Bad cover art.

[bunn]

Volumes 2 and 3 of Barbara Hambly's Darwath trilogy just arrived in the post. You know I said the cover of the first one was pretty dire? Well the second one, the Walls of Air, knocks spots off it. It's truly appalling, and since I bought it on ebay, I can share the horror swiftly without a scanner.




This might be the worst piece of cover art I own - the other contender being a truly foul work on the cover of 'the Dragon Waiting' by John M Ford - I don't have a copy of that online though, syou you are spared the double horror...

Comments

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

You know, one of my favourite books of all time is Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint and the cover on the original British edition put me off for years.

It has to be said, though, that the cover of the paperback edition of The Privilege of the Sword tops it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Privilege-Sword-Ellen-Kushner/dp/0553586963/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201267632&sr=1-2

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Ow! That does impart the delightful vibe of 'this will be a truly terrible bodiceripper' I admit. Still, I think it lacks the sheer crudeness and eyenumbing perspective of Walls.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

I quite like that cover :-)

[chainmailmaiden]

We bought some Andre Norton books for one of my SILs at Christmas. A couple of them looked so bad I was embarrassed to be seen looking at them on the train home. They make that one look rather good!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

My Andre Nortons are not too bad, so far as I recall - a bit airbrushy in that 80s way, but nothing to make you reel in horror. But perhaps she has been blessed with newer and poorer artists since.

[chainmailmaiden]

This: Darkness and Dawn was the worst. Somehow the photograph makes it look better than it actually appears though. It made Bacchus shudder.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

My eyes! my eyes!

Dear me, that is terrible. It's the combination of the bad drawing and the terrible font that makes it a winner...

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

I see your Hambly and your Kushner and I raise youCatherine Asaro. I seriously wanted a brown paper bag for this one.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oo, I particularly like the way her right leg seems to be growing out of her left leg.

That artist is definitely more interested in the bloke, and then it's like, hey, better shove in some bird in a pvc catsuit in the background...

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I bet we've got some corkers on the top shelf of the library - all the stuff that my uncle gave us!

[skordh.livejournal.com]

I picked up that trilogy a few years ago in a charity shop and never quite mustered the oomph to read it. Now it has migrated to my pile of books to get rid of. Possibly I should relent and read the dratted thing. Maybe I can take my cue from your review, once you've finished it!

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

We own it? Lumme. Skordh, I read this from the library as a teen, and I'm not sure it's worth it... (see my comment on Bunn's previous post.)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I suppose it depends what you want books for. If you want each one to be a polished gem that is a delightful or educational enhancement to your total library, I can see these are pretty much a dead loss.

However, if you need a pile of books that require no particular intellectual effort to read, that you can read in the bath for escapist purposes after a hard day, but that are not so brilliantly written that you fail to get enough sleep because you have to finish them. they are ideal for that. The book equivalent of rice pudding, perhaps.

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

Mmmn, that is a very good point. In which case, yes, actually, these probably are just what Skordh needs right now ;-) And now you've made me want some rice pudding!