Keeper of the Lost Cities Thoughts

Cover Analysis: Neverseen

First Impressions:

From a perspective of someone who hasn't read Neverseen yet.

Why is everyone freaking out? Just look at Sophie, Keefe and Biana's faces. They're all wearing a different variation of the "oh no oh no what is going on" face.

And there's a huge green wave that's crashing down over them. (Maybe that's what's freaking them out.) And they're standing on a freaky evil-fortress-bridge sort of thing with a bunch of green flame. Why is everything green? And hmm, it looks like Sophie is wearing the Neverseen symbol. Why? Did they join the Neverseen or something?

I have no idea what's going on in the cover (Okay, yes, I actually do, but someone who hasn't read Neverseen wouldn't.) or where they are. Like Everblaze, this cover depicts a confusing but probably dangerous situation.

Current Impressions:

I'm pretty sure this is the scene right before Linh floods Ravagog. (Which I have a lot of thoughts about, but this is not the place for them. Some of them are in my "Destroying Cities" chapter if you really want to know what my brain gets up to in my spare time.) So, where are Tam and Linh? And Dex? And Fitz? Also, has anyone noticed that Tam's got more covers than Linh?

I would've kinda preferred it someone other than Keefe was on the cover. Like LINH. She was so important to this scene. She deserves recognition. I guess Dex could have been on this cover, but I think Linh would have been better.

Though, that wave curling over the bridge really doesn't look like it could take out an evil-fortress-bridge. I mean, that bridge is like solid stone, and the wave looks like a slightly above-average-sized wave. In my opinion, the scene should've been zoomed out a bit and the wave should have been portrayed as larger, 'cause it looks kind of sad right now.

Aesthetically, I think it's really cool, though I doubt Sophie's ruffled, white, puffy-sleeved tunic-thing is part of the Neverseen's uniform. And why are Sophie's and Biana's long hair moving in two totally different ways? Sophie's is, like, streaming back behind her or something, while Biana's is swirling around her head.

Though I do love the bright colors, even though vibrant green doesn't exactly scream "terrifying ogre city." The weird bridge kinda does. (Though, is anyone else wondering where King Dimitar got green fire? Do the ogres have special spores that turns fire different colors or was it a Pyrokinetic? Why am I focusing so much on this random thing?) 

One thing about this cover is that for a few months after I first saw it, I thought it was a scene in Alluveterre. I thought they were all standing on the bridge between the treehouses and the wave was, like, leaves or something. So, it is definitely not the most accurate way to depict the Ravagog scene.

A cool cover, though this is a weird portrayal of the scene.

Alternate Scenes:

Two alternate scenes I can think of are the Dividing and something in the Exile prison break.

I don't know if it's just me, but I really want to see some art of Exile. Sure, it'll be creepy and worrying, but I wanna see it. The Exile prison break was a very major event, so it could have worked as a cover. I don't really have anything to say in favor of the Dividing, except "I can't be the only one who wants to see Sophie and her friends hanging upside down by their ankles." I know, I'm weird.

However, I think Ravagog was a good scene for this, and probably a good way to represent the scene.

Conclusion:

I like this cover a similar amount to Everblaze. Both Neverseen and Everblaze are really pretty, with awesome colors and a dynamic depiction of the scene, but they are not very accurate portrayals of what was going on. Which I would've kinda preferred.

I'd give Neverseen's cover a score of 7.25/10, just like Everblaze.

Our next cover is Lodestar. This one will be funny.