Hello and welcome to this Cover Reveal article here on Track of Words – for today’s article I’m really, really excited to give you an exclusive first look at the frankly amazing cover art for David Annandale’s Reign of the Devourer, which is the sequel to The Harrowing of Doom and David’s second novel in the Marvel: Untold range from Aconyte Books. I absolutely loved the first book, which I described in my review as mixing “gothic tragedy and bold, cinematic action…to create something powerful and exciting, and it proves to be as spectacular, characterful and downright entertaining as any Marvel movie.” I’m genuinely excited to read the follow up!
Reign of the Devourer is coming in early 2022, but while we wait for it to come out we can at least enjoy the fantastic cover art! I’ve asked David for a few thoughts on both the cover and what we can expect from the novel, and I’ll include the book’s synopsis below as well, but without further ado let’s take a look at that brilliant cover, with artwork by Fabio Listrani:
Click on the image to see the full-sized version
How about that, then? Bold and in your face, clearly signposting its comic book origins but with a little edge of creepiness that nicely reflects David’s general style! I absolutely love it. Fabio Listrani has done a few covers for Aconyte now, including The Harrowing of Doom and the none-more-metal Witches Unleashed, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Check out his Artstation page for more of his work!
Now you’ve seen the cover though, let’s take a look at the synopsis for Reign of the Devourer:
The notorious Doctor Doom’s endless craving for power unleashes a soul-destroying plague on the world, in the latest devastating Marvel Untold novel
Victor von Doom saw his future for an instant, and now he cannot rest. His obsession with regaining those memories leads him into the arcane science of geomancy. As he delves into the ancient memories that lie beneath his land, Doom discovers a tremendous concentration of power… one that should never be explored. Doom’s excavations and necromancy fracture the prison of something awful: the Devourer of Souls. Now free to roam Latveria, the Devourer spreads a plague of soul-hungry vampires. Doom must choose between seizing this power for himself or destroying it, before his realm is no more.
I think this sounds like a great sequel to The Harrowing of Doom, and it promises to be another gripping tale exploring this darkly compelling character. If you haven’t already read The Harrowing of Doom I would really recommend you check it out, but for now let’s hear from David about what he thinks of the cover art, and what else we can expect from Reign of the Devourer.
Track of Words: What do you make of the cover for Reign of the Devourer?
David Annandale: I absolutely love it. I’m really, completely, over-the-moon-and-beyond in love with it. I think it perfectly captures what I’m going for in the novel — a sense of gothic horror and Doctor Doom’s bigger-than-life presence.
ToW: How does this artwork compare to the image you have in your head for the overall book, or the character(s)/scene that it represents?
DA: It is absolutely what I had in mind. Nick Tyler [from Aconyte] contacted me early on in the writing process to get my notes on what the urvullak (the monsters in the novel) looked like, so he could pass that on to Fabio Listrani. As a result, I’ve had the cover before my eyes for the latter part of the writing. So as with Curse of Honor, my writing has been further inspired by the cover of the very book I’ve been working on. That’s a pretty special treat.
ToW: What can we expect from Reign of the Devourer as a novel?
DA: The novel picks up in the aftermath of The Harrowing of Doom, with Doom obsessed with finding, and taking possession of, the repository of all memory. This quest has terrible consequences, leading to a plague of a kind of soul-devouring vampire. Along with plenty of spookiness, readers should expect to see still more of life in Latveria, and to see how Doom deals with the results of his own megalomaniacal projects. Much of the cast from the first book is back too, with Dr. Orloff playing a key role this time around.
My initial point of inspiration was asking myself one day, “How would Doctor Doom deal with Salem’s Lot?” And though the book has developed beyond that initial ‘what if?’, that kernel of inspiration is still there. The literature of the Romantic period remains an influence, as with The Harrowing of Doom. Classic horror movies are too. The Universal and Hammer nods are present again, but I’m also drawing more heavily for Reign of the Devourer on the films of the European mainland. Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond, in particular, lurks behind a key element of the book.
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Massive thanks to David for taking the time to talk to me about Reign of the Devourer, and to Aconyte Books for working with me for this cover reveal! To find out more about David Annandale’s writing, check out all of the reviews and interviews I’ve published for his work on Track of Words.
See also: my interview with David discussing The Harrowing of Doom
See also: my review of The Harrowing of Doom
I hope this has got you interested in Reign of the Devourer – it’s due out in global ebook and US paperback in January 2022, with the UK paperback following in February 2022, and it’s available to pre-order right now!
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David Annandale is a lecturer at a Canadian university on subjects ranging from English literature to horror films and video games. He is the author of many novels in the New York Times-bestselling Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000 universe, and a co-host of the Hugo Award-nominated podcast Skiffy and Fanty.
Check out David’s website for more information.
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