was YA, Romance, and Mystery covers. Today is fantasy covers.

Romance gets some horrible, lurid covers, but I think fantasy in general, is worse. Especially the kinds of books I love, which have strong, independent, female lead characters.

If they aren’t in completely ridiculous outfits for what they are supposed to be doing, they’re in poses that are humanly impossible or simply in some rendition of what the artist thinks is “sexy.” Which means there are a lot of horrible—and even downright offensive—covers with female characters.

So I’m delighted when I find a series with covers that not only don’t suck, but are actually awesome.

First up is Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series: Death’s Rival, Raven Cursed, and Have Stakes Will Travel (2012)

I generally love the covers in this series, and there ended up being three different Jane Yellowrock books this year (two novels and an anthology).

First, the cover model looks like Jane (who is Native American).

Second, Jane actually looks like she could kick your ass, and (aside from the ridiculously tight pants and excess of boob) is dressed for combat.

I think my biggest complaint about the covers is that in the series is that it explicitly states (multiple times) that Jane wears her hair up in a style that cannot be grabbed when she’s fighting. So I find the depiction with long, unbound hair ridiculous, but in the grand scheme of book covers, that’s a minor quibble.

My reviews of Death’s Rival, Raven Cursed, and Have Stakes Will Travel

Doubletake (2012) Rob Thurman

This is the only series/book with a male protagonist that made the list; I can’t help myself, I just adore these covers.

I love they managed to capture the essential pissy bastard nature of Cal.

My review of Doubletake

Gunmetal Magic (2012) Ilona Andrews

As much as I love Ilona Andrews’ books, I generally tend to dislike the covers to the Kate Daniels series. Although Kate is typically competent looking, the depiction of Curran (always as a lion) just bugs me. So I was delighted by the cover of this book.

Andrea looks like she’s ready to kick your ass. The model looks pretty much like Andrea is described. And we have Atlanta burning in the background.

I also like that although part of the focus of the story was her working things out with Raphael, he doesn’t make an appearance on the cover. Which is good, because this story is about Andrea, not him.

Only quibble I have is (again), why is her hair down? How can you fight—or do much of anything—with your hair in your face?

My review of Gunmetal Magic

Ashes of Honor (2012) Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire has also gotten some great covers for her Toby Daye series. They’re dark (possibly a little darker than the series itself, but that’s ok) and Toby isn’t shown doing anything ridiculous, nor is she in a submissive pose.

She is portrayed here is active and independent–who knows what she’s actually doing, but she is doing it–things are NOT being done to her.

Additionally, is it strange that I love the font they use? Because I do.

My review of Ashes of Honor

Permeable Borders (2012) Nina Kiriki Hoffman

I love this cover. I love the font, I love the water, I love the sky, I love everything.

No, it doesn’t tell you anything specific about the contents, but that’s good, because this is an anthology of her writing, and the stories don’t necessarily fit any one theme, besides being fantasy. So I just love that it’s so beautiful.

My review of Permeable Borders