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Originally Posted by davem
You know, I find the same thing with the cover paintings on fantasy novels - so beautiful, mysterious & evocative...yet when you read the synopsis on the back, or skim the pages, its the usual stuff about 'Dark Lords, hapless heroes, magical talismans' & such. If only the story lived up to the cover.....
(And to be honest, I don't suppose Erik's story would have lived up to that wonderful set up.....
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We must have read different fantasy novels
. I usually have had the opposite experience: if there's a book that speaks to me, it's despite the cover (and any other illustrations) not because of it. And often in such cases it's the content that's "beautiful, mysterious & evocative"; the pictures fail because they are too (and wrongly) specific. Movies similarly, natch, though it's somewhat easier for a movie: it doesn't need to capture it in a single scene and can take longer to get you used to their vision. Two exceptions: many of Pauline Baynes' illustrations for Narnia seemed just right, and the Shire in the LOTR movies was immediately, and continues to be, very satisfying to me.