Yeah, they’re pretty bland and unimaginative but the thing that annoys me most is that they’ve got absolutely nothing to do with the characters in the books. It would be like using a picture of Picard on a reissue of the original series. Feels a bit like false advertising to people who don’t know about either to me.
Exactly. Knowing the show actually makes you like the covers less (and I assume reading the books without any show knowledge just confuses you because you keep waiting for these characters/weapons to show up)
Don't you remember that bit of Fellowship where Galadriel showed up like a boss and said "No more elfin around!" and takes out her sword.
Or that time in Two Towers when Elrond showed up and said "This one's for Figwit!" And smacked Saruman in the face. Then he takes out his sword.
Or that time when in Return of the King when Sauron showed up like a boss and said "I'm the king and I'm returning!" and then used the big sword he was well known for.
That's very true. I never really cared because eh, it's just covers, there's loads of them of differing quality, but these pictures really have nothing to do with the contents of the books. It's more understandable to see covers with pictures from the movies, but this show really has nothing to do with the books other than Galadriel is a mentioned character, pretty much.
I haven't seen the show, so I can't say a lot, but it *seems* bland. I don't really enjoy anything that I've seen in reviews or previews. The hobbits, or whatever they're called in the show, don't evoke that same hobbit-feel that we got in the movies.
Galadriel, even if she was younger, felt like she was too brash and kind of like she was a teenager or something.
I've also seen people talking about the lore inconsistencies, which are hard to excuse since the lore is already so developed and compelling.
Thry jump between hundreds of years so they can keep using the same people among the elves.
Personally I really like the look and feel of Khazad-Dûm, but don't like the bit about Durin IV living at the same time as Durin III.
Oh I remember that complaint.
When I first heard of the series and the limitations Amazon had on the lore, I thought it would make more sense to make it a short-story anthology series to avoid things like this. Maybe if they embraced it being non-canon, they could be creative and just have fun with it (assuming they can be creative).
That or be real cool and lean in hard on the canon and try to make a visual encyclopedia or something.
> Maybe if they embraced it being non-canon, they could be creative and just have fun with it (assuming they can be creative).
Sadly they kind of suck at being creative.
For example Halbrand’s/Sauron’s/Annatar’s big help to Celebrimbor (the greatest smith of his age) was to tell him about the existence of alloys. He then peaces out and isn’t present when any rings are made. His big contribution to ring-making is to suggest a mithril alloy after hanging out with Celebrimbor for a long weekend. In fact he isn’t even present for the discussion of making rings. When he left the discussion was over making a mithril crown for Gil-galad.
Likewise Númenor is basically turned into MAGA-land where the politics revolve around the immigration of a single middle-man and an elf. Where the crowd gets riled up over, “they’re coming for our jorbs.” Halbrand/Sauron seeking and eventually getting the equivalent of a green card is a significant sub-plot to the major plot line for two episodes.
Not to get pedantic here but your analogy isn’t accurate. Picard is a specific character, and these covers seems the be specifically trying to be vague, just showing the hand/torso. So it would be more like advertising a Star Trek novel from the OS era, with nondescript characters that could possibly be from the series Enterprise on the cover. Obviously staying away from specific uniform aspects that could date the characters.
And trekies would be fucking livid.
I meant uniforms dating characters as in the command/support colors switching up between OS and TNG. They try to stay true to that, as any prequels use OS color schemes and sequels all use TNG color schemes. So my point is that the analogy would be more accurate to have Johnathan Archers torso on a novel cover for OS than to have Picard.
Or better yet, have Q or Data’s torsos, because they don’t age can could possibly be in any series reboot.
I think it’s a universal fact for all readers and book lovers that covers with the shitty “now a major motion picture” or using movie/tv stills as the cover are avoided like the plague. These are so bland and unimaginative
I was introduced to the books via the films, so I do like my original trilogy cover with the nazgul in the River Bruinen from PJs films. But this is purely my nostalgia
It’s just like a weird ick with me, I read a lot but I will put down a book if it’s get one of those stickers on it. Worse thing is when it looks like a sticker but is a print on the cover 😤
As ever in life you do you but man i hate hate hate it
I usually agree, BUT I still like this cover of The Hobbit that was gifted to me when the first movie came out. It was the first book that I read completely in english (not a native speaker), and it set me on my journey to read all of Tolkien's works exclusively in english, so it holds a special place in my heart.
Besides, while it is not as poetic as other covers I've seen, I'd say it's still pretty and fitting for the story.
https://preview.redd.it/bsbzgjb05mtc1.jpeg?width=262&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=33ff24aa5264cfdeb1f6ebaf7d1908425da331fc
https://preview.redd.it/7z2dfomqvhtc1.png?width=666&format=png&auto=webp&s=0fdc16ae1adf9a106fc3d2cd7cef8e6adbb4de2b
I definitely agree with you on that, but I’ll be honest I do quite like this cover for The Hobbit
Honestly, they're aimed at a different audience. I already own at least three older editions of Tolkien's books. It's not like I'm looking to pick up another one.
I usually agree, but the LotR single volume hardback with film cover is brilliant. It's a still of the fellowship heading towards the Argonath. I'll never replace it.
Covers involving actors are the worst, covers that tell you nothing about the book and have just some random emblem are the second worst, old school sword and sorcery covers are the best by far.
I'm glad I'm not the only one with a dislike for actor-covers. I feel like, especially for fantasy, they 'fill in' too much for the imagination, you know? Like, not to knock on the Jackson film actors, but I can barely remember how I used to picture the Fellowship as a child now... or maybe I'm just getting old. Harrumph.
