Cover Art Contrast – Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

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If you follow my reviews, you know Abercrumbles is one of my favorite writers. He makes me happy with his buckets of gore soaked up with grit. He has a book out in October, Red Country, a new quest fantasy fusion for him: Western. Yes, a fantasy Western. Westerns don’t have to be set in the U.S.; The Proposition proved that years ago. Being a gal who loves a good brutal Western as much as a good brutal fantasy, I am very excited about this book. Especially since it sounds similar in premise to my favorite of Joe’s books, Best Served Cold, namely, female badass with nothing to lose going for vengeance.

Which is why this cover art evoked my WTF face:

I don’t…hate it. But why is the cover character a man? Has the book description sold me a false bill of goods in naming a she the main character? (To be fair, it does reference her stepdad and his shady past so maybe she isn’t the main character, just a main character and the one whom the inciting incident most concerned.)  It’s not terrible, and it will probably do a fine job of attracting the target reader for this book who doesn’t know Abercrombie’s work–and, let’s be honest, that is who the cover is aimed at. Not me.

However. I have an ongoing debate with myself from the time BSC came out regarding which cover art I like better for the hardcovers, the U.S. or the U.K.  With BSC (the first where the American version included a person on the cover, rather than the strict map/parchment look), I was evenly torn. With The Heroes, I had a slight preference for the U.K. version.  Red Country isn’t even a question: U.K. all the way on this one.

Or maybe I just want an excuse to justify buying it a week and a half earlier than I can Stateside….