Welcome back to Cover Awe!
How to Summon a Fairy Godmother by Laura J. Mayo
Cover illustration by Zoë van Dijk
Amanda: Oh I love that!
Sarah: Very art nouveau!
Like a sharper Maxfield Parrish image.
Lara: That’s gorgeous!
Elyse: I support this trend.
This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska
Cover illustration by Andie Lugtu
Elyse: I love the art nouveau vibe.
Tara: I just did a little gasp when I saw it.
Sarah: I think this is my favorite cover art trend. And I insist that it is a trend.
When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
Cover illustration by Venessa Vida Kelley
Sarah: Hey Amanda! More Art Nouveau!
Amanda: The bottom figure reminds me of those Skydancers toys. That’s a compliment.
Sarah: oh totally. And this is such a detailed and suggestive illustration with the opposite polarity of the figures and the way they cover parts of the moon. I love this.
The Palace of Illusions by Rowenna Miller
Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio
Elyse: I love all the detail here.
Amanda: Agreed! It’s very dreamy.
Sarah: I love the border and the collage in the middle. Do the figures at the bottom have wings?
When the Tides Held the Moon has a phenomenal cover, plus there’s more of the art throughout the story.
It’s not enough to make up for the bad writing, unfortunately, and while slave/keeper romance is not an automatic dealbreaker for me this story really does not make it work. The realities of the circus at the time are used as historical world building but no work is done to address the horrors which very much remain in this fictional version of it, the found family that I was promised could really only be considered a family in all the more toxic senses, the caricatures I mean characters are flat and unconvincing even though it’s a roving first person POV – which I hate but should at least give us insight into the inner world of these characters. I guess they have none?
But that cover! I am here for this being a new cover trend. I kinda think everyone should try this one because mileage varies after all plus it might help that cover trend take off. I think I heard it was originally fanfic, so this might be a bingo square for that? Idk of what, and I might be misremembering, tho.
What I love about it, and which should become a trend IMO, is that it shows an actual scene from the book. (Or so I assume. I haven’t read it.) Other kinds of covers can be great too, of course, but I love covers that show a clear scene.
Okay, I guess I messed up the HTML in my comment just now! Oops! I should clarify that it was a reply to where Sarah said “I think this is my favorite cover art trend. And I insist that it is a trend.”
@kkw – I DNF’d When the Tides Held the Moon after a couple chapters. I couldn’t get into the writing and the library wanted it back. Plus it seemed like it was moving into icky territory. So thanks to your mini reviews I don’t feel like I need to try again.
I do like the Art Nouveau inspired covers. Illustrated covers done well.
The Freya Marske trilogy also had at least one Art Nouveau cover (also Arts and Crafts) and I remember thinking I’d like to see more like that.
I just added all these books to my ‘For Later’ library shelf, on the basis of those lovely covers alone! (Though I might reconsider When the Tides Held the Moon on the weight of the comments above.)
“The Absinthe Underground” by Jamie Pacton and the covers for the Amberlough Dossier all give Art Deco vibes, too. This is definitely a cover trend I could enjoy.
These are gorgeous! I too support this trend.
I love Art Nouveau and love when you share the covers. I especially love the treasure trove of jewelry I discovered in my late-MIL’s stuff. Her aunt had sent it to her a couple of decades ago, and I don’t think she knew what it was. My SIL gave it to me, and then when I realized what we had, I had to let her know, and then we split it. I would have loved to keep it all, but it didn’t seem right.
No complaints about this trend! I’ve seen and liked the HOW TO SUMMON cover before. I love the not immediately obvious uncanniness of THIS FATAL KISS’s. The WHEN THE TIDES cover has a lot going for it but the title atop the image hurts both. A different text color might help.
‘How to Summon’ is definitely inspired by / based on artwork by Alphonse Mucha. Love me some Art Nouveau.
I really like This Fatal Kiss. I’m trying to figure out which illustrator it reminds me of – Charles Ricketts or Aubrey Beardsley or maybe Jan Toorop.
There was an Alphonse Mucha exhibit at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC recently, and the HOW TO SUMMON cover definitely shows his influence. One of the interesting aspects of the exhibit was it showed just how much influence Mucha has had for so long. THIS FATAL KISS makes me think of Arthur Rackham, whose book illustrations I’ve loved for a long time – they are gorgeous in and of themselves and so evocative of the settings and stories.
Re: Susan/DC, I adore those art styles!
They invite you to linger on the little details and flourishes.
And there’s always something new to examine.
Art Nouveau is a trend I will root for. Wouldn’t mind the other art styles, beaux art, art deco, arts & crafts trending either.
‘How to Summon a Fairy Godmother’ Wow! I love the way it makes your eye move around the cover, I love that she has serious hips, I love that it makes incredible use of yellow which I often don’t like in a cover. A++ Zoë van Dijk!
‘The Fatal Kiss’, very Rackamesque indeed Susan/DC, one of my formative illustrator influences, perfect for fairy tale style works. A++ Andie Lugtu!
‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ on many a cover awe this would be my top choice, only really brought down by the choice of red for the title font. Still an A and designed by the author too!
‘The Palace of Illusions’ brought down a little by again the colour of the title font, but also by the pattern on what I agree are meant to be wings. Normally that sort of pattern on a real insect wing is caused by the veins, but on these ‘wings’ some of the ‘veins don’t join up to any other vein, which is appalling circulation and would lead to all sorts of problems. What? Just because you are depicting a fantasy creature it doesn’t mean ignoring such very basic anatomy details. Sorry Lisa Marie Pompilio, but that’s only a B+ from me.