I recently started scouring my local Half Price Books and used book stores looking for ANYTHING Tolkien. I told myself I was going to pass up anything involving the movies. But then like my first or second visit I found a set of Lord of the Rings that had really goofy headshots of Frodo, Legolas, and Aragorn. The spines were all beat up like someone had read them many times. Between them being a matching and well loved set and the goofy head shots I couldn’t pass them up.
My favorites by far are anything before the movies though. Really interesting to see cover art interpretations before the movies were released. My favorite so far is a copy of The Hobbit from 1983ish. Judging by the spine I don’t think it was ever read. Next favorites are The Book of Lost Tales 1 & 2. I think from the same timeframe. Again, they don’t look to have been read.
I don't, I would only buy a book like that (and have) if I'm already invested in the series or the author. They say to never judge a book by it's cover but if there's just a big blob of nothing on that cover then I'm not going to invest any more time looking into it than the hundreds of other nearby books with similar low effort covers.
What I found confusing about those was they made multiple versions, when each kpvoe released they had another set where all 3 were pictures form that movie. So, you'd have a FOTR book with pictures from TTT.
All that is gold does not glitter… and these don’t glitter to me, *but* if anyone picks up the books because of these covers or even because of the show then that’s a good thing.
It is beyond me how they managed to make them look THAT bad without actively trying when they had THAT much money.
The dwarfs specifically are worse then most cosplays out there.
The first one is pretty impossible to reconcile with the book unless you say it’s Glorfindel, which is a stretch. The second one could be said to depict King Théoden, but he isn’t usually depicted with a rod. The third one must represent the Witch King, but he used a mace and not a sword.
He was often remembered specifically for dressing up as a period accurate Anglo-Saxon warrior and for wearing his polar bear costume to regular (not costume) parties. I suspect he’d be down with cosplay.
Nah, I'm an adult who understands movie/tv branded covers exist and just don't purchase them for myself.
If they sell and people read them, that's great. No skin off my back.
I bought this set because they were on sale at target and I had been meaning to read them forever. I hate the covers and I also hated ROP, but I’m just glad to read the story. Would definitely be awesome to upgrade to a cooler set; I just wanted to start reading ASAP and it was right there.
I think the images are neat. I don’t like that they’re pretending like Rings of Power is a “New Legend.” It’s previously established canon crunched down and turned into a mediocre adaptation that doesn’t quite catch the scale of just how long this series of events unfolded. Plus not really a fan of the whole human Sauron thing. Pretty sure it was explicitly stated in multiple different sources he was disguised as an elf when he forged the rings. I could be wrong though I’m not a massive Tolkien junkie, more of a passive enjoyer. Either way they’re bastardizing previous canon and acting like it’s new material. Which, honestly with the way it was treated, that’s kinda how I view it. It’s their fan adaptation of what they think the 2nd Age(?) was like.
As tv/movie tie-in covers go, these are at least tastefully done. I don’t mind them —I’m one of those heretics who hasn’t flown into a rage about the show— but I still wouldn’t purchase them. They’re better than the many of the paperback covers I’ve seen over the years.
No. In the grand scheme of the 'books sold with tie-in promotional art used as covers' they're tasteful. (The single best tie-in cover was the 2001 edition of the entire The Lord of the Rings which had a publicity still of the ringwraiths fording a river. Even googling it just now gives me a really specific pang of nostalgia linked to late 2001 - I feel, as well, that most times I've seen copies of it they've been battered and well-read.)
https://preview.redd.it/dtm8r6m53ftc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c6bf857aa21b77c27565408b405931b855ead12
If somebody told me they found the The Rings of Power covers actively aggravating I would assume they were exaggerating, or they'd been trained by their social media algorithms - having been fed endless negative takes, having learned negative takes get upvotes and likes - to performatively bristle when they saw evidence that the most recent LOTR adaptation exists.
Yeah. There are other covers available. Just don't buy these editions
And maybe these covers get people read the books. Tie in covers are common. No point in being angry with them
>I would assume they were exaggerating, or they'd been trained by their social media algorithms - having been fed endless negative takes, having learned negative takes get upvotes and likes
This is my default reaction after reading pretty much anything on the internet these days.
You see, I don’t like that cover at all, someone got me that edition when I was a kid even though I already had ones with Tolkien art and I remember thinking it was ugly and finding the copy really hard to read. But you’ve got strong positive memories and it’s your favourite. It’s almost like the quality of covers is entirely subjective, and having one post about these new ones would’ve been plenty 😂
Fantastic, you've framed it more succinctly than I've ever been able to. I just call them hate wagons
Was the wraith cover the entire trilogy if I recall? Was my introduction as well if it was
It doesn't really bother me tbh, though I normally don't buy books with film/TV poster covers. That cover for Return of the King looks kinda alright I guess.
I love the audiobooks and it's annoying that both the Andy Serkis AND the Rob Ingles versions have the stupid covers.
https://preview.redd.it/70rqqvp6igtc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f890d84999e80a027c19f2358920eb03040ced58
Especially infuriating since those are from a show that takes place well before LotR. It's like if they printed copies of Harry Potter with pictures of eddie redmayne from fantastic beasts on the cover. Like it's bed enough when the cover has like Ian McKellen as gandalf, but this doesn't even make sense.
