Cover Review: Daughter of the Forest

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

A little while ago I wrote a Spotlight List called Fantasy Authors I Should Have Read about fantastic fantasy authors I somehow (shamefully!) managed to have missed out on reading. This list included Juliet Marillier and many wonderful commenters raved about her book Daughter of the Forest. And I totally trust you. So much so, that I went and bought a copy when I saw it for sale.

But, of course, I still haven't read it! I wonder if part of that has to do with the fact that I kind of hate the cover. I'm sorry, but it's true! I've since read and loved Wildwood Dancing, so I'm pretty confident that I'll love Daughter of the Forest, but THAT COVER. Nope, I just don't like it.

You can click on all of these pictures to make them larger so you can get the full impact.

First, here it is in all it's glory:

I'm feeling a whole lotta meh. It's all washed out and faded looking. I'm totally superficial and I like shiny, bright new things. The colors on this cover make it look old and boring. I can almost smell that musty old book smell (which I hate, sorry), but this is an almost new and entirely musty-odor-free book.

I'm sorry to say, but the colors aren't the only thing working against it. Let's break it down and analyze all the pieces.

Swirly header/footer things:

These are good. I don't think you can ever really go wrong with swirly things on covers. They're just pretty. The colors here could use a boost of, well, color, but the swirlyness of it all still manages to score it some points. Yay for that.

Title treatment:

Things could be worse here. But they could also be a lot better. There are barely any swirls, which is an automatic point reduction. The D hardly counts. The rest of the font is just plain old whatever and while it doesn't score negative points, it isn't gaining any points either.

But what the heck is that F??? That's just a little too ye olde castle for my tastes. We're not in the 1980s anymore. Plus, it doesn't match....anything. This brings the title treatment to an overall NEGATIVE point score.

The swans:

Ok, so the colors are still pretty bleh here, but swans get automatic points because they're graceful and beautiful and next to ponies and unicorns they are practically the number one animal embodiment of princessy wonderfulness.

(Or, you know, magically cursed princes. Which is what that swan probably is, seeing how this is a Six Swans retelling). 

The girl:

Are you kidding me??? This is worth about a million negative points right here. I've said I can be superficial, right? Well, I am. This girl isn't ugly, but she sure isn't gorgeous either. And that hair! Honey, get yourself some frizz-controlling shampoo!

Oh, they don't have that in this world? You know what they do have? Magic. And if I had magic, you'd better believe I'd be using some of it on my own frizzy hair. 

And that "dress"! Sure we may be inundated with beautiful dresses on covers, and fine, maybe they are becoming a little trite. But you know what? They're pretty, and pretty trumps trite every time.

But does this girl have a pretty dress? Noooo, she has a sack. An ugly, drab, sack of a dress with unflattering folds and a weird shoulder covering thing. Fail.

(I don't care if she's focused on weaving painful nettle sweaters to save her brothers' swan-sucked souls. Can't she weave while wearing silk???)

So, what do you think about this cover?
Do you like it? Dislike it? 
Does it make you want to read the book, or are you totally superficial like me? 

(and, I know, I know, the book is much better than this awful cover would imply. Don't worry, I'm still going to read it. Someday.)

 

Interested in covers?
Be sure to check out another Cover Crazy post by Gina from My Precious.    Click here for more of my cover reviews!

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