Welcome to my first Top Ten Tuesday post! Top Ten Tuesday is a ongoing book tag hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The topics are set well in advance (which I love btw) so there’s plenty of time to add them to your blogging schedule.
Today’s post is a “Cover Freebie”, meaning we can choose a topic to discuss relating to book covers. I’ve decided to talk about my favourite book covers out of all the books that I own. Hope you enjoy!
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
I would describe this as a typical modern fantasy cover. There’s a single weapon on top of a plain or simple background, here its an axe over an illustrated map. I love these kinds of covers. I’m yet to pick up a book like this and be disappointed.
The Shadow Gate by L.L. MacRae
This is one of The Broken Binding’s limited special editions. One of the benefits of getting a special edition after the book was originally published is the artwork shown on the cover (and inside) are created to depict specific scenes from the book. The artist for this cover is Félix Ortiz.
The Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell
I put this on this list to show TV-tie in covers can look great! Only the first 4 books in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon series were given tie-in covers for the show. This is because the show was originally made by the BBC, though you may know it from Netflix, who picked it up for series 3 AFTER the BBC chose to cancel the show, despite it popularity. 4 covers were made as 2 books were adapted per season. I really like these covers as they’re actual on set photos, not professional studio photoshoots. Also the TV advertisement on these covers are ideal, its only a small bit on text in the bottom corner. Thankfully none of those stupid red Netflix stickers appeared on these books!
Moominpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson
I love all the Moomin books, they’re such sweet stories. This is one of my favourite covers from the series. Tove Jansson’s artwork brings me so much joy.
The Warden by Daniel M. Ford
I picked up this book during my visit to New York City 3 years ago because the cover looked so cool! Though I am yet to read it…
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
This edition of The Fellowship of the Ring comes from the set illustrated by Swedish artist Johan Egerkrans. He made these covers for the Swedish translation of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. So far his artwork has only made it onto the main LOTR series in English.
Mordew by Alex Pheby
I still haven’t read this gothic fantasy series by Alex Pheby but this remains one of my favourite covers on my shelves. It has an ominous air to it which is both intriguing and creepy.
The Shadow of the Gods by John Qwynne
Putting this on here feels like a bit of a cop out because everybody who loves fantasy adores the Bloodsworn trilogy covers. I really think these are stunning! I wish more books had full art wrap-around covers.
Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World by Helen Czerski
I wanted to put a non-fiction cover on here. I love that this cover shows the map of the world with the ocean as the focus and as a fully connected body of water.
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
This is the US collector’s editions of A Darker Shade of Magic and it features the original US cover, just in a different colourway. I’ve chosen to feature it here as this cover is very simple but does a great job of conveying the main aspect of the worldbuilding – to move from one London to another – and that the main character Kell, is able to travel between them.
I was lucky enough to get it signed the first time I met V.E. Schwab!
Ramblings of an over-caffeinated nerd 
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