Kevin's Watch

Hi all, I'm not a regular visitor, but read the Chronicles and liked them very much not too long ago, etc. I did get a little irked by the cover art of the editions I got, so I wondered if anyone else had the more recent Del Ray printing of White Gold Weilder, where the cover illo is of a scenic vista, and Covenant and Linden are standing on an outcropping.

All the other cover art (when I bought the series I got a mix of new editions and some older editions like the Lord Foul's Bane one where the quest is trying to get past the Word--BTW, I looked for Covenant in the picture, decided he's not there and is hiding from the chasm somewhere, or that, since he's not in it, the scene is from his POV)... Anyway, the other cover art is of actual scenes in the books, but

Spoiler

unlike every other illustration, the scene on White Gold Weilder--Linden and Covenant (in their blue robes) standing with the Staff of Law surveying the Land--never happened. The clothes are wrong and at that point Covenant is dead. It's like the illustrator is imposing a happy togetherness ending.

It just mildly bugged me, since the One Tree made such a deal of which clothes Covenant decided to wear--symbolism aside, it was like a fashion show!--that they got that wrong and, more, that it's not an actual scene in the book. I looked up the older White Gold Weilder cover art on kevinswatch.com, and it looks like they have the blue robes in the illustration there, too. Maybe I am mis-remembering, but I'm just curious if anyone else noticed/reacted. Did any one else have an opinion? Not that it ruined the books or anything, but it was odd that all the other illos were from the book and this wasn't.

Peace.

the cover art on almost all of the books bugged me .. its like the artists had absolutely no idea what TC or any other character really looked like .. dressed like .. etc..

the one that you mentioned .. though clearly inaccurate is perhaps my most preferred of all the ones I have ..'

I hate that one with TC and Foamy .. especially!

rag rag rag

OMG! One edition of LFB showed Covenant kinda cowering from something in this godawful 70s suitish thing....

The WGW cover is dreadful! Isn't it the picture at the top of this discussion board? I brought this up in the past but it is ridiculous that TC and Linden overlook the Land fearlessly! Barf!~

I'd seen the cover of them looking out from the rocks, and I know it isn't at all accurate but I'd always thought it was loosely based on them re-entering the land from the north near the start of the book.
As for other cover art, I don't really know - all the books I got in the series were in the same style - landscape of The Land in the background and a circle in the middle with a picture relating to the specific title.
I never understood the WGW cover on my set - the ring with a picture inside it, but i have no idea what the picture is meant to be...

I can just imagine the accurate First Chronicle covers:

LFB: Covenant cowering from Drool and Ford Foul
Illearth: Covenant cowering from Elena
PTP: Covenant cowering from Triock

The One Tree? That's not Covenant on the cover! It's the two main Elohim (forgot their names).

I'm looking at the Del Ray paperback editions:

Lord Foul's Bane: Bridge and Ward in Kiril Threndor (from memory)
The Illearth War: Forestal and Hile Troy (I think)
The Power that Preserves: Scene at the Colossus (Covenant trying to wrest the staff from Elena) - Bannor and Foamfollower in back
The Wounded Land: Covenant raising the Krill
The One Tree: The two Elohim greeting the company - that thing behind them is the portal to their land I think
White Gold Wielder: Covenant and Linden in foreground - Honinscrave and the Raver in the back

All the artwork is pretty awful - detracts from the books, IMHO. No art would have been better.

Guess I'm not alone, then, I feel better. <g>

Robo, if you were referring to my original post, I didn't mean the cover art of the One Tree, I was just referring to how there's a big deal made in the One Tree about Covenant reverting back to "real world" clothes, so that on the cover of White Gold Weilder, he shouldn't rightly be wearing the robe thing. But...if Covenant had dressed like the Elohim, the people in his town would have liked him even less, I bet!

Oh, and I guess I was unclear. Looking at the books, it seems there are two "editions" from Del Ray. There are older 70s/80s ones (which Robo listed illustrations of) and the subsequent editions--black back cover, different cover art. They're the ones I see in bookstores.

If I had to pick, I liked the new One Tree cover of the ship sailing around some islands best, no people in it, easier to get "right." Same as the new edition Lord Foul's Bane cover, with the horses and the valley. But then I didn't really like the new edition of the Power that Preserves made me wonder, did Covenant and Foamfollower ever actually have a horse with them? I kind of preferred the older copy I found, with Covenant fighting Elena...who looks like the Jolly Green Giant's kid sister, actually. Ah well, ain't nuthin' perfect.

I have all six books in the new style Del Rey paperbacks. I vastly prefer them to the old Del Rey covers drawn by the ever-horrible Darrell K. Sweet, the guy who nowadays butchers Wheel of Time covers (a much more suitable victim for his talents, by the way). Neither set of covers is completely accurate, but at least the new ones look like they were done by a decent artist.

I thing I have always wished -- and this goes for books in general, not juts ones by Donaldson -- is that they would actually give a copy to the cover artist to read before he/she does the artwork. There are some stunning covers out there -- the one that always springs to mind immediately is the cover of The White Dragon -- that are both accurate to the story and beautiful. Alas, these are few and far between.

I like the picture on All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, design by Ann Gold, I think. Jaxom looks kind of odd in the White Dragon, to me anyway. You can shoot me now.

I prefer all of the new covers as opposed to the ones 20 years ago. I never cared for them back then when I read them the first time.