Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s prompt is a cover freebie and after settling down to the subject of crows, I had a surprisingly hard time narrowing this down to just ten books. The corvid family is super popular with book designers and authors alike. They’re intelligent, beautiful and full of symbolism, what’s not to love?
I’ve made a reasonable effort to find and credit the artists but sometimes they are inhouse covers and don’t get credited separately.
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
This is just one of my favourite covers all round. Mia’s family name is implied to mean crow and it’s one of her nicknames. Illustration by Kerby Rosanes, you can see some work in progress pictures here.
The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed
I still haven’t read this, I still love the cover. It’s clearly a magpie. Illustration by Veronica Park.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Serapio of the Carrion Crow family becomes the Crow God, is that enough crow for you? Illustration by John Picacio.
The Magpie Society: One For Sorrow
The old magpie rhyme has significance in this YA dark academia and I love the inky magpie illustration. Illustration by Khius.
Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver
The main character befriends a magpie in this Gothic horror. Another inky magpie gracing the cover.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
I have only just noticed that the skyline of Ketterdam is pictured in the negative space of the crow’s wing, on both books. I guess I was too absorbed in the world and fantastic characters to pay much attention to the cover. Illustration by Rich Deas.
Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine
I like the detail of the crow on this one and they look a bit like an adorable fledgling. I read this too long ago to remember if the crow is relevant or not.
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
I love the whole aesthetic of this cover. Design by Natasha MacKenzie.
Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May
You might just think this has a generic bird on, but the setting is Crow Island and crows are significant enough in the book that I am declaring that silhouette a crow. Design by Lisa Marie Pompilio.
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I love crows and if I chose one of yours it would be paper and fire. I’m asking a question in all seriousness because I don’t know, is a magpie a type of crow? Fun theme you chose this week.
Yes! The crow family includes magpies and jays. They do look quite different but the sounds they make are definitely crowlike.
I love this theme. Crows are incredible animals.
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-with-curly-haired-characters-on-the-cover/
Very cool theme! I still need to read Black Sun!!
My Top Ten!
Great choice! Crows are definitely very popular! I love that cover for A Lesson in Vengeance as I’ve never seen it before. Also love the Black Sun cover—it’s stunning!
Fantastic list! And such gorgeous covers… who knew crows were so popular.
Black Sun and Nevernight are on my TBR. Six of Crows is one of my favorite books, and I read and enjoyed A Lesson in Vengeance, but the cover was very different with pink flowers and cobwebs. And I think I’m going to add most of the rest of these books to my TBR… 😊😉
Wow, I never realized how many books have crows on the cover. Great list! Have you checked out The Raven Boys?
Yes, I’ve read the first three books but never get round to reading the last. I guess I lost momentum. I don’t love the covers though, so that’s why none of them are here.
Makes sense.
Such a great take on the topic – crows are amazing animals and perfect for book covers 🙂
Wow all of these are so beautiful! Also, I hadn’t noticed the skyline on Six of Crows either, wow I love the attention to detail. All of these look so epic thanks for sharing!
Glad I’m not the only one who missed it!
I love all of these! I really need to read the Six of Crows duology, everything I’ve heard about it makes it sound exactly like the type of book I’d love! But these beautiful covers are making my TBR list longer! 😂
Happy Reading! <3
I really like the muted colour effect on The Annual Migration of Clouds.
I love these covers so much. A lot of them feel so mysterious. I think my favorite is the very last one. It just draws me right in with promises of the supernatural. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Corvids are amazing birds, and quite intelligent. I like that you included magpies in your collection of corvid covers, but I kept waiting for a ravens to show up. As for the specific books you included, Six of Crows is on my TBR list, and several of the others are on my “someday” list (as in, I’d like to read them someday.) Great choices!
The only obvious raven books on my shelves are ones where I don’t rate the cover design, so I didn’t want to include them. Though maybe I could have found Quoth on a Discworld cover.
Crows are such fierce birds. They make covers pop. I love the ones you chose.
Great topic and picks for this one! I really love the cover for Black Sun.
What an interesting take on the prompt! I would never have imagined there to be so many crows on covers. That last one is stunning!
FangirlFlax @ FangirlFlax
https://fangirlflax.wordpress.com/2022/04/26/top-ten-tuesday-five-books-with-cartoon-couples-on-the-cover/
Six of Crows is the only one I really know and while I’m still mildly curious about the plot, I feel like I’m less and less likely to read those books. But… who knows! 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland this week.
Thanks for the visit – clever idea for a theme – and it actually gives lots of different looking covers! Looking forward to next week.
Fun choice of topic! I’ve read a couple of these, Six of Crows which is one of my favourite books (and I never noticed the skyline of Ketterdam on the cover either!) and Paper and Fire, I don’t remember the crow being all that significant, but it’s been about five years since I read it, so take that with a pinch of salt. I also love the whole aesthetic of the cover of A Lesson In Vengeance too.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2022/04/26/top-ten-tuesday-365/
I love the cover for Six of Crows and honestly thought the skyline of Ketterdam was the neatest thing when I was looking for covers during a school project. It’s very subtle, too since the attention drawn right away to the crow dominating the cover – I don’t think I would’ve noticed it without specifically looking for it while working on the project!
I love the cover for The Magpie Society as well – especially with the play with the colors of the title and the overall minimal look that also speaks a lot.
Love your choice of topic. Hollow Kingdom is another great cover that features a crow. 🙂