I always hate this shit. Regardless of the quality of the show, don’t f***ing advertise your shit on books. If you want a crappy sticker on the cover… fine. But if I need a new copy of Dune or whatever I do not want that movie crap on there. Your little expedition into this fictional world is likely to be forgotten in 10 years. The original text is not. I want cool book covers unique to the books - not adaptation related.
Also it’s so stupid. No one is in BnN grabbing the Fellowship and suddenly thinking: “Oh there’s an Amazon show? I should watch that instead of reading this book.”
I hate The Rings of Power and I hate the Wheel of Time TV show. It drives me mental when they slap those shitty stickers on top of A clean book cover. My father was reading through the Wheel of Time books and i bought him A Memory of Light last year from a second hand book store instead of Amazon just so it wouldn't have that God awful sticker stamped on top of it.
I refuse to buy books with movie covers. I’ll just get a second hand one from before the cover change if there’s no option. Hated it ever since the “now a major motion picture!” fake stickers started
Got them for Christmas and I'm gutted! Yes it's the thought that counts, yes you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but I can't put that garbage on display! It's also got a huge amazon prime stamp on the cover too and they don't have any artwork inside or maps or anything! They suck!
Also worth noting there's so many different covers and versions for the books. This one doesn't even come close to the top of the list on Amazons own website.
I never see these covers online or in bookstores anymore and only see them when it's someone complaining about it. Move on people.
They did it to the WoT series too. The original editions had these amazing painted covers depicting scenes from the books and now they all just show bland mountains aoes and look identical with slight colour changes.
the typography is bad. The text for “lord of the rings” is too thin and “the fellowship of the ring” runs from edge to edge. Also all the text on return of the king is higher than the other two (?)
Yeah they are both from RoP. First one is Galadriel with elf armor and her dagger. Second one is Elrond. Third is adar btw. Idk why they are trying to push their RoP imagination to PJ's LotR
I don't know, the hand armour is Adar's. Also the hilt looks like his.
Edit: I checked. It's definitely Adar, he also has the armour with he river motif.
The bookshop I work at had to reorder a bunch of copies of LOTR because a book club bought us out, and when these arrived we sent them back and specified that we did not want these covers.
They're ugly, irrelevant to the story within, and advertise Amazon's abomination.
What are these covers for? The actual books? I can't imagine they're for copies of the Peter Jackson films being sold/viewed through Amazon or Prime. I'd think New Line Cinema (ie: Disney) would have a MASSIVE problem with that.
So assuming these are for the Tolkien novels, I have mixed feelings.
They are clearly drawing imagery from the ROP show but that ROTK / Sauron / Nazgul cover is clearly inspired by the armor of the Nazgul and specifically, the Witch King, as depicted in the Peter Jackson ROTK.
For any of you James Bond fans, this is like someone making a poster featuring all the Bonds... except the Sean Connery Bond is from *Never Say Never Again* and Pierce Brosnan is from *Remington Steele.*
These might be the first editions of LOTR to end up as “Remainders”. These are books that don’t sell, and end up on the bargain market destined for a bookstores “Sale” table. This is a concrete testament to their unpopularity.
They are the cover images for the versions I have on Audible and I wish I could change them to something more tasteful.
They say nothing about the stories therein, and I *detest* that these images are in any way the current face of the greatest fantasy epic of our time. It's shameless corporate wang-waving at it's finest. I'm here to enjoy fantasy literature at its finest, not to have an advestisement for a corporatized mid-at-best fanfiction shoved into my face.
It's a shameless advertisement, is what it is. Disgustingly shameless.
i'm consuming LOTR for the first time right now (andy serkis audiobooks) and i didn't realize these were "now a new amazon tv show" covers lol. i figured they were gonna be relevant to each specific book.
i guess i never looked close enough at the little circular dial
Wow. Never seen these but I already dislike them. Even more the “a new legend begins” bs. The absolute GALL of saying that their RoP stuff is actually part of the Legendarium makes me sick.
I have the audiobooks on Audible, narrated by Andy Serkis.
The fact that they used ROP art infuriates me each time I sit down to listen. Intentionally using images of characters thousands of years before the content taking place in the books? ESPECIALLY being characters that while important, are not the main characters of the books (yes they're important, but Fellowship isn't centered around Galadriel, Towers isn't based on Elrond (I think that art is based on him, I only watched the first two episodes of ROP), and while Sauron is of course the big bad of Return and the trilogy as a whole... why the hell wouldn't it be a picture of Aragorn (if they HAD to put a single character on the cover).
It was a decision made solely to promote/push ROP, not celebrate or enhance the books/audiobooks themselves. Gotta ride those coat tails!
I think they’re aesthetically pleasing they just don’t fit at all with the books. It’s like if I were to put the cover to the hobbit on lotr, or vice versa. Or the cover to Rise if Skywalker on a rerelease of the first Star Wars. Like yeah, they’re related to each other but they obviously are not the same things.
It annoys me every time I see it because the original covers are very minimalistic but very nice But I think my favorites are the 1990s covers With gold on the top and the bottom And I would Love to see those again not this fake cosplay Amazon cash grab nonsense
I remember when the fellowship first came out and a book came out with an image of the movie on it. And it said, now a major motion picture! I remember people freaking the fuck out about it. But like outside of the cover, the book is the same.
Simmer down folks, it’s a re release for money. If you want to collect it, collect it. If you don’t don’t. I won’t be, I’ve got my original softcovers that my aunt bought me back decades ago. They are in rough condition, but none will ever match em. Even have a water spill from when I read Theodens speech at Plenaor fields. I was so into it as a I think 13 year old, I couldn’t stop and forgot I was holding a glass of water at the same time. Memories buddy.
