Arise<\/em> is the follow-up to the very well-received Awake<\/em>. \u00a0Where we looked at psychology in a fantasy world with the first book in this series, with dreams, guilt, post traumatic stress and so on, in Arise<\/em>, we knew we needed to raise the bar somewhat. \u00a0With Venathryn cured of the dreamplague, we needed a new challenge for Maravek in the follow up. \u00a0He and Vandelas head to Versali-Virai, a land far away, to help the people there with an even greater threat that comes when they should be slumbering.<\/p>\n Here’s how we started piecing together the cover:<\/p>\n The first thing you’ll likely notice is just how busy the cover is. \u00a0There is a lot going on in this story. \u00a0It’ll be fighting with The Fall<\/em> for the biggest cast, I’m sure. \u00a0Whereas Awake<\/em> focused on just two characters (and only one on the cover), we have a quartet of powered individuals that grace the cover of Arise<\/em>.<\/p>\n We opted to go with this variant of the original sketch, because it gives a more gloomy, monstrous feel. \u00a0Our characters are in for a pretty decent fight on account of the mob of villagers, the spell being enacted on the minotaur statue and the shadow creature in the back there.<\/p>\n Here, the landscape is put together a lot more. \u00a0Leo did a beautiful job bringing Versali-Virai to life in one of its darkest hours. \u00a0You can see the bazaar in the background there, and the gorgeous architecture even further in the distance.<\/p>\n The minotaur also gets a fresher coat of paint, and it makes him look plenty imposing. \u00a0It’s still coming together at this point though.<\/p>\n Two of our leads are fully realized at this point\u2014well, except for Maravek’s feet. \u00a0There’s a good reason for that though! \u00a0Joining him on the front cover is Venathryn, our hero from the first book. \u00a0She went over so well for so many people, we had to figure out a way to get her involved, and we pulled some pretty cool strings to get everything working the right way.<\/p>\n Both the crowd and the looming shadow are given some badass new looks here. \u00a0There’s a lot of that red magic floating around, so you can see that this locale is a bit more dangerous than a few goblins in a forest.<\/p>\n We’re almost to the end here. \u00a0Our other two leads, Vandelas and Faradorn, grace the back of our cover. \u00a0Vandelas was introduced in Awake<\/em> as another elf in Venathryn’s sect, while Faradorn was introduced in the short story The City of Light and Darkness<\/em>.<\/p>\n![\"arise1\"](\"http:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/arise1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n