US cover art for Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson's THE GATHERING STORM


Well, it's better than that sketch, that's for sure. . . It's not as bad as Lord of Chaos. . . But that's about as far as I can possibly stretch positiveness. . .

Still, it's what's between the pages that counts.

For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.

21 commentaires:

The Monk said...

Darryl Sweet sucks. That's seriously limp.

And the title is awful. There's one "The Gathering Storm" and that's volume 1 of Churchill's history of World War II. Shows just how ludicrous this publishing fiasco has become

Luke D said...

Man do I hate Darryl K. Sweet

Ian said...

From a promised last book to a promised last three books!

Will the shaggy dogs tale ever end.

The cover is immaterial.

Alexander Field said...

I love this cover, it's everything I've dreamed Book 12 would be! Okay, you got me, I'm kidding. It royally sucks...

whitedow said...

OMFG. This is seriously the worst cover of The Wheel of Time series to date.

The UK cover is definitely miles better than this.

Blodeuedd said...

I am not liking it it, all I can say

Ellestra said...

At least it's in the same style as the rest of them.
That's the only positive thing I can say about it.

Unknown said...

Lord of Chaos was the last in that series I read, I swear Fabio is on the cover.
So the title Gathering Storms has some lad pointing to the sky very lame but it makes sense.

Vanessa said...

Horrifying.

Tesse said...

The WoT cover is terrible as ever. I hope there will be a UK cover coming out at the same time as the US one.

I guess the one where a guy leans forward with a disproportiante chest is about the worst. I guess it might be knife of dreams

Peat said...

I have tremendous respect for Darrell K. Sweet. In his prime in the 80's, he was a master of his craft, and produced many amazing covers that prompted me to read books I might otherwise not have.

These days, though, it seems like he's phoning it in. Wikipedia says he's 75, so I guess that's not too surprising. It's a shame, though.

That cover really is awful.

Anonymous said...

I don't have a problem with the title or the fact that there will be three instead of one, but oh my that cover stinks. As someone else said, the only thing good to say about it is that it will match all the others. A full set of bad cover art. They ought to reprint the entire series with better art.

Jebus said...

Darrel Sweet has done some frickin' awesome art in his 70 odd years of life but seriously, does he just not like the books?

Cutsnake said...

They're just terrible, but I've become strangely fond of the crappy covers.

I think the worst is the one with Perrin as a midget. Its one of the later ones but can't remember which, but he looks like he's about 4 foot tall.

Janet said...

It's exactly this kind of cover art that keeps me from reading Jordan. It screams schlocky pulp fiction.

D'rek said...

This is the best cover so far. I'm serious. They're all terribly cheesy and awful, but this one has a microscopic bit of cleavage, so it beats out all the others so far! That little bit of skin will draw in more readers than the plot ever could...

Marc said...

I agree with the people who said that Sweet did some awesome covers back in the day. I love his Deryni work, in particular. And his covers were current when I first read Tolkien circa 1983. So I'm a longtime fan, but this latest one looks to me like it is still just in the rough stage, and not a finished product. I hope the painting is improved by the time the book is released.

Cecrow said...

At least it says it's the sequel to "Knife of Dreams" now, so that's an improvement.

Unknown said...

I'm not immediately impressed. The only thing that could really turn it around for me would be if the cover actually has anything to do with the story. His associations have been...vague at best on a number of the previous volumes.

r.r. krueck said...

I absolutely hate the cover, of course I have not been a fan of ANY of the covers.

I just am hoping for better content between the covers

Unknown said...

I certainly do not want to celebrate the passing of Mr. Sweet but I must be frank here and state that he was, without exception, the most godawful cover artist I have ever, and I mean EVER, seen. I burned out on Jordan at book three but remember looking for a quiet corner in a coffee shop to read his books because I was so worried someone would see the cover and cast an immediate and damning judgement of me. There are so many things wrong with Darryls' artwork I don't know where to start but let's address the color schemes first. To say his covers are garishly colored seems an understatement but suffice it to say that Mr. Sweet must have become enamored with his palate of about 5 colors and just ran with it. It is cringe inducing and lacking any nuance whatsoever. As far as the layout of the covers and character depictions he seems to have been inspired by the cover "art" of the romance bodice buster book industry with the notable difference that Mr. sweet seems to have a propensity to draw all of his characters as if they are severely developmentally disabled which, were his books about such individuals, would be perfectly acceptable but, ostensibly, they are not. His character renderings look as if they all have various significant deformities whether it be grossly shortened limbs, bulbous grotesque skulls, individuals with eyes of noticably different sizes, and a general countenance of inbred liabilities. Anyone possesing even a modicum of artistic sensibility will cringe upon viewing such monstrosities. R.I.P. Mr. Sweet. I can only hope the afterlife contains a art teacher who will kindly but emphatically steers your passions in another direction.