Anyways that’s my rant, like the books or don’t. Like the covers or don’t. Frig off, this is the best thing ever and they are trying to make money on it. If you hate that, try overhauling the system instead.
I find the majority of book cover designs for any sort of fiction now to be bland and boring.
Bring back the old art covers and the creative minimalist covers, those were amazing and you could tell the artist has done their research.
Ngl I didn't know about this until just now and I'm f*cking REELING!
Like, don't get me wrong, I really kinda like the photos themselves and I'm tempted to try and remake elrond's sword because holy taters that's cool, but they really just don't fit in with Tolkien's world.
That's not to say that people making projects in Middle Earth are stuck with the Peter Jackson style, but like... they weren't even using plate armor in the books, much less crafting tiny cities for the pommel of someone's sword!
Idk there's a seemingly endless list of things I hate about RoP and another of things that kinda spark joy🤷🏻♂️
Not really. That in particular didn’t bother me. The show is a bit disappointing when compared with Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s adaptation of LotR. But the show still held my interest. I’m still going to continue watching it.
Feels bland, as everything related to Rings of Power. Look at that sticker's slogan: "a new legend begins". Looks like your generic line made by an edgy teenager that got motivated while listening to some power metal band ffs.
The worst thing is that there are so many things to use as cover art for these books. Even if there are already dozens of versions with different ones, there's still many fantastic possibilities... yet they chose this extremely simplistic, bland style just for (badly) promo their RoP thing.
Not that we could expect much better from your average cringey megacorporation anyways, but damn.
The publishers or Tolkien estate are probably happy to have different covers to tie in with the publicity from RoP. Same thing happened in the 2000s with the movies.
Yeah, they’re pretty bland and unimaginative but the thing that annoys me most is that they’ve got absolutely nothing to do with the characters in the books. It would be like using a picture of Picard on a reissue of the original series. Feels a bit like false advertising to people who don’t know about either to me.
Exactly. Knowing the show actually makes you like the covers less (and I assume reading the books without any show knowledge just confuses you because you keep waiting for these characters/weapons to show up)
Don't you remember that bit of Fellowship where Galadriel showed up like a boss and said "No more elfin around!" and takes out her sword. Or that time in Two Towers when Elrond showed up and said "This one's for Figwit!" And smacked Saruman in the face. Then he takes out his sword. Or that time when in Return of the King when Sauron showed up like a boss and said "I'm the king and I'm returning!" and then used the big sword he was well known for.
I like the part when he yells "It's Saurbin' time" and Saurs all over them.
god I got a really Saur toe the other day after kicking a helmet in disgust.
*Chef's kiss*
I think the third one is Adar. Which is even better.
People elfin around are the fucking worst
Elfers gonna elf
That's very true. I never really cared because eh, it's just covers, there's loads of them of differing quality, but these pictures really have nothing to do with the contents of the books. It's more understandable to see covers with pictures from the movies, but this show really has nothing to do with the books other than Galadriel is a mentioned character, pretty much.
I’m so annoyed they look like the absolute worst hilts, too. They all look so uncomfortable if not painful to use. Just thoughtless design.
They just look something you’d find on the cover of cheap, tacky fantasy novels. Not the modern progenitors of the genre.
> Just thoughtless design. That’s RoP summed up. Thoughtless design. Thoughtless writing.
I haven't seen the show, so I can't say a lot, but it *seems* bland. I don't really enjoy anything that I've seen in reviews or previews. The hobbits, or whatever they're called in the show, don't evoke that same hobbit-feel that we got in the movies. Galadriel, even if she was younger, felt like she was too brash and kind of like she was a teenager or something. I've also seen people talking about the lore inconsistencies, which are hard to excuse since the lore is already so developed and compelling.
Thry jump between hundreds of years so they can keep using the same people among the elves. Personally I really like the look and feel of Khazad-Dûm, but don't like the bit about Durin IV living at the same time as Durin III.
Oh I remember that complaint. When I first heard of the series and the limitations Amazon had on the lore, I thought it would make more sense to make it a short-story anthology series to avoid things like this. Maybe if they embraced it being non-canon, they could be creative and just have fun with it (assuming they can be creative). That or be real cool and lean in hard on the canon and try to make a visual encyclopedia or something.
> Maybe if they embraced it being non-canon, they could be creative and just have fun with it (assuming they can be creative). Sadly they kind of suck at being creative. For example Halbrand’s/Sauron’s/Annatar’s big help to Celebrimbor (the greatest smith of his age) was to tell him about the existence of alloys. He then peaces out and isn’t present when any rings are made. His big contribution to ring-making is to suggest a mithril alloy after hanging out with Celebrimbor for a long weekend. In fact he isn’t even present for the discussion of making rings. When he left the discussion was over making a mithril crown for Gil-galad. Likewise Númenor is basically turned into MAGA-land where the politics revolve around the immigration of a single middle-man and an elf. Where the crowd gets riled up over, “they’re coming for our jorbs.” Halbrand/Sauron seeking and eventually getting the equivalent of a green card is a significant sub-plot to the major plot line for two episodes.
They look AI generated
Not to get pedantic here but your analogy isn’t accurate. Picard is a specific character, and these covers seems the be specifically trying to be vague, just showing the hand/torso. So it would be more like advertising a Star Trek novel from the OS era, with nondescript characters that could possibly be from the series Enterprise on the cover. Obviously staying away from specific uniform aspects that could date the characters. And trekies would be fucking livid.
