Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: I Will Fly Illumicrate

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Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: I Will Fly, June 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.

I am still super far behind on this, but one day I will catch up, I promise. This is still really the only book box I buy and I enjoy it enough to keep it going so far. Apparently for about ten years. How does time by so fast?

Anyway, let’s dig into the contents of this one:

  • At the top we have two mechanical pencils (I have not used these, mostly because I am particular on the mechanical pencil I use for drawing, and otherwise I don’t really use them) inspired by Empress of Salt and Fortune.
  • Bandits of Liagnshan enamel pin inspired by The Water Outlwas. I like the pin, it has been added to the ever growing collection.
  • The monthly leaflet with the photo challenge and contents description. I used to keep these but have been recycling nowadays.
  • A metal bookmark inspired by The Bone Shard Daughter (I haven’t read that one yet), which is super cool.
  • The main book, which was Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen and I have yet to read it. It somehow didn’t become a priority amongst the choices I have made to keep around in my super minimal bookcase.
  • And finally a print album inspired by Girls of Paper and Fire (that was a good series). I like these albums because I actually use them for prints and they are awesome for keeping them tidy and I can browse them nicely.

Overall, it was super on theme and very well tied together for pictures and showing off all the elements. Most of the items were good and useful (the mechanical pencils would’ve been in use if I was taking more notes and going places). So can’t complain on this box, I like it when they items all look good together and seem to stick incredibly well with the theme and each other and that was a win here for sure.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Zatanna The Jewel of Gravesend

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Zatanna: The Jewel of Gravesend by Alys Arden and Jacquelin de Leon

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

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.

I am not huge on superhero type of comics and stories, but Zatanna always seems to win me over. I read another story a while back, Zatanna and the House of Secrets, and since then I keep trying to find more of her.

In comparison to House of Secrets this is an older teenager almost adult Zatanna, and it still has touches on her identity and who she is. There is as always a lot fo magic and weirdness and that carnival festival. I think those two things, the magician and magic act feels that come from Zatanna being the child of famous magicians, and the carnival vibes definitely are big reasons for my love fo her stories.

My dad used to always do magic and even had a few years when he did magic at events. I learned a bunch of tricks and how to escape two types of cuffs for some of the tricks, and so I can think of maigicnas with joy, even if it is all in tricks.

This jewel of Gravesend is a bit darker and more mystical, which questions Zatanna’s parents, her history and what she is willing to sacrifice to save what she loves, and at the same time she isn’t sure she wants anything to do with magic, but feels pressured into it, there is also her attempting to become her own person and be independent and her love for the carnival and her odd life, and the artwork here was perfectly suited to the story.

It is definitely a favourite story of magic, mystery and intrigue and with Zatanna at the front of it. So can definitely recommend it as another good read to add to the collection.

Book Review

Moon Reads: You Are Here

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You Are Here by David Nicholls

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

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.

I bought this on a whim on a trip to Waterstones. I loved One Day (before there was a film and a series) and the way they kept meeting yearly, and how much could change year by year. And somehow when I read the synopsis for this, it made me want to read it.

We meet our two main characters, Michael and Marnie, who are both unravelling a little in their loneliness and I guess a middle life crisis for each. Marnie is a good copywriter and loves her job, doesn’t really want to see people, feels awkward but knows she is funny and well, she is the kind of person who enjoys cancelled plans. Michael is grieving a divorce and not properly over it, but also blaming himself and managing past PTSD after a traumatic event.

And a friend in common will suggest doing a long weekend of walks, starting part of the Coast to Coast walk, which apparently has a lot of history and a specific route. It is also meant to be setup as a bit of a blind date, but not particularly between Marnie and Michael, the mutual friend has other potential prospects for each. And yet somehow, things happen and they end up walking together.

If you don’t walk much, particularly in nature, then this will be less known for you. I used to love just setting off and walking for hours and then back, or go with walks with friends. Or walk from a village to the pub in the next village over, or walk between two villages (3+ miles) to go to the library, grab some books and come back. I walk a lot less nowadays as I use a walking stick, but I still love walks in nature (much less walks in cities, I am not too fond of walking on concrete). I digress, the point I was trying to get to, is that if you walk in company there is both these bits of silence that is very companionable and also the moments of talking to each other, either side to side but kinda talking forward, or one behind the other, and you somehow get very deep in what you talk, or very silly. It just happens that walks make you talk of deep feelings, deep thoughts, you may not get anywhere, but you share, you explore, not only with your feet but with your conversation.

And this book, it is a lot about that. It is also somewhat of a love story (in a David Nicholls style so don’t expect the perfect happy ending, but to me it had a good hopeful ending). But it is about encountering your own demosn, sharing them, maybe realisign you’re not so alone and others are dealing with similar problems or can relate to you. That we are both very very different and at the same time very much the same, we’re all human.

It was a very soothing read for me, the pace is set by them trying to make progress, by their talks as they walk, a bit about the actual walk and what places you go by in the Coast to Coast walk in the UK (I knew the end to end starting in Scotland and ending in Conrwall I think but not this one). And also about what they would explore when they got to their end destination, to the place where they either stopped for lunch or for the day. And the little interactions there, the spaces were you stop walking and have to figure out what living is like.

