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Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Murder Mystery, January 2024

Ownership: Subscribed on their 6 boxes option. If you are interested in purchasing an Illumicrate subscription, you can do it on their website.

Illumicrate is a book subscription box, it usually features fantasy and sci-fi but not exclusively young adult, sometimes it features adult too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.

A start of a new year of book boxes, so let’s see how well we do start a year. From the leaflet and going clockwise:

• Murder Mystery leaflet
• Voyage of the Damned is the featured read, and honestly this kinda escaped my radar at some point and it hasn’t really caught my attention much, so still unread and unsure of when it will be read.
• The Best Stories fandom neutral reusable sticker book designed by Chatty Nora. Who doesn’t like a sticker book? I still have a Winnie the Pooh one I had as a kid, and a new one is never a bad thing.
• Crescent City bookmarks. I know it is from this series, but generally do not care for character bookmarks.
• Library stamp, which I did not keep since I have my own embosser.
• Underneath it all, an apron with spooky tasty treats, also not keps since the sizing doesn’t work for me sadly.

In general, probably not the best box and not the best start (but then I am not comparing with other January boxes). I only really kept one item and the rest didn’t hit it with me, so it felt like a big miss overall, which is a shame.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

Rating:

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

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I think Becky Chambers asks some of the most interesting questions and, to me particularly, her Monk & Robot series has such a delicate and philosophical way of asking them.

I fell in love with A Psalm for the Wild Built, and it meant I had preordered this little book because I couldn’t wait to continue the story with Sibling Dex and Mosscap.

Our story brings us back from the rural areas, from the jungles and the wildness to a more inhabited part of the little moon they wander and call home.

Sibling Dex is finding the change from the quiet chaos of nature and back into “society” and humanity a bit abrupt, do they even like being a Tea Monk anymore? Whereas Mosscap is asking all the interesting questions he has been pondering before and left pondering answers for new questions that are asked by the villagers as they come into contact with new friends and experiences.

For me, it was a beautiful enquiry into “why do you choose to do something?” and “what happens when you achieve the thing you wanted?”. But not only that, it is about being content and satisfied, about having what you want and it being enough (or maybe not), do you need more? What do you choose to do then?

The prose is beautifully lyrical as always and the questions and interactions are so deep and make you stop and ponder over and over, and question yourself about your own self.

If you enjoy hopeful philosophical science fiction with a focus on kindness and identity, I highly recommend this series.

I don’t usually do a yearly wrap-up because by the time Christmas comes and goes, my head is all over the place. Also, who actually reads them?

But given that my blog ahs been a little quiet, I want to do a miniature post on where I am, and what the silence has meant.

I am home, with a tender ankle and in pain (this second item is not new, but you know, worth mentioning). Awaiting a formal diagnosis of a connective tissue disorder that was a journey I thought had been done and over but that somehow came back to haunt me in December.

In November, I slipped badly. And I don’t mean literally, but in a figurative sense. I was forgetting to eat due to overworking and wanting to achieve it all, keep a blog, keep a personality online, stream, art and you know, actually have a work life balance and on top of that with a chronic illness.

And that is when life hits you square on in the face and tells you some things have to give. In my case, I became quieter online, dropped a few streams. Took a week off work and drove around the country to try to actually disconnect and you know, do something else other than be anxious and worry.

And what I have been doing? Reading (there are new reviews to come, I found some cute new books, some interesting mangas, great novels I owe reviews to publishers for sending and also new novels I have discovered by just browsing in bookshops or online or through the recommendation of friends), watching TV (somehow made my way through Dark, Wednesday, several films, and two seasons of Food Wars) and causing chaos around me, but also, sleeping in, taking a lot of naps (chronic illness makes you tired, very tired), cooking food and trying to go out for walks.

It has been a slower season, one where I admit I don’t have everything figured out, but I am slowly trying to figure it out and to get used to things.

I didn’t make my 150 books read in 2022 challenge, I came short. I read between 120-130 books, which is not bad anyway, but it was not what I had challenged myself to do.

But I did build a new PC, became a British citizen and fgot myself a pretty new walking stick.

So today, I am here, writing this and hoping this year brings a lot more reading, a lot more books, and a lot more goods things, a better balance and a slower season, a pace that suits my body a little better, rather than pushing it too much.