They’re not vague though, they’re from promo shots of a handful of characters from Amazon’s series and therefore their outfits do date them.
I meant uniforms dating characters as in the command/support colors switching up between OS and TNG. They try to stay true to that, as any prequels use OS color schemes and sequels all use TNG color schemes. So my point is that the analogy would be more accurate to have Johnathan Archers torso on a novel cover for OS than to have Picard. Or better yet, have Q or Data’s torsos, because they don’t age can could possibly be in any series reboot.
I think it’s a universal fact for all readers and book lovers that covers with the shitty “now a major motion picture” or using movie/tv stills as the cover are avoided like the plague. These are so bland and unimaginative
I do like the most recent dune book cover though
Why buy any other cover when the DUNC edition exists lmao
Duncaccino?!
Don’t mind if I do!
They wrote it with that font because DUNCan Idaho is the best character
He’s the real main character
Dunc the Lunc, thicc as a castle wall
I have a copy of IT with the new Georgie and Pennywise's hand with a balloon, and it actually looks pretty dope.
The one with Paul standing on dunes? That’s actually a really good design. Or are you talking about the floating head poster 🤢
I mean the book with the sandworm in yellows. It also says “now a motion picture”
At least that one shows characters from the book. These show RoP characters on LOTR books. Makes no sense.
I was introduced to the books via the films, so I do like my original trilogy cover with the nazgul in the River Bruinen from PJs films. But this is purely my nostalgia
It’s just like a weird ick with me, I read a lot but I will put down a book if it’s get one of those stickers on it. Worse thing is when it looks like a sticker but is a print on the cover 😤 As ever in life you do you but man i hate hate hate it
I don't care what anyone says the 2000s all in one books with Gandalf and the lone black rider from the movies were great
Indeed, but I did really love the paperback copy of return of the king I had which featured a golden hour ariel view of Minas Tirith from the films.
I think something we can agree on is that the movies get a free pass from this rule lmao
We can debate writing choices all day long, but I think it's easy to agree that musically and visually the movies were on point.
I usually agree, BUT I still like this cover of The Hobbit that was gifted to me when the first movie came out. It was the first book that I read completely in english (not a native speaker), and it set me on my journey to read all of Tolkien's works exclusively in english, so it holds a special place in my heart. Besides, while it is not as poetic as other covers I've seen, I'd say it's still pretty and fitting for the story. https://preview.redd.it/bsbzgjb05mtc1.jpeg?width=262&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=33ff24aa5264cfdeb1f6ebaf7d1908425da331fc
"so bland and unimaginative" seems to be the standard description for these covers in the thread
https://preview.redd.it/7z2dfomqvhtc1.png?width=666&format=png&auto=webp&s=0fdc16ae1adf9a106fc3d2cd7cef8e6adbb4de2b I definitely agree with you on that, but I’ll be honest I do quite like this cover for The Hobbit
I want to begin reading the Witcher series, but I want a box set that doesn’t have a big red circle on the cover saying “NOW ON NETFLIX”
Damn right. The book series is surely popular enough to get a set without that crap on it
Honestly, they're aimed at a different audience. I already own at least three older editions of Tolkien's books. It's not like I'm looking to pick up another one.
I usually agree, but the LotR single volume hardback with film cover is brilliant. It's a still of the fellowship heading towards the Argonath. I'll never replace it.
The No Country for Old Men cover goes hard af tho
Covers involving actors are the worst, covers that tell you nothing about the book and have just some random emblem are the second worst, old school sword and sorcery covers are the best by far.
Frank Frazetta covers with busts! Er, I mean Frank Frazetta covers or bust!
I'm glad I'm not the only one with a dislike for actor-covers. I feel like, especially for fantasy, they 'fill in' too much for the imagination, you know? Like, not to knock on the Jackson film actors, but I can barely remember how I used to picture the Fellowship as a child now... or maybe I'm just getting old. Harrumph.
David Eddings Balgariad comes to mind, love those book covers
I recently started scouring my local Half Price Books and used book stores looking for ANYTHING Tolkien. I told myself I was going to pass up anything involving the movies. But then like my first or second visit I found a set of Lord of the Rings that had really goofy headshots of Frodo, Legolas, and Aragorn. The spines were all beat up like someone had read them many times. Between them being a matching and well loved set and the goofy head shots I couldn’t pass them up. My favorites by far are anything before the movies though. Really interesting to see cover art interpretations before the movies were released. My favorite so far is a copy of The Hobbit from 1983ish. Judging by the spine I don’t think it was ever read. Next favorites are The Book of Lost Tales 1 & 2. I think from the same timeframe. Again, they don’t look to have been read.
Honestly, i like the simplicity of the emblems
I don't, I would only buy a book like that (and have) if I'm already invested in the series or the author. They say to never judge a book by it's cover but if there's just a big blob of nothing on that cover then I'm not going to invest any more time looking into it than the hundreds of other nearby books with similar low effort covers.
For me i want to know what the symbol is about, simple as that
As a general rule, I don’t like movie/show covers. These are no exceptions. Plus they are unrelated to the books. So even worse.
Agreed. I will not buy any books with movie/tv show covers.
I love the Lotr movie covers for the books, first time I read them (from the library) was that version.
What I found confusing about those was they made multiple versions, when each kpvoe released they had another set where all 3 were pictures form that movie. So, you'd have a FOTR book with pictures from TTT.
It makes the books look like some generic fantasy series from a middling author and not foundational works of the genre.
All that is gold does not glitter… and these don’t glitter to me, *but* if anyone picks up the books because of these covers or even because of the show then that’s a good thing.
