cover love: hunger

Cue OneRepublic’s “Stop and Stare.” (Mostly for the title of the track, not so much what the song’s actually about)

I’ve had my eye on Jackie Morse Kessler’s Hunger cover for several weeks now. Every time I look at it, its had that same effect on me – stop and stare. When I first saw the cover floating around online, something about it made me think of the Incarceron cover. Perhaps it was the attention to detail. Maybe the balance of darkness and light, the creeping shadows, or the overarching feeling of dread that the cover evokes. There’s something very mysterious about the scale, the vein-like branches, and the whole, y’know, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse thing.

As Hunger’s protagonist, Lisabeth is named the Black Rider (Famine), carrying around a set of scales, as the horseman does during the apocalypse in Christian eschatology. I love the way the scale is prominent in the design but not overbearing. The layering of all of the cover’s elements and balance of shadow and light create a piece of art that feels almost flawless.

Seeing Hunger’s cover art immediately made me want to dig up as much information as I could about its designer. To my surprise, I discovered that it was created by the same artist who made the eye-dazzling Incarceron cover — Sammy Yuen, who’s also designing the rest of the series’ covers. Below is the cover of the second novel in the series, Rage.

It was really difficult for me to choose which cover I loved more, Hunger or Rage. They’re both stunning. What do you think?

Stay tuned for tomorrow and Wednesday’s posts — I got a chance to interview both author and designer! You won’t want to miss them “weighing” in their thoughts. (Sorry, again, couldn’t help myself)