Shelf Candy Saturday #37: City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare

 

 

Welcome to

Shelf Candy Saturday!!

This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,

features beautiful book covers!

It was originally hosted by

Stephanie @

Five Alarm Book Reviews,

a blog I really miss...

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. Just be sure 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 in your post, but it's not required. You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!

Here's my pick for this week!

 

 

 

 

City of Bones

(The Mortal Instruments #1)

Cassandra Clare

Hardcover, 485 pages

Margaret K. McElderry Books

(An imprint of Simon & Schuster's

Children's Publishing Division)

March 27, 2007

Genres:

Paranormal Romance,

Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

 

 

Why do I love this cover?

 

 

For once, I'm nearly at a loss for words!  This cover is obviously highly appealing to female viewers...so of course I'm biased.  The male torso, after all, is - ahem - a work of art, whether in real life, a photograph, painting, drawing, or sculpture.  (I am here reminded of that artistic masterpiece, Michelangelo's "David"...)  This particular one is beautifully done!  I even love the intricate tattoos on the arms and chest, despite the fact that I normally detest tattoos in real life.  These, however, serve to make this torso even more appealing.  They also lend an air of mystery.  What do they mean?  I strongly feel that they must mean something.  Perhaps they serve to identify what kind of paranormal creature this young man is.  I really don't know, because I have yet to read this book, although I do own it.  (I also own the rest of the series, except for the very latest one, City of Lost Souls.)

 

The shafts of light that seem to emerge from the young man's chest are also enigmatic and beautiful.  They echo the glowing, cloudy landscape behind the figure.

 

As for the city itself, it, too, is very mysterious, not to mention foreboding and gloomy.  Adding to this feeling of gloom is the crowded cemetery at the bottom of the cover. 

 

From what I've heard about this book, and the rest of this bestselling series, there is plenty of supernatural mayhem involved, with great characters fighting on the side of good.  The predominant atmosphere is indeed dark and gloomy, but of course, good will prevail in the end.  This is symbolized by the light at the top of this cover, which brings me to the interesting realization that the cover image is tiered, with the dark elements at the bottom, while the light reigns supreme at the top.  This is very effective symbolism.

 

To sum up, this is brilliant illustration and design!  All of the covers in this series immediately pull readers in, and are works of art in their own right.  I wonder if any of them are available as posters.  I would want at least this one to frame and hang on one of my walls!  

 

 

 

The brilliant artist who created this cover is

Cliff Nielsen,

a renowned fantasy & SF illustrator!

He has not only created all

of the covers for

The Mortal Instruments series,

but many other covers, too.

 

I have found several sites for

this great artist,

at which you can see more of his work,

as well as a photograph of him.

Because of copyright issues,

I am unable to post any

of these images here.

 

 

 

Here are the sites!  Enjoy!!

 

Shannon Associates

 

Cliff Nielsen Portfolio

 

Star Wars Wikia: Cliff Nielsen

(site a/k/a Wookieepedia)

 

Star Trek Wikia: Cliff Nielsen

(site a/k/a Memory Alpha)

 

Cliff Nielsen Illustration: Facebook

 

 

 

 

 

What do you think of

my choice?

What beautiful cover(s)

are you featuring this week?