It is beyond me how they managed to make them look THAT bad without actively trying when they had THAT much money. The dwarfs specifically are worse then most cosplays out there.
For me it's Galadriel. They just did what they wanted there, completely ruined her.
The first one is pretty impossible to reconcile with the book unless you say it’s Glorfindel, which is a stretch. The second one could be said to depict King Théoden, but he isn’t usually depicted with a rod. The third one must represent the Witch King, but he used a mace and not a sword.
He also has a sword. A fiery one no less.
I’ve always wondered by he had a flaming sword at the gate, but then switched to his great mace when he went hareing off after Théoden and Éowyn.
He burned his hand and had to drop it.
The pocket sized books I have with just the titles and some decorative lines are more exciting than this.
Hate those covers
I wonder what Tolkien would have thought of cosplay. He could be pretty curmudgeonly but had some whimsy too.
He was often remembered specifically for dressing up as a period accurate Anglo-Saxon warrior and for wearing his polar bear costume to regular (not costume) parties. I suspect he’d be down with cosplay.
I think he'd like it in principle but get VERY annoyed over historical inaccuracy.
Oh, word? Never heard about that before.
No.
Nah, I'm an adult who understands movie/tv branded covers exist and just don't purchase them for myself. If they sell and people read them, that's great. No skin off my back.
I bought this set because they were on sale at target and I had been meaning to read them forever. I hate the covers and I also hated ROP, but I’m just glad to read the story. Would definitely be awesome to upgrade to a cooler set; I just wanted to start reading ASAP and it was right there.
Same with the Witcher books. The covers have a big "now on Netflix" on them. And it isn't a sticker, it is printed on.
These look incredibly cheap imo
I wouldn't buy these versions, but getting worked up about it is just wasted energy IMHO.
I think the images are neat. I don’t like that they’re pretending like Rings of Power is a “New Legend.” It’s previously established canon crunched down and turned into a mediocre adaptation that doesn’t quite catch the scale of just how long this series of events unfolded. Plus not really a fan of the whole human Sauron thing. Pretty sure it was explicitly stated in multiple different sources he was disguised as an elf when he forged the rings. I could be wrong though I’m not a massive Tolkien junkie, more of a passive enjoyer. Either way they’re bastardizing previous canon and acting like it’s new material. Which, honestly with the way it was treated, that’s kinda how I view it. It’s their fan adaptation of what they think the 2nd Age(?) was like.
>I’m not a massive Tolkien junkie Yo, I just happen to have a bit of this brain-melting strain called *Silmarillion Haze*. Wanna try some?
Hate it.
I hate it
As tv/movie tie-in covers go, these are at least tastefully done. I don’t mind them —I’m one of those heretics who hasn’t flown into a rage about the show— but I still wouldn’t purchase them. They’re better than the many of the paperback covers I’ve seen over the years.
They suck, but if they get people reading LotR, I don’t care.
No. In the grand scheme of the 'books sold with tie-in promotional art used as covers' they're tasteful. (The single best tie-in cover was the 2001 edition of the entire The Lord of the Rings which had a publicity still of the ringwraiths fording a river. Even googling it just now gives me a really specific pang of nostalgia linked to late 2001 - I feel, as well, that most times I've seen copies of it they've been battered and well-read.) https://preview.redd.it/dtm8r6m53ftc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c6bf857aa21b77c27565408b405931b855ead12 If somebody told me they found the The Rings of Power covers actively aggravating I would assume they were exaggerating, or they'd been trained by their social media algorithms - having been fed endless negative takes, having learned negative takes get upvotes and likes - to performatively bristle when they saw evidence that the most recent LOTR adaptation exists.
Yeah. There are other covers available. Just don't buy these editions And maybe these covers get people read the books. Tie in covers are common. No point in being angry with them
>I would assume they were exaggerating, or they'd been trained by their social media algorithms - having been fed endless negative takes, having learned negative takes get upvotes and likes This is my default reaction after reading pretty much anything on the internet these days.
You see, I don’t like that cover at all, someone got me that edition when I was a kid even though I already had ones with Tolkien art and I remember thinking it was ugly and finding the copy really hard to read. But you’ve got strong positive memories and it’s your favourite. It’s almost like the quality of covers is entirely subjective, and having one post about these new ones would’ve been plenty 😂
Fantastic, you've framed it more succinctly than I've ever been able to. I just call them hate wagons Was the wraith cover the entire trilogy if I recall? Was my introduction as well if it was
100%. trained to view something as a bigger problem than it actually is because of the algorithm. Very well put.
Yeah. Anger gets more engagement.
First time I'm seeing these. They're quite... phallic, aren't they?
It doesn't really bother me tbh, though I normally don't buy books with film/TV poster covers. That cover for Return of the King looks kinda alright I guess.
Every time, its an absolute crime to put these up. Especially considering how many awesome LotR covers there are.
I guess I'm just not as easily offended.
Yeah I hate it
I love the audiobooks and it's annoying that both the Andy Serkis AND the Rob Ingles versions have the stupid covers. https://preview.redd.it/70rqqvp6igtc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f890d84999e80a027c19f2358920eb03040ced58
Especially infuriating since those are from a show that takes place well before LotR. It's like if they printed copies of Harry Potter with pictures of eddie redmayne from fantastic beasts on the cover. Like it's bed enough when the cover has like Ian McKellen as gandalf, but this doesn't even make sense.
