This week’s Covetable Cover is ‘A Darker Shade of Magic’ by V.E. Schwab. The book is the first in a trilogy with an interesting take on the effect of magic on alternate universes and the magic-users who traverse them. The cover uses visual description to hint at the character travelling between worlds in the story. For example, here you see a person stepping from one of the coloured circles to the other suggesting travel, much like jumping between stepping stones on a river. Also, if you look carefully the maps seem to be different in colour and layout, but they still give you a feeling that they are just different parts of the same map. Can you guess from the cover what item is used to help traverse these alternate realities? It is highlighted in a very ‘subtle’ way. This is a great example of how even simple graphic design can often be just as effective, descriptive and beautiful as a complex cover design. Great covers tell the reader just enough to draw them in.

Leave a comment on what you love about this cover, whether you’ve read the book or would like to. I’d also love to hear about the book covers you love!

Feel free to contact me and suggest any beautiful covers you would like to see featured.

“I’m not going to die,” she said. “Not till I’ve seen it.”

“Seen what?”

Her smile widened. “Everything.” 

― V.E. Schwab, A Darker Shade of Magic

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