We’re excited to share the cover for Elizabeth Bear’s The Stone in the Skull—the first book in a new trilogy set in the world of the Eternal Sky. The series makes a great entry point for new readers and fans alike who wish to explore Bear’s exotic and intriguing fantasy world, as The Stone in the Skull takes readers over the dangerous mountain passes of the Steles of the Sky and south into the Lotus Kingdoms.
Check out the full cover by artist Richard Anderson below!
Book one in the Lotus Kingdoms trilogy, The Stone in the Skull publishes October 10th with Tor Books. From the catalog copy:
The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from a the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort.
They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire.
It looks just like the Guild Wars 2 art style.
<p
I am SO on board!
This is lovely, but I’ve got to admit I’m sad this series isn’t being illustrated by the same person who did the Eternal Sky covers. Those were some of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen.
Agree with 3. Beautiful cover (reminds me of the Dinosaur Lords series a bit too much, though obviously it is the same artist), but I loved the Donato Giancola art on TES books.
I’m just thrilled by this amazing cover!
That was a bad day at work for the Dead Man.
Back to the copy edits on the manuscript in five, four, three–
This is by the same guy who does The Dinosaur Lords covers, right? Gods, I could stare at his art forever.
Can. Not. Wait.
Not enthused about the cover, but SQUEE at the prospect of another Eternal Sky book. I probably won’t remember anything useful about the trilogy’s plot by then, but I could barely follow it while reading the books anyway. They’re just beautiful.
8. I thought that was just me! I enjoyed the first book but found the politics utterly impenetrable. I never read book two because I was worried I’d forgotten what little I’d grasped.
It didn’t help that I was listening to the audiobooks and didn’t think to locate the map online until I was reading the third book, so spent most of the trilogy with no idea where the people and places were in relation to each other and no visualization of their travels.