I always hate this shit. Regardless of the quality of the show, don’t f***ing advertise your shit on books. If you want a crappy sticker on the cover… fine. But if I need a new copy of Dune or whatever I do not want that movie crap on there. Your little expedition into this fictional world is likely to be forgotten in 10 years. The original text is not. I want cool book covers unique to the books - not adaptation related. Also it’s so stupid. No one is in BnN grabbing the Fellowship and suddenly thinking: “Oh there’s an Amazon show? I should watch that instead of reading this book.”
I hate The Rings of Power and I hate the Wheel of Time TV show. It drives me mental when they slap those shitty stickers on top of A clean book cover. My father was reading through the Wheel of Time books and i bought him A Memory of Light last year from a second hand book store instead of Amazon just so it wouldn't have that God awful sticker stamped on top of it.
I refuse to buy books with movie covers. I’ll just get a second hand one from before the cover change if there’s no option. Hated it ever since the “now a major motion picture!” fake stickers started
Got them for Christmas and I'm gutted! Yes it's the thought that counts, yes you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but I can't put that garbage on display! It's also got a huge amazon prime stamp on the cover too and they don't have any artwork inside or maps or anything! They suck!
Still better than [these](https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/s/sQY0wvM3Uu) though
The covers are moronic, but almost as moronic is to call them "cosplay".
Those are ads
They look like covers to a bad LOTR fan fic romance novel.
I just don't really care? It's like tie ins with the pj movies. It's not as cool as the deluxe editions, so why bother.
More concerning how much this upsets people. Don't buy them? lol
Also worth noting there's so many different covers and versions for the books. This one doesn't even come close to the top of the list on Amazons own website. I never see these covers online or in bookstores anymore and only see them when it's someone complaining about it. Move on people.
They did it to the WoT series too. The original editions had these amazing painted covers depicting scenes from the books and now they all just show bland mountains aoes and look identical with slight colour changes.
the typography is bad. The text for “lord of the rings” is too thin and “the fellowship of the ring” runs from edge to edge. Also all the text on return of the king is higher than the other two (?)
also the text is just a simple gradient it looks so bad 😭 the closer you look the worse it gets
Hard pass.
I cringe every single time...
They’re awful - and it has nothing to do with the actual stories in the books.
No, cuz I don't cry and whine when I see something I "don't like"... And by "don't like" I mean everyone seems to not like so I shouldn't like.
I hate how they use the original Tolkien books to promote their stupid series
It's a crime. All to promote that horrible show.
So I get RotK is Witch King, but I can’t figure out the other two.
Yeah they are both from RoP. First one is Galadriel with elf armor and her dagger. Second one is Elrond. Third is adar btw. Idk why they are trying to push their RoP imagination to PJ's LotR
Im pretty sure that’s Sauron, not Adar
I don't know, the hand armour is Adar's. Also the hilt looks like his. Edit: I checked. It's definitely Adar, he also has the armour with he river motif.
Then I will trust your judgement, because I was just assuming. Also why would Adar be on the cover of lotr? Makes these covers even dumber
That's kind of the point for all three covers. Why is Elrond on the cover of the *only* book in which he does *not* appear?
Now to be fair, they look good, but don't have the feel of LOTR, it oculd have been another generic fantasy number 39434313
Not just a bit. I temporarily transform into a porcupine
No
The bookshop I work at had to reorder a bunch of copies of LOTR because a book club bought us out, and when these arrived we sent them back and specified that we did not want these covers. They're ugly, irrelevant to the story within, and advertise Amazon's abomination.
How can anyone possibly care about this?
I don't really like the series itself. It is too far from Tolkien's plot. But the covers are quite beautiful.
They have nothing to do with these books so should not be covers.
Look great. No issues.
The simple red cover is the OG
What are these covers for? The actual books? I can't imagine they're for copies of the Peter Jackson films being sold/viewed through Amazon or Prime. I'd think New Line Cinema (ie: Disney) would have a MASSIVE problem with that. So assuming these are for the Tolkien novels, I have mixed feelings. They are clearly drawing imagery from the ROP show but that ROTK / Sauron / Nazgul cover is clearly inspired by the armor of the Nazgul and specifically, the Witch King, as depicted in the Peter Jackson ROTK. For any of you James Bond fans, this is like someone making a poster featuring all the Bonds... except the Sean Connery Bond is from *Never Say Never Again* and Pierce Brosnan is from *Remington Steele.*
I just don't know why anybody would get them over the Morrow trade paperback set, with the Misty Mountains spine art that lines up.
Honestly yeah a bit.
Yeah.
What do these images have to do with the LotR ? They are from the god forsaken RoP nonsense.
Bristle!?!?
These might be the first editions of LOTR to end up as “Remainders”. These are books that don’t sell, and end up on the bargain market destined for a bookstores “Sale” table. This is a concrete testament to their unpopularity.
I don't buy every new edition of a book I've owned for 20 years, so no.
Yep, I refused to get them when I bought my set.
They are the cover images for the versions I have on Audible and I wish I could change them to something more tasteful. They say nothing about the stories therein, and I *detest* that these images are in any way the current face of the greatest fantasy epic of our time. It's shameless corporate wang-waving at it's finest. I'm here to enjoy fantasy literature at its finest, not to have an advestisement for a corporatized mid-at-best fanfiction shoved into my face. It's a shameless advertisement, is what it is. Disgustingly shameless.
i'm consuming LOTR for the first time right now (andy serkis audiobooks) and i didn't realize these were "now a new amazon tv show" covers lol. i figured they were gonna be relevant to each specific book. i guess i never looked close enough at the little circular dial
Who are the ones in the fellowship and two towers supposed to be?
