Apparently 2020 is the year of black covers over here in Sci-Fi/Fantasy land. It wasn’t until after I was looking at my pre-order list that I realized just how many there are, but golly y’all, every book I’ve bought or pre-ordered this year except for one has had a black cover! I wonder if this is something that’s intentional marketing (maybe black books are selling better right now?) or whether it’s just a coincidence. It might say something about how darker books are more popular right now too.
Anyway, I’m not complaining because all of these book covers are just jaw-dropping. Some seriously awesome cover design.
These are in no particular order.
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
In this case I think the black cover is definitely meant to reflect the content of the book. I think there’s dark magic involved, and the school involved seems like it’s probably a pretty dark place in every meaning of the word. Anyway, this cover is sooooo cool looking. I love its simplicity and the way the gold pops against the black. A Deadly Education comes out in September.
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
I mean, it’s a book about necromancers in space. Of course it’s got a dark cover, lol. I actually like this cover even more than Gideon‘s cover because I love the way the designer played with the blue light while keeping the cover dark and moody. It’s so striking!
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
This black cover that is meant to represent the darkness of a solar eclipse, which seems to be the central event of the book. This cover is definitely unusual, and it’s very evocative of an ancient time. Black Sun comes out in October.
The Angel of Crows by Katherine Addison
This cover I’m not too sure about the why behind the color, other than that maybe a good chunk of the book takes place at night? There’s certainly lots about werewolves and vampires in the blurb. Also crows are black. But mostly I think we’re supposed to understand that this book has a dark feel? Anyway, it’s literally impossible to go wrong with a London skyline, and I love this cover design. My order is finally here, so I can’t wait to read this book soon!!
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
How delightfully moody is this cover?!?! I have aboslutely nothing to say about it, it’s PERFECT. It sets the tone for the book beautifully. My pre-order only just came in (it took a while!), but I’m very excited to finally read it.
Other black books out this year
Even the books that I haven’t pre-ordered are all black too! Here are some more books either out or coming out in 2020 with black covers:
- Invisible Life of Addie Larou by V.E. Schwab
- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
- The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
- A Peculiar Peril by Jeff VanderMeer
- To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Have you read or pre-orderd any of these books? Are there any more black covers you’ve seen this year? Let me know in the comments!
Never Not Reading 
Huh, I JUST kind of realized that. I guess it’s kind of fitting, considering how 2020 has panned out…? I do love a lot of these and I’m always a sucker for black-gold combinations. 😀 Excited to get to Year of the Witching too! I hope it’s as dark and moody as it looks
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Agreed, black and gold look fabulous together. I didn’t realize that The Year of the Witching has gold accents, but it does too! I especially love when they have metallic shimmer.
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Love me some black-covered books.
It didn’t come out this year, but I recently read The Sixth Lamentation, a Holocaust novel with a black cover.
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There were several books with black covers last year too, weren’t there? The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Starless Sea both come to mind.
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Ahhh I have not heard of A Deadly Education but I want to read it now!! I really need to read Spinning Silver ASAP.
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Spinning Silver is so good! I have loved everything by Naomi Novik so far, but I think Uprooted is my favorite.
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I can’t wait to read Harrow the Ninth, A Deadly Education, and Addie LaRue. I keep hearing great things about those books!!
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I just finished Harrow, and WOW
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ASDFGASDASD that makes me even more excited. I have to wait at least a month for my copy to arrive!!!
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So long! I’m sorry 😦
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Funnily enough because of that bookstagram black stacks challenge I was just confronted with the fact that I own hardly any black books. My collection definitely falls into the pastel end of the spectrum. Maybe it’s a genre thing?
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Definitely! YA books tend to be more bright and colorful, and literary fiction also has a lot of bright colors right now. I usually think of fantasy as having lots of great colors on the cover too, but I think dark fantasy is more popular at the moment than whimsical.
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