This past winter I spend my night with George R.R. Martin. By Day I was a ordinary grad student but by moonlight I was a traveler through Westeros. If you have not read these books yet I highly recomd them. They are a very quick read to spite all the books being over a 1,000 pages.
But I was very very disappointed by the covers of the books. Such vivid books with such wimpy covers. I understand that it is hard to create covers for books in a series but it always struck me as lazy to put a none specific medieval -like object on the cover.
If I was given the freedom to create a new series of covers I would put maps on the covers of the ever changing and every expanding world. The first book would have a map of Westeros (North and South). But as the series went on I would have a bigger and more vivid map, showing the other lands that have come into play.
The idea for the covers would be similar the the opening credits for the T.V. Show.
