Cover Characteristics: Best Book Covers from Books I Read in 2017

 
 

Gah, you all know how much I love book covers, so I literally look forward to this post all year.

I didn’t go quite as crazy as I did last year, but I suppose I went crazy enough. But hey, it’s the end of the year! And covers are pretty to look at! And people worked hard to make these! So the more, the merrier, I say. But, though I love all of these, I did pick ten to discuss and managed to narrow it down to five ultimate favorites, so let’s get to it!


The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
The Land of Night by Kirby Crow
The Human Wilderness by S.H. Livernois
Reclamation by Lissa Kasey
Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith | reading, books
The Pirate of Fathoms Deep by Megan Derr
Succubus by Brandon Varnell | reading, books
The Six-Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher
The Glamour Thieves by Don Allmon
Berserker by Emmy Laybourne
Deadgirl: Goneward by B.C. Johnson
The Demon King and the Boy Who Hardly Knew Anything by Pat Ellis
Juniper Unraveling by Keri Lake
Smoke City by Keith Rosson
The Heart of Frost by Charlie Cochet
Swallow You Whole by Jasper Black
Persephone by Allison Shaw
Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Love Song for a Vampire by J.L. AarneThe Watcher's Son by J.L. Aarne
 

Pin the Collage!


 

Berserker by Emmy Laybourne

Berserker by Emmy Laybourne
 

I love how all the white space makes the red blood all the more striking, and the way the faces of the characters and the Old West setting is all blended in is so pretty.

 

The Glamour Thieves by Don Allmon

The Glamour Thieves by Don Allmon
 

I love how much this one matches the characters and the story and has so much detail. The orc has tusks and everything!

 

The Six-Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher

The Six-Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher
 

This cover has some amazing artwork, and that kid and the jade eye do play a big part in the story.

 

Succubus by Brandon Varnell

Succubus by Brandon Varnell | reading, books
 

The artwork on this one is so pretty and also so detailed. I mean, look at that silver suit!

 

Tales of the High Court by Megan Derr

The High King's Golden Tongue by Megan Derr
The Pirate of Fathoms Deep by Megan Derr
The Heart of the Lost Star by Megan Derr
 

All of these covers are just so bright and colorful and striking with an interesting use of foreground and background, and the overall design of them is great.

 

My Favorite #1:
Hell Divers Series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith | reading, books
Hell Divers II: Ghosts by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
 

These covers represent the story so perfectly, are so detailed, and just look so kickass. They really capture the intensity and are beautiful to boot.

 

My Favorite #2:
Dominion Series by Lissa Kasey

Inheritance by Lissa Kasey
Reclamation by Lissa Kasey
Conviction by Lissa Kasey
Ascendance by Lissa Kasey
 

The artwork on all of these is soooo beautiful! And I love how well it portrays the characters.

 

My Favorite #3:
The Human Wilderness by S.H. Livernois

The Human Wilderness by S.H. Livernois
 

I absolutely love the design of this one. I love that it’s slanted, I love the font, I love the silhouettes, and I love the contrast of the people at the top vs. the zombie-like monsters at the bottom.

 

My Favorite #4:
Scarlet & the White Wolf Series by Kirby Crow

The Pedlar and the Bandit King by Kirby Crow
Mariner's Luck by Kirby Crow
The Land of Night by Kirby Crow
The King of Forever by Kirby Crow | reading, books
 

These covers just give me feels??? I felt connected to these characters even before I started reading the books, and I just love the artwork as well.

 

My Favorite #5:
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
 

This one is simplistic with just a hand, but it’s STRIKING with the pale skin against the blue background, and the font is gorgeous. It’s a beautiful cover with an overall great design.

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Which of these covers from my post is your favorite?
What's your favorite cover from books YOU've read in 2017?

Best Book Covers from Books I Read in 2017 | reading, books, book covers, cover love
 
 
[shared_counts]
 
 
 

Your Thoughts

 

42 thoughts on “Cover Characteristics: Best Book Covers from Books I Read in 2017

I'd love if you'd share your thoughts, too!

