Cover Characteristics is a meme by Sugar and Snark- every week a characteristic is selected and we post 5 books with that week's theme.
This week's pick- Temples
This week I wanted to look at temples and ruins. Fantasy is replete with both- temples can be places of peace and renewal, a shrine for reflection- or they can be a haven of evil, where unspeakable rites are performed to bring some cosmic horror to earth. And ruins- well what would fantasy be without a ruined city, perhaps filled with mutants or monsters from the past, or a ruined tower of secrets? Ruins are fascinating to me because they can hold anything, and can be futuristic as well as fantasy oriented. So here are my picks for temples/ ruins.
A temple with some weird creatures- yes please. This almost looks like a Choose Your Own Adventure style gamebook.
This one may be my favorite- it's not really much to look at here, but when you see the full art I think it is pretty good. The ruined tower for one thing- I just want to explore it- and they're in grasslands and in the distance you can see the tents or pavilions of a nomadic race of elves. I imagine walking through an immense grass sea, under the stars, towards the comfort of a fire and companionship...
One of my favorite older science fiction books- also released as Star Man's Son- this is set years after a nuclear holocaust has turned cities radioactive and the remnants of humanity struggle on, reverting to an earlier tech level. It was written in the 50's and I would say it paved the way for a lot of future dystopians.
A nice cover
Not crazy about this one but I kinda like the ruined castle in the background.
I would say things are in ruins at this point.
The lost city of Opar with its beautiful priestesses and subhuman inhabitants, and its vaults filled with gold, is one of the better ruined cities in fantasy if you ask me.
A world orbiting a green star, and in this one there is a lost temple or something in the lower left. I like the atmospheric of this one.
Another of the Green Star books, I read this as a kid and loved the cover at that time. If I remember right this is a vast ruined city with towers full of lost technological marvels.
This one might be a stretch but it looks like this could be a temple complex or something. And a nasty werewolf to boot. I like the airships also.
Some of these covers are just fantastic! I love that you showed the full cover of a Time of Exile. It's just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteAnd I got such memories when you mentioned Choose your own Adventure - I used to love those books! And I agree, that cover is reminiscent of them. :)
Isn't that a great cover? I love that one. And the Choose Your Own Adventure books were awesome, I have so many good memories of reading those. I reviewed one a while back- I should do another.
DeleteI like the combo if ruins and temples - definitely produces some interesting covers. I hadn't seen any of these before, I don't think!
ReplyDeleteThanks Berls, I thought it was a combo that would be interesting too.
DeleteWhoa, that's the first time I see those ! I didn't know there were so many covers with temples :o
ReplyDeleteI know! I did quite a bit of digging for this one, and had fun finding them. :)
DeleteI love the After the Rain cover. You also have reminded me that I have only read the first of Asimov's Foundation series. I should look into fixing that situation. :)
ReplyDeleteI like that one too. Very apocalyptic. And glad I could be a help... :)
DeleteThe expanded artwork on A Time of Exile is beautiful! After the Rain looks like something that I would buy :) And only 35 cents, LOL! Don't you wish that those prices were still in effect!
ReplyDeleteI like that artwork too, it's one of my favorites. And I know right about 35 cents- wouldn't THAT be nice?
DeleteThese covers are amazing. I love the old covers.
ReplyDeleteI suck at Temple Run too! Lol
You'd think I would get better at that game, but nooo.... so I gave up!
DeleteThis is an interesting topic that I never would've thought of. A Time of Exile is my favorite, there's so much detail! What with the little safe area they've found, the fire, the horses in the background, the ruins, the tent city, and even the way the two characters are interacting. Fragged Empire is nice looking too, even if it's not a book cover. Also very detailed with interesting looking characters.
ReplyDeleteI know- I love that scene so much. The tents in the background especially, with the little points of light, and the shadowed ruin... and Fragged Empire is different but I liked how devastated everything was lol.
DeleteAfter the rain is creepy. Gosh, will that ever be possible? Awesome selection Greg! I've actually done a Cover Characteristics again and here it is: http://marelithalkink.blogspot.co.za/2016/09/cover-characteristics-give-emperor-some.html
ReplyDeleteI like your rogue topic! I can think of a James Rollins book or two that have ruins on the cover too.
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