Shadowhawk takes a look at the two covers from Orbit for Murr Lafferty’s Shambling Guides series.

“The first cover is very Fables-esque in its atmosphere and feel, which is great for me since I happen to love Fables. And the second cover gives off a great fairy-tale fantasy feel, very light-hearted in tone and cheekily mysterious.” ~Shadowhawk

From everything I’ve seen so far, 2013 appears to be the year for great covers, just as 2012 was but even better. The art team at Orbit Books has definitely been going full-steam ahead at bringing out some truly great covers for their upcoming books. Mur Lafferty, best known for her Afterlife series as well as being the host and presenter for several well-known podcasts, has at least two books out from Orbit this year. The first of these, The Shambling Guide To New York City, released this past Thursday, and the sequel, The Ghost Train To New Orleans, follows later this year.

I haven’t read any of Mur’s previous novels, but reading the blurb for The Shambling Guide To New York City has gotten me really interested, not to mention that the covers for both novels are plain fantastic. The casualness of the “weirdness” in the first book’s cover is complemented really well with the relaxed and dreamy feel of the second book’s cover. And overall, I find the second cover is much better than the first, since it keeps the protagonist front and center and also suggests some really cheeky mysteries.

I definitely need to to reading these books!

What do you think of the covers? Do you like them? Hate them? Ambivalent? Share your thoughts in the comments!