 

Reading your comments makes me a very happy blogger!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 
  1. Greg

    Ooh nice. Berserker is a good cover and I like Six Gun Tarot too. The Glamour Thieves has nice use of color, from a distance I would almost think it a cyberpunk-ish type of cover. And the Deadgirl cover I like too, they look badass.

    the Tales of the High Court covers may be the most visually striking to me, I like that each cover has a different background or vista and they all look great. The Heart of the Lost star is clearly my favorite.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Ahh they’re all great ones to me, haha. The Glamour Thieves is cyberpunk, a cyberpunk-urban fantasy mash-up thing, so you see? I was right about how well it matches the story 😛 I agree the girls on Deadgirl look super badass! Which also matches the story.

      Those are beautiful covers! Very striking. Lost Star is my fave of the three too.

    1. Kristen Burns

      What’s funny is that I disliked the cover of Vicious for a long time until I finally looked closer at it and realized it’s actually pretty cool lol.

  2. verushka

    The Coldest Girl and Berserker are two of my favourites in this list — but on the other hand you’ve given me some titles to go look up!

  3. chucklesthescot

    I like the Hell Divers covers…I plan to read the first one soon. Oh I meant to say, if the power change thing hasn’t helped, the other suggestions I saw were about stopping some plug ins like the Pinterest button as some of these don’t go well with updates and might need updated themselves.

  4. Chauncey Rogers

    Excellent selections. I was partial to the Hell Divers covers as well. They really do look pretty awesome. the Coldest Girl and Berserker also caught my eye as well. But it’s cool that some of them fit so perfectly with the story, as you said that The Glamour Thieves does. That’s something I always wonder about when I’m looking at a book cover–does this match the story? Sometimes it does, other times it is wildly different.

  5. Lola

    I was excited to see which covers you would feature today! Nice list! And you can really see your love for artwork covers in this list.

    The Tales of the High Court covers look great and it’s a style you don’t see often, but it totally works! They have that clear fantasy feel and I like the style with a lone figure looking out from a doorway to what lies beyond.

    Juniper unraveling also has a great cover, if a bit creepy.

    That Berserker cover is very cleverly done with the characters being in the blood splatters.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! You know what I like XD and it does always seem to show on my lists!

      Those High Courts ones are great ones, and they seem to be popular with everyone! But you’re right, it’s not a type of look you see often on covers, which makes them stand out more.

      Juniper Unraveling does have a darker vibe to it.

      The Berserker one is def clever! I love how it looks.

    1. Kristen Burns

      To tell you the truth, I’m a perfectionist, so I always try to arrange the covers in these posts so that colors match in covers that are near each other and everything looks good visually XD

  6. Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight

    These are lovely! I think my favorites are Tales of the High Court, they’re so pretty. And Berserker really fit the book quite well, for sure. Unhooked is really nice too. I think I just saw somewhere that Viscous is getting a new cover, one that I think goes with the ADSOM books? Great picks!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I saw the new Vicious cover! The ironic thing is that, for the longest time, I didn’t like this cover. I only recently looked at it closer and realized it’s actually pretty cool and artsy… just in time for it to get a new cover lol. But yeah, the Tales of the High Court books are awesome! Thanks!

  7. Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    The Human Wilderness is SUCH a striking cover! I love the people on top and the zombies (or creatures or whatever) down below. That cover literally makes me want to read the book—I’ll have to go find your review to see if it lives up to it!

  8. Kazza

    I love a striking cover but it’s made infinitely better by tying in the story somehow. I’ve looked over your list a few times and, without having read any of these, every time I am drawn to those Kirby Crow covers.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I agree! And almost all of these do tie into their story pretty well, I think. I love those Kirby Crow covers too! They were a big part of what drew me to read the books.

  9. Dani @ Perspective of a Writer

    Soooooo many great covers! I love this post Kristen… my favorite was The Human Wilderness… what a title and the cover is so intriguing… I agree with every detail you picked out! ♥️ I’m going to have to look that book up!

  10. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    I always love your cover features. I remember you doing a lot of them last year. I have to admit I think all the covers on that R.S. Belcher series rock! I also love The Human Wilderness. I am starting Smoke City in January and know how much you like it so I’m super excited. Some great choices here!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! I’ve done some this year, but yeah, I think I did more last year. I love all the covers on that R. S. Belcher series too, but I only read the first one this year, so it was the only one I could use, haha. The Human Wildnerness is such a great one! And I look forward to seeing what you think of Smoke City!

  11. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    Y
    E
    A
    H
    !
    !
    HELL DIVERS!!!

    A you may have noticed it has been in a few of my BEST of 2017 posts. And coming up next week.. MY BEST COVER TOO! SO glad you and I agreed on this one? Should we frame it for our living room???