In all the talk about diversity and inclusivity in books, it’s been pointed out that there are not a lot of covers out there that feature POC characters—even when the book itself does. But representation is important, both in books and on the covers, and I love collecting pretty covers to share with you all, so I thought it would be a great idea to highlight some of the amazing covers out there that do have POC characters on them!
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The Wrath & Athenaeum Series by Na’amen Tilahun
The art is great, there’s this cool border effect going on, and there’s even a little skyline on the bottom with a reflection (possibly meant to portray the alternate dimension/mirror city aspect)!
Dominion Series by Lissa Kasey
I’ve always thought the art for these covers was beautiful!
Want by Cindy Pon
Again, beautiful art, and it has this amazing sci-fi feel!
Master Assassins by Robert V.S. Redick
Really, is this not some fantastic artwork??? There’s even someone riding a giant sabertooth!
Shatterproof by Xen Sanders
This one is kind of subtle, not that much going on, but that intense stare also makes it so eye-catching.
Iron Cast by Destiny Soria
This is also somewhat simple but beautiful with such pretty colors.
Song of the Shattered Sands Series by Bradley P. Beaulieu
These are so gorgeous and detailed! I especially love the first with the glowing symbols.
Binti Series by Nnedi Okorafor
These are so bold and eye-catching!
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
This one is also bold and eye-catching, and the color combo is AMAZING.
Temper by Nicky Drayden
The artwork, all the blue, the font, the moon in the background, I love everything about this one!
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Nice topic. Man, I haven’t seen one of these posts in a while. 🙂 I like the Beaulieu covers the best- especially Of Sand and Malice Made. that one’s pretty amazing. But With Blood Upon The Sand and A veil of Spears are also awesome. All three of those rock actually.
The Binti covers are nice too, and Master Assassins is kinda cool too with that sabertooth.
Yeah I realized I hadn’t done one of these since July I think! All of those covers are so pretty! But I honestly couldn’t even pick a favorite. The master assassins one is really awesome though!
These are all so gorgeous, but the standouts have to be Children of Blood and Bone and Binti.
I really can’t choose, but I agree those are some of the best ones!
I LOVE the cover of Children of Blood and Bone! It’s so beautiful!
It really is beautiful!
I love this post😁 I’ve always loved the Binti covers and of course Children of Blood and Bone is stunning!
Thanks! They are all so gorgeous!
That’s so true! I love the Children of Blood and Bones! With Flame in the Mist you also get a POC on the cover 😉
That one is such a gorgeous one! Oh, I hadn’t seen the cover with a person’s face on it, it’s pretty!
These are some great covers; I think my favorite is Iron Cast. I also love the cover for Song of Blood and Stone!
Amber Elise @ Du Livre
The cover for iron cast is so pretty! I just looked up the other one you mentioned, and that one is super pretty too!
I have never seen the Binti covers before. They are really striking. I like the Iron Cast one a lot too. I don’t know why, but I am partial to headless people on covers.
They are striking, aren’t they? I know exactly what you were saying, but the way you said you like headless people on covers just sounds really funny LOL.
I really like the Children of Blood and Bone cover, though I still need to read that one. I do agree that there should be more POC on covers though, especially since we get so many white girl covers. LOL
-Lauren
I haven’t read it either, but it has such a gorgeous cover! And we should definitely have more POC covers!
Great topic. I love the Iron Cast and Binti covers. <3
Thanks! Those are such pretty ones!
I can’t think of as many covers with POC people on the color. I remember Susan Kaye Quinn has a series with a people of color on each cover in her steampunk series and Chloe Adler has a nice cover with a person of color on it, Synergist. SJ Pajonas used to have Asian people on her covers, but most of them have inanimate objects, silhouettes or spacey art now I think. I still love the initial Summer Haikus cover she had, it was so cute and fitting for the book.
Temper is a great cover indeed, it’s one that caught my attention when I first saw it. And those covers for Songs of the Shattered Sand are great too. The Dominion covers have some nice artwork too. Iron Cast is simple, but pretty and the style really works for that cover. That’s awesome someone is riding a giant saber tooth on that Masters Assassins cover.
I’m sorry, I can’t look those up right now because my arms are killing me and I’m using speech to text on my phone to respond to comments 🙁 but that’s awesome that you know of some more sci-fi and fantasy books with POC covers!
Temper is definitely among my favorites on this list. There’s just something about it! But they’re all so pretty.
Yay for POC on book covers! I have read 2 of the ones you featured here – Children of the Blood and Bone and Iron Cast, both of which I really enjoyed. I can’t wait to read Destiny Soria’s recent release. I really want to read a Binti one too, book one is on my wishlist. One of my favourite covers with a POC is Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann. Admittedly, the cover was what initially attracted me to the book 😀
I’ve read several from this list, but not the two you’ve read. I’m glad to hear they were good! Ooh, I just looked up the one you mentioned, and that is pretty! I love the pop of purple!
So many great covers here. The one for Children of Blood and Bone is one of my all-time favorite covers. It’s just so gorgeous.
It really is!
I’ve been super i love with CoSaB and Iron Cast’s cover all year! Loved discovering all of these! I can always count on you to bring to my attention the best covers around! xoxo
They are such gorgeous covers! Thanks :-*
I love how you collate these posts and hadn’t realised the last one was so long ago. They must take ages to pit together.
I need to read more Nnedi Okorafor. I loved Lagoon, but that’s all of hers I’ve read so far.
Thanks! I hadn’t realized it had been so long either. I’ve learned to collect covers as I go, to save good ones and then put a post together once I have enough. They kind of are a lot of work though! I haven’t read any of her books, but I’m glad to hear the one you read was great!
I’m so happy that publishers have finally woken up to whitewashing covers. There still need to be more and in more genres as well – it’s still slow going in contemporary romance for example but overall we’re headed in the right direction.
And the books have been successful – so no more excuses.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
Agreed! I can’t speak for other genres since I don’t read them, but I’m sure we need more POC covers in all genres.
Love all of these. I haven’t read Iron Cast, but that cover always catches my eye. One of these days I’m definitely going to pick that one up.
It is a very pretty cover!
That Want cover is so creepy! It’s why I’ve gone back and forth about reading it. I can see why readers are attracted to Children of Blood and Bone and Binti… what powerful statements their covers make. I can’t believe it was July since your last cover post! ♥️
Huh, that’s interesting, I’ve never thought of the Want cover as being creepy. Seriously, I don’t know how I let so much time pass between cover posts!