Saturday, February 2, 2013

Shelf Candy Saturday #54: Besieged, by Rowena Cory Daniells






Welcome to
Shelf Candy Saturday!!


This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,
features beautiful book covers!


If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own), write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post. (You have to click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.)

As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer, but it's not required. You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!



Here's my choice for this week!



(The Outcast Chronicles #1)
Mass Market Paperback, 672 pages
Solaris
June 26, 2012
Fantasy




Why do I love this cover?

I have always loved strong female characters in novels of any genre, so of course this cover immediately caught my eye (although I do think this woman's pose is ridiculously haughty).  Aside from that, though, I love the entire design, which is very intricate, yet has a bold impact. 

I wonder if this woman is a queen, although she wears no crown.   Her attitude (which I must admit is a bit overdone) apparently indicates that she wields a lot of power.  Also, the shapes behind her seem to hint at a throne -- at first glance, anyway.  Alternatively, she could be a highly-skilled warrior.  The longer I look at this cover, however, the more I tend to think that perhaps the round object behind her is a mirror -- not the usual kind of mirror, but one that sees into the future.  So she could be a combination of warrior and psychic.  After all, the novel does deal with a group of people known as 'mystics', who have special paranormal gifts.  She might be one of them.

I love circles, and this one (the special mirror?) has such a beautiful, ornate frame!   I also love very intricate, highly-detailed covers.  This one carries the detail over into the woman's clothing, her elegant sword, and the jewelry adorning her hands and arms.  I also love her braids!

Although I don't yet own this book, I was luckily able to get the name of the cover artist, thanks to the blog Oneironomicon, which published a post on the cover art for The Outcast Chronicles.   The artist in question, an incredibly talented one, is the British Clint Langley.  He has an extensive portfolio, with 17 years' experience creating art for comics, graphic novels, book covers, and computer games, as well as storyboards and conceptual art for films.  His technique is a unique combination of painting, photography, and digital art.









Clint Langley Online











What do you think of my choice?
What beautiful cover(s)
are you featuring this week?













10 comments:

  1. Wow, you can easily spend a minutes looking at all of the details!

    I agree, she definitely does look like a strong female lead but the attitude is overdone!

    ~Jen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Jen!

    Yeah, although I do love this cover, I think her chin should have gone down a notch. She looks VERY snotty! But I love all the details.

    Heading over to your blog. Thanks for participating in Shelf Candy Saturday, and commenting on this post!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, I like that design, wonderful, as you can see a woman with power, but it seems a tyrant.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Leovi!

    It's interesting how everybody agrees that this woman's attitude is too intimidating. You seem to have hit the nail on the head -- she probably IS a tyrant! It's too bad, too, because the rest of the cover is SO gorgeous...

    Thanks for commenting back!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great cover!

    Maybe she is just having a really good day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey, Brian!

    Oh, you're so funny! Lol. But she DOES look very snotty. Still, it's a great cover otherwise!

    Thanks for commenting!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi, perfumehk!

    Thanks for the compliment! I work VERY hard on this blog, so it's great when someone appreciates it!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Maria - I have recognized your blog with the Blog of the Year Award!

    http://briansbabblingbooks.blogspot.com/2013/02/blog-of-year.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh, Brian, thank you!!!! I'm truly honored! I haven't accepted any awards in quite a while, because of the time-consuming activities attached to them. But I do accept this one! It was very nice of you to think of my blog!! I really appreciate it!! I have to put together a post, and I will, as soon as I get a chance!!

    Thanks again!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey Maria - Your blog is certainly worth the praise.

    As I wrote on my blog, please do not feel compelled to put up a post. I totally understand the issues involving these reciprocal posts. In addition to the time involved there is the issue of not wanting to impose on other people and making them feel obligated to passing the award on I almost stop accepting awards for these reasons but I wanted to recognize fantastic sites like yours.

    Ha, ha! I just noticed that you have disclaimer on your comment bar about accepting awards! Seriously, I just wanted to get a recognition post up on my blog.

    ReplyDelete

THIS IS NOW AN AWARD-FREE, AND TAG-FREE BLOG. Thanks for the compliment, though! : )

As of today, 9/23/18, I have permanently enabled comment moderation, due to a sudden rash of SPAM comments. I appreciate your patience!

Thanks for your thoughts on my posts! I always reply here, as well as comment back on your blog. Have a WONDERFUL day!! :)