I’ve never particularly liked this cover. I don’t think it sells the story very well, and while the faceless ( a cult who tattoos and mutilates themselves to look like they are skull faced ), are an important part of the story, I’d rather have seen something more symboic, perhaps representations of each of the curses, or even a traditional fantasy illustration of the characters. The new edition has only the skull face – and I wonder how many people buying this are expecting a horror story. It seems both odd and misleading to have a title like ‘The Cursed’, and a cover of someone who is not cursed.
I noticed recently that Dave Duncan’s back catalogue is available in ebook format at greatly reduced prices, so I bought all my favorites from years back to give a re-read. This is one that I remember re-reading frequently, and my paperback is currently in the depths of our storage unit so it was nice to re-read.
In one sentence: Sympathy for the survivors of a psychic power bestowing illness leads a woman to into an unexpected fate.
( This has to be one of the hardest books to summarize into one sentence I’ve ever had to do. I’m still not happy with it. )
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