PART I - Judging a Book By It's Cover?

Lately, I've found myself sucked into a seriously High Fantasy novel (and by this I mean fire breathing dragons who can talk. Yes, yes, I know; please don't ask.) And, I have to say, I find it incredibly fascinating in the way book covers periodically get the ol' redo - particularly those of the fantasy/sci-fi genre.

Case in point: Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. First off, I must say that I have quite surprisingly and entirely unexpectedly found this to be a very addictive storyline. Finished Book 1 awhile back, thought I was through and then, just the other day, found myself picking up Book 2 because...

I have got. To see. What happens. Next.

Who knew? It has all the basic goods you'd expect to find a good fantasy novel: a brave unassuming hero, a powerful Wizard father-like figure; a dark force of evil that must be defeated; a love interest which can never be...the usual stuff. And alas, I have fallen under its' spell.

So, I was looking at the original edition's cover art and the more recent edition's cover art (don't ask how/why I have both editions - it's one of those bibliophile problems that occurs when you forget you already own a book) and thought....WOW. What a difference.

Here is the first cover for Book 1, Wizard's First Rule:
(Richard our hero, astride the dragon; Kahlan, the Confessor in white gown, and Zed, resident Wizard of the First Order in dark robe with flowing white mane.)

And more recently, the NEW cover for this same exact title:

Ack! Where did everybody go?! Looks like my fire breathing, talking, red dragon got the axe for the new cover (poor thing. I really like her); and Richard and Kahlan seem to be wandering the woods alone. Our author name certainly got a more attention grabbing font size, along with a "New York Times Bestselling Author" mention!

It's just like the David Bowie tune goes: "Ch-ch-ch-changes...!"

(To come in PART II - what happens when you throw in a film/TV adaptation?)