I loooooved the rachel incident! It was a 5 star read for me. I listened to it as a free audiobook and the quality was still shocking and even that didn't spoil my enjoyment of it
This is interesting, as I haven't read many new physical books for ages, and most of the books I'm reading are either Manga or audio books so hard for me to be a judge of covers. However, the covers of my favourite Manga are Witch Hat Atelier, as very cute and give me a bit of an Art Deco vibe for some reason, and Berserk, as the Deluxe Editions are black leather with simple red font and an embossed symbol and very sleek and suit the Manga well. I'd be pretty similar to your choices, Kari. If I'm in a book shop (though they are very scarce now in NZ, sadly) I'd be attracted by a cover that has unusual colour combinations, cool font, interesting and unique imagery and design, and ffs NO nasty-ass stickers and random words jammed all over the cover, ugh! For example, I just listened to Lapvona on audio (read by Ottessa) and I really like that cover. Contrasting colours, unusual imagery and angle of poor sheepy and then you have the title in that pretty blue. Don't worry, Kari, I loved the trailer for S2 of The House of the Dragon and am looking forward to it. I definitely need to reread ASoIaF as I can't remember jack-sh*t lol. Also, about to try Joe Abercrombie for the first time and looking forward to his books, as lots think that Joe is also an incredible writer (I tried the very popular Brandon Sanderson, but meh, I don't know, just a bit too vanilla for my taste, I think hahaha) Sorry for this novella comment, but will be good for the YT algorithm anyways! 😄
I agree that the Berserk deluxe editions are beautiful books! I really enjoy the Lapvona cover as well, I usually really like when old art is used on a cover. And like you said, the blue title is striking. Yess HOTD is going to be soo good! I can’t wait! I have been putting off reading A Dance with Dragons because I don’t want ASOIAF to be done (for now) for me but I think I am close to finally picking it up. I’ve heard good things about Joe Abercrombie! But I think after I’m done with GRRM, my next fantasy will be Robin Hobb!
Rouge wasn't my favorite book of 2023, but I love simplistic covers with dark colors so I would easily rate it as an A. Lapvona was easily an S tier book for me. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it.
