'Runes Of The Earth' Cover Art

[Gofer]

I prefer the UK one.

The American one looks too much like sooooo many others

[Usivius]

I like them both for different reasons. I'm not one for visual interpretations of The Land. Nothing does it justice except what is locked away in my head. But the US/Canadian cover is beautiful work, but I do like the ambiguity of the UK cover.

[lurch]

...I felt,,let down, apon seeing the US cover the first time. I mean,,its just not very original, nor illicting,,perhaps almost generic. Sure I understand how it could pull new readers in,,but for the olde and True,,rather uninspiring. This is gonna hurt some folks,,but, umm,,it strikes me as something done by the guy who instructs home viewers how to paint landscapes on PBS.
...Haveing just seen the UK version( thanks to this thread),,i have to realize for what audience it is intended for. I have to wonder, ,,,I'm sorry ,,there is no end to the cheap shots surfacing at this juncture. I mean,,does the Sun ever come out in Brittania? Perhaps us Yanks are prejudged by a ..recent Movie of note,, The Blair Witch Project,,at best a B movie,,but made very popular by web savy promoters,,anyway,lots of scraggly tree stuff involved there too. Too bad. I understand the Darkness implied by the cover,,but found ,that ,it is considered a good or better Market Tool.?.for our English cousins??..well,,alls I can ask, is,,is that so?
...Ive never been too crazy about any of the Cover Art,,except the soft dreamy landscapes of the first hardbound LFB (I'm not entirely sure if they were on the original hardbound of LFB,,alls I know is that I saw a hardbound of LFB and found the landscape painting very dreamlike.) That seemed fitting............MEL

[Fist and Faith]

Here's why I like the UK best.
kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/album_view.php?id=297
Sorry, I don't know how to make the picture just show up here.

[Avatar]

On the whole, I think I prefer the UK edition's cover. The only runic alphabet that I'm familiar with is the elder futhark, but the cover, although reminiscent of runes, is not as far as I can tell, composed of letters from it.

Some of the inscriptions on the picture Fist linked to do look like futhark runes, but some also look like Tolkiens Elvish runes. At a guess, I'd say that it's not a "genuine" (as in ancient) runestone, but I could easily be mistaken, as I'm certainly no expert.

--Avatar

[Fist and Faith]

I can't imagine it's actual runes of any sort. But, to me, it clearly looks like trees that are rune-shaped. (We do have a beacon, and it is grail-shaped.)

[Avatar]

I'm sure that the intent was to convey exactly that. (Do you know anything about the stone in the pic?)

--A

[Edelaith]

I see an analogy in the American cover.
In the book, we read about Linden climbing out of the South Plains, going higher and higher, until finally she reaches the Horse Tarn and partakes of the Horserite. At the same time, she learns more and more about the Land and it's peoples and histories, and more and more about her own situation and her own capability to deal with it.
Armed with the knowledge gained by the long journey ending in the Horserite, Linden then sets out to recover the Staff of Law, and the journey into understanding and self understanding continues. It is still a journey in progress at the end of the book, as all of us know (and must wait 3 years to continue, unfortunately.)

Look at the picture, and you can see the main characters at the bottom right. Look at what the characters are doing. Linden and her companions are heading for the vista in the distance, or are paused in their journey and regarding that vista.
In the distance lies the Mithil Plunge, and the Mithil River flows down from there and runs past the characters. Water is often used as a metaphor for knowledge, enlightenment, and understanding. So, in effect, there is the Flow of Enlightenment. Or, perhaps, the Font of Knowledge. The Pool of Knowledge. And Linden and her companions are heading up this Flow, must pass the Font, and it is implied in the picture that they are heading for the Source, as it were, of the Water of Knowledge.
I'm not quite sure how to put it better. It's a thing better seen. It leaps right out at you when you look at the picture, especially if you've read the book. It is drastically, patently obvious. It is just There, for lack of a better term.

The symbolism continues.
Beyond the Waterfall, it is implied the Flow of Knowledge runs out from between the Portals. The Portals are, of course, those twin mountains behind the Mithil Plunge that frame it. The word Portals is used for all manner of metaphors, including knowledge, power, comprehension, victory, and other things ... and again, these metaphors are directly relevant to the story.
It is implied Linden and her companions must journey on, up and up the Flow of Knowledge, past the Portals (the Portals of Comprehension, perhaps, or the Portals of Knowledge? Perhaps a Key is required to open them? In the book, Linden has to turn a number of keys within herself before she physically makes it far into the Southron Range.)

Then, beyond the Portals, are distant mountains that tower skyward.
Ascending the Slope/Climbing the Mountain is a another metaphor for knowledge, power, and other things, most relevant to the story. References to these metaphors go back to Moses, and are common references today.
It is implied in the cover art that Linden and her company, must follow the Flow of Knowledge, past the Portals of Comprehension, and on up the Ascent into Enlightenment. I could use different words. The Flow of Enlightenment, the Portals of Knowledge, the Ascent into Comprehension.

And then, above the distant mountains, is a line of light across the sky. The Light of Revelation? Perhaps just that. Perhaps it awaits those who make the long journey up. Perhaps that is the Light of Revelation, extending further up into a cloud torn, chaotic sky, and Linden must journey all the way, pass all the obstacles, climbing the highest mountain, and come into that Light. That, at least, is what is implied in the cover art.

Just my opinion. That's what leaps out of the cover art at me, and it did so by the time I was only a quarter of the way through the book. As I read more and more of the book, the message of the cover art became more and more obvious. Again, though, it's just my particular take on it.

[Nerdanel]

There is no mention on this thread of the new UK paperback, which I think very classy and different.



This is not exactly what I have, and anyway the picture does not give a real impression of the actual cover.

- My version has the trees and everything in the circle as predominantly white. There may be two color versions in existence.

- There is a gleaming black border on the circle.

- The image looks black-and-white at the first glance but actually accentuated by a very slight gilding/browning of some sort. I think that during my first read the much of the gilding in the circle rubbed off while the back cover retained its gleaming glory. Perhaps this is deeply significant.

- The unique thing: Seen in real life, the cover has a strangely three-dimensional look the reason for which is not obvious until a closer inspection. The circle in the cover is grooved and in places almost holey so that there is only a translucent film before the all-black next page. The effect causes an impression of fragility and brooding behind-the-scenes darkness that is not conveyable in a 2-D image. The effect is subliminal at first too.

Holy metaphor, baby. And you thought it was just some trees. A dissertation of how the cover fits the themes of the book is left as an excercise for the reader.

[Billy G.]

The American one rawks....

[MsMary]

When I bought the US version, my first impression was the the cover art was strikingly beautiful - one of the loveliest examples of cover art I have seen.

I do like the new UK cover the Nerdanel posted, too, though. Very classy-looking.

Don't care for the stick figure/runish/whatever it's supposed to be cover at all, though I will allow that it might look better in person.

[Renegade of Funk]

I like the UK one (the old one - but the new one's cool too!). It's nice and simple and subtle and SHINY... *coughs* 'Scuse me. The American one... eh, I like stuff to me left to my imagination, y'know? It shows too much.

[jwaneeta]

It's a tie. I'm all for lush Land stuff (and trying to identify teensy little characters) but the British version is a trip. I'm willing to lay money it says more than just "Donaldson." Now that it's been pointed out, it looks like several spidery words layered over each other to form the trees. Which is a really cool way to embody the whole idea of a novel and fantasy world-building.

I think I'm going to look the artist up. I could learn a thing or two from this guy.

Once again, much forum love from me to youse. I can tell this site is going to seriously enhance my enjoyment of the Last Chrons.