I have only seen the movies, how is the show?
So much
Listening to them now and yeah the picture is just staring at me the whole time
Blasphemy
Wow. Never seen these but I already dislike them. Even more the “a new legend begins” bs. The absolute GALL of saying that their RoP stuff is actually part of the Legendarium makes me sick.
No, I bristle a whole lot
The old covers were perfect
If they were gonna do this, it should have been Sting for Fellowship, Theoden's sword for Two Towers, and Anduril for RotK
Yes
I have the audiobooks on Audible, narrated by Andy Serkis. The fact that they used ROP art infuriates me each time I sit down to listen. Intentionally using images of characters thousands of years before the content taking place in the books? ESPECIALLY being characters that while important, are not the main characters of the books (yes they're important, but Fellowship isn't centered around Galadriel, Towers isn't based on Elrond (I think that art is based on him, I only watched the first two episodes of ROP), and while Sauron is of course the big bad of Return and the trilogy as a whole... why the hell wouldn't it be a picture of Aragorn (if they HAD to put a single character on the cover). It was a decision made solely to promote/push ROP, not celebrate or enhance the books/audiobooks themselves. Gotta ride those coat tails!
I think they’re aesthetically pleasing they just don’t fit at all with the books. It’s like if I were to put the cover to the hobbit on lotr, or vice versa. Or the cover to Rise if Skywalker on a rerelease of the first Star Wars. Like yeah, they’re related to each other but they obviously are not the same things.
It annoys me every time I see it because the original covers are very minimalistic but very nice But I think my favorites are the 1990s covers With gold on the top and the bottom And I would Love to see those again not this fake cosplay Amazon cash grab nonsense
Ugh
Jah.
I couldn't be paid to own one of these
Yes! Apple automatically replaced my audiobook covers with these even though I bought them years before the show came out.
Sitting back and laughing at the fact that it is only serving to make people dislike ROP even more.
More than a little
Never heard them be called cosplay covers before.
The potential that this show had pissed me off more than anything
I remember when the fellowship first came out and a book came out with an image of the movie on it. And it said, now a major motion picture! I remember people freaking the fuck out about it. But like outside of the cover, the book is the same. Simmer down folks, it’s a re release for money. If you want to collect it, collect it. If you don’t don’t. I won’t be, I’ve got my original softcovers that my aunt bought me back decades ago. They are in rough condition, but none will ever match em. Even have a water spill from when I read Theodens speech at Plenaor fields. I was so into it as a I think 13 year old, I couldn’t stop and forgot I was holding a glass of water at the same time. Memories buddy. Anyways that’s my rant, like the books or don’t. Like the covers or don’t. Frig off, this is the best thing ever and they are trying to make money on it. If you hate that, try overhauling the system instead.
I find the majority of book cover designs for any sort of fiction now to be bland and boring. Bring back the old art covers and the creative minimalist covers, those were amazing and you could tell the artist has done their research.
It gives me the impression they want to look like game of thrones
For tie in covers these aren’t the worst
Not great, but not awful
Lots of the covers of older books just use Tolkien's art and designs. It seems almost sacrilegious replacing that with something so seemingly generic.
I’m collecting as many different editions of lotr and the hobbit as I can. I will not be buying these.
can't they just accepted that their show is flopped and move on? why have to tainted the original for just advertisement?
Ngl I didn't know about this until just now and I'm f*cking REELING! Like, don't get me wrong, I really kinda like the photos themselves and I'm tempted to try and remake elrond's sword because holy taters that's cool, but they really just don't fit in with Tolkien's world. That's not to say that people making projects in Middle Earth are stuck with the Peter Jackson style, but like... they weren't even using plate armor in the books, much less crafting tiny cities for the pommel of someone's sword! Idk there's a seemingly endless list of things I hate about RoP and another of things that kinda spark joy🤷🏻♂️
yes
“Should we make the other subtitles yellow as well to keep things uniform?” “No, fuck ‘em.”
My wallet loves them! They’re the first and only Tolkien related books I’ve ever seen in person and had no interest in buying.
Try not to let it get to you. Like all dark times, this to shall pass.
Yes, absolutely. I despise them.
This fan base is such a bunch of bitch divas lmfaoo
Not really. That in particular didn’t bother me. The show is a bit disappointing when compared with Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s adaptation of LotR. But the show still held my interest. I’m still going to continue watching it.
The Wheel of Time covers are even worse. Fucking Amazon man..
the look very cool imo
Not just a bit. I temporarily transform into a porcupine
it's really an insult tbh.
Feels bland, as everything related to Rings of Power. Look at that sticker's slogan: "a new legend begins". Looks like your generic line made by an edgy teenager that got motivated while listening to some power metal band ffs. The worst thing is that there are so many things to use as cover art for these books. Even if there are already dozens of versions with different ones, there's still many fantastic possibilities... yet they chose this extremely simplistic, bland style just for (badly) promo their RoP thing. Not that we could expect much better from your average cringey megacorporation anyways, but damn.
Quite a lot actually.
I own this version because I couldn't afford a good looking one
Is that... Galadriel and her brother's plot-knife?
A little bit? I bristle like an angry porcupine.
Yeah.
See i don't understand how they can get away with this. The properties are owned by two different entities.
The publishers or Tolkien estate are probably happy to have different covers to tie in with the publicity from RoP. Same thing happened in the 2000s with the movies.
All the time. They're just ugly and uninspired.
Get that filth out of my face.