Despite the adage "Don't judge a book by its cover" - for many people the cover is the first and only time to make a good impression on a prospective reader. I was very fortunate to love the cover art for my first book On the Subject of Griffons, but I still had the same level of anxiety going into the cover art process for The Sun Blessed Prince.
For those of you who don't know how the process works, essentially there's an initial round of discussion between the author and editor. What are the vibes or feelings or moods that we want to convey? Is there any symbolism that is particularly poignant? What other covers that have recently come out are similar in tone or intention?
I ranked a series of covers I truly enjoyed from across the adult fantasy spectrum, and also made a Pinterest board with the help of my wonderful agent, Maddy Belton. Earlier in the editor/author relationship I had also made a bit of a summary of all the different main aspects of the book for people to read quickly if they aren't able to read the book just yet. This included character backgrounds, setting examples, etc.
One of the things that was most important to me was that the themes of life and death in both The Sun Blessed Prince and its sequel, The Moon Blessed King, didn't fall into tropes of life meaning happy magical sunshine kingdom where everything is cheery and bright and "good," where death was evil skull and darkness vibes with rot and decay dripping from the corners (ie: bad).
Life and death are two major themes of this series, but neither is superior to the other. This was genuinely the thing that mattered most to me for those first impressions. I didn't want a reader expecting death to be a grim dark discussion. There are many themes that are dark in the book, but death in of itself was never meant to be a bad thing.
The senior-in house designer at Tor UK, Neil Lang, did not disappoint.
I love this cover. I'm pretty sure I embarrassed myself before all of Tor UK and Random House Canada by gushing over how much I love this cover. I got the sequel cover relatively soon after I saw this cover, and had the same exact reaction to that one too (in fact, slightly more excited because it's my favorite color). I can't share the sequel art yet, but it is a perfect match to this one and I'm looking forward to the day I can make another post about that cover too.
Without getting too much into spoilers, things that really stand out to me: the symbolism of the moon, sun, and stars. I adore it. The use of the flowers, which I was initially uncertain about, serves as such a fantastic contrast to the bright orange background. I really love that the flowers are black - often it's inverted, with flowers being more brightly colored. This contrast works so well for me.
All the gold you see is set to be foiled, and I'm very much looking forward to just rubbing my hands over the cover and feeling the foiling beneath my fingertips. That smooth slide is one of my favorite sensations on covers that make use of different layering techniques.
The centering of the crown, again in black, is also a striking focal point to my eye. There is so much that could be said about that crown, and its significance to our Sun Blessed Prince, Elician. About a book's worth of things to say, in fact ;)
I'm incredibly honored and grateful that Neil Lang took the time to do the art for this book. And I'm so happy I get to share the art with you all now.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
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