Ishmael wrote:And this time slightly more carefully. I would appreciate comments if anyone has the time.

My first comment on this would be, what is the genre? My expectation, because I am familiar with the author, is that it is somehow speculative, but I'm afraid I get absolutely no feeling of that from the cover. A reader should be able to identify the genre fairly closely from the cover, and what I get from this is possibly a travel book. I don't speak Latin, so I'm afraid if the words on the book the woman is holding are supposed to get this information across, it does not work for me.
The other gut reaction I have is that the large woman's head looming over the ocean might be symbolic of a godlike being that can influence what's happening in the world (Greek god-like.) She also looks very serene, which may or may not be accurate to the book, but the serenity again speaks to me of a fairly mellow sort of book. Is this the case?
Sorry to come across as overall negative on this, but those are my immediate reactions, just glancing at it. If I were looking at books, this is one I would not pick up, because it does not look like the genre or pacing of a book that I would generally choose to read.
Others may have different reactions.