New Cover Art from Angry Robot

Angry Robot Books, a publisher becoming slightly renowned for urban/historical fantasy, announced the addition of Anne Lyle to their stable of authors earlier this year.  Her new series titled Night's Masque will begin with the first installment The Alchemist of Souls next April.  Today, they unveiled the cover for Lyle's debut.

Hi-Res Version

I think it's quite good and the overall tone reminds me of the cover from The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood.  It should since both were done by artist Larry Rostant.  There's definitely a photorealism theme afoot right now in the cover art world.  I'm not sure I love the general trend, but this is one of the better ones.

Personally, I'm a sucker for historical fiction, especially when it's historical fantasy fiction.  Currently, this fancy is being tickled by Mark Hodder's The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (a rather good read, review to come soon).  Here's the blurb for The Alchemist of Souls from Anne Lyle's site:

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods—and a skrayling ambassador—to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?

Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador’s bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally—and Mal his soul.