This is blowing up on the blogosphere at the moment and I just HAVE to give my two cents as well. The reveal of the cover of one of (if not the number one) release I am looking forward to next year, The Daylight War, book three in the Demon Cycle.
I'm finding myself in a love/hate relationship with this cover though, here's why:
Pros:
-It's so flashy! This screams energy and makes me want to read it.
-We're not chauvinists! Women are pretty main characters in the series and 1 out of 3 covers ain't too bad.
-Nerd shout out! Look at those dice, who doesn't have a pair or 50?
Cons:
- Where's the action? The other covers show action, this cover gives the series a whole different vibe and while representative of an important character (Inevra right?), she could really use a spear/axe/sword/laser-beams? I don't really think it's very representative of the series as a whole. Fighting demons is kinda important right?
-Nerd shout out! Okay, the dice don't really seem to fit. Are they floating? Did she just toss them? If so, why does her hand look more "come hither" than anything?
Overall, I can't say I'm too disappointed. It really could be worse and not even that much better. I can't wait to read The Daylight War and now we're one step closer to that happening.
Here have a blurb:
With The Warded Man and The Desert Spear, Peter V. Brett surged to the front rank of contemporary fantasy, standing alongside giants in the field like George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Terry Brooks. The Daylight War, the eagerly anticipated third volume in Brett’s internationally bestselling Demon Cycle, continues the epic tale of humanity’s last stand against an army of demons that rise each night to prey on mankind.
On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all.
Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more—the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe. Many would follow him, but Arlen’s path threatens to lead him to a dark place he alone can travel to, and from which there may be no returning.
The only one with hope of keeping Arlen in the world of men, or joining him in his descent into the world of demons, is Renna Tanner, a fierce young woman in danger of losing herself to the power of demon magic.
Ahmann Jardir has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army and proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer. He carries ancient weapons—a spear and a crown—that give credence to his claim, and already vast swaths of the green lands bow to his control.
But Jardir did not come to power on his own. His rise was engineered by his First Wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose formidable demon bone magic gives her the ability to glimpse the future. Inevera’s motives and past are shrouded in mystery, and even Jardir does not entirely trust her.
Once Arlen and Jardir were as close as brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity’s enemies rise, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all—those lurking in the human heart.
Ps. Happy Thanksgiving!
