The cover for Mark Lawrence’s upcoming book, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, which is the first instalment of a new trilogy, was revealed yesterday on his UK publisher’s, Harper Voyager’s social media channels.
I have asked him a few questions about the cover art.
Mark, I know you were familiar with the work of the cover artist, Tom Roberts already.
Yes, Tom sent me this print as a gift back in 2014 – he was picking up Prince of Fools to read at the time. 9 years later my publisher picks him to do the cover of my latest book. I loved his work from the start but it had never been a great fit for my books until the Library Trilogy.
Is that art related to any of your books? Or why did he send that particular one, do you know?
No, I think it was just one of the prints he had on sale at the time – his best/most popular work at the time.
How do you like the cover? Do you think it reflects the essence of the book and how you feel about libraries?
The cover is excellent – it has some faint echoes of MC Escher for me and captures the idea of a place you can get lost in, full of books you can get even more lost in. I asked him to add the raven to make a specific point of contact with the story, and he did. He had also done an alternate colouring of the image and the plan is to use that on the special edition (details of which will follow later).
Very many thanks to Ellie Game Deputy Art Director and Tom Roberts for the wonderful cover!
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn will be released in May 2023, you can pre-order it on Amazon:
A boy has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.
A girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where nightmares stalk and no one goes.
The world has never even noticed them. That’s about to change.
Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty, and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.
that thorn guy 
This is book is going to be EPIC!!!
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I can’t wait to see the special edition cover too! So excited for this book. 📖 😍
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