Hi James, I presume.
I just got my copy of Lord Of Runes and I wanted to comment on the maps at the front - I presume the Inner Sea Map facing the "novel area map" is likely to be common going forward?
First off - I love the inclusion of a map in fantasy novels. It doesn't matter how eloquent the characters are during the story when they describe the geography, nothing beats turning to the front of the book and seeing the tower of doom, right there between the hidden temple and the village of woe.
I'm also a big fan of the inner sea map facing the more detailed area pertaining to the novel. Personally, I would have liked a little dashed outline on the world map, placing the restricted area within the world context, but that may look ugly with the single colour, line drawing style, I guess.
My big criticism is that the inner sea map looks so crowded and messy. I dare say it took several iterations and there's probably all sorts of constraints I'm clueless about. Nonetheless, I think it warrants a second attempt if it's going to feature in future novels - I know the inner sea really well and that map didn't jump out as familiar to me. Nor was it a pleasure to browse through looking for landmarks.
I do like the bigger format and presumably that's part of why an inner sea map is even possible. Nonetheless, I think the one in this book is just trying a little bit too hard.
Cheers
I honestly suspect that the Inner Sea map is as good as it can be considering the page size. Maybe it'd be better to use a map of either Avistan or Garund, or flip it 90 degrees and make it a two-pager (with a square or other appropriate symbol showing where the area that the novel-specific map is showing is)?
You may be right. I think part of it is the style though - the rivers and mountains seem a little too emphasised, to me. I think it could be clearer if it had just a little less going on.