You Are Here was a nice read, with a conversational pace, a bit of melancholy, a lot of humanity, some humour and a bit of romance, and it was good. I enjoyed it a lot.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Magical Bonds Illumicrate

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Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Magical Bonds, May 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.

Now we’re back to our regular posting schedule and somehow we are on the right month for illumicrate, just a year behind. Woops. But let’s check the contents, starting from the top left and going clockwise:

  • The featured book which is Goddess of the River, which I have read and reviewed already. And absolutely loved it. Big win here.
  • We then have some little clips, which I have been using for bags of crisps and other little things like that, very handy, even if a tiny bit big.
  • Anther one of the storybook setting magnets, which live on my fridge happily holding recipe cards of the things I tend to need the recipe often enough.
  • The usual content booklet.
  • Another lovely mug, which I cannot for the life of me remember what the fandom was, but they are generally my favourite style of mugs and I love them very much.
  • And finally, a book carrier. These are so so amazing, I have them all over the house, they’re the perfect thing to be at the base of the stairs to put things that need to go upstairs, and to have in the office for things that need to move form here to another room, and you get the idea, right?

This was a big winner box with lots of useful items and fun things that I have loved having, and that are regularly being used at home, so nothing really has ended up gathering dust or making me feel like it was wasted on me.

Book Review

Moons Reads: The Knight and the Moth

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The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

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.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

As you may have gleaned from the two previous reviews, I like Rachel Gillig’s books, and as soon as I knew The Knight and the Moth would be in existence I have wanted it, so very amazingly, Orbit sent me an early review copy to read (I have read it twice already, and love it), and I can’t wait for my final copy to arrive (preordered).

As you can gather, I really enjoyed this one and can only say the writing gets better with each book.

The Knight and the Moth follows Six (Sybil Delling), one of six Diviners that live in a cathedral in the center of the kingdom of Traum. And she divines through dreams and visions she receives from six figures called the Omens and upon which the kingdom is built.

But then, a king and his knights, and one particularly “rude” one came into the cathedral for a divination. This triggers a sudden disappearance of the other Diviners, one by one until Six is the last one left. So she takes matters into her hand and decides to seek the rude knight Rodrick and try to find her missing Diviners.

She gets way more than she ever bargained for.

The characters are interesting, starting with Sybil, who is strong and big and not the perfectly dainty damsel in distress, which was refreshing to read. And we have Rodrick, our knight who is an unusual and unexpected knight. Of course, we all know there will be romance happening between them. But the rest of the main characters, the ones we keep seeing and that are a regular part are fascinating, including an older female knight and a gargoyle.

The gargoyle is my favourite character. I absolutely loved him to pieces, but I couldn’t get enough of him.

And of course, we have the Omens, all six of them, which each have their own powers, their own little piece of the kingdom that they govern and their region-specific lore to give you a varied world, with some odd customs, some charming ones and some horrid ones too because nothing is perfect. And of course, the overall world and how it treats Diviners as Six encounters more fo the world she had never seen until her “family” started disappearing.

The ending was deadly. I won’t say it surprised me (except that in my head I kinda thought this may be standalone and well, with that end it for sure isn’t) because I could see a lot of it coming and could put the pieces together, but the way it surprises some of the characters was well done and it made sense for them to not see it. I did hope it was going to be different, and I now will have to wait to read whatever comes next because I need it. That is the worst part, the needing to read the next book because why leave me on that ending like that.

If you like romantasy, magical worldbuilding that at times makes you ponder spirituality and be a little philosophical, knights and prophecies and magical objects, alongside a lot of lore and thoughts of gods (kinda like Trudi Canavan’s Age of Five trilogy, which is my favourite of her series), then this is the book for you, but beware because it will take over your mind and heart and you won’t want to put the book down.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Two Twisted Crowns

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Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

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.

As I mentioned in my previous review, I am doing a Rachel Gillig series, so this is the second one with the second book in the series “The Shepherd King”. This is the conclusion to the story and I will admit there was something satisfying about it being a duology.

In One Dark Window, we end with Elspeth making some really difficult choices, giving control to the Nightmare, which absolutely devastates Ravyn, but he is going to keep going and he’s going to keep trying to connect with her and get her back.

At this point, we have all but one card, the one for which there is only one copy made, and the most important one of the set (I did not say this in the past review but for each card it has a number and there are as many copies of it with their magic as the number it has). And of course, Nightmare is the only one who knows where it is, because of reasons that may be a blatant spoiler and therefore I will avoid mentioning.

Anyway, this book we follow Nightmare and Ravyn, and also we follow those left behind in the kingdom, trying to wrangle the kingdom from the king and desperately have something to save when the 12 cards are found.

The balance in viewpoints on this one was a lot harder to achieve and is probably the thing that made me frustrated. We get a bit of both sides, the adventure triyng to find the card and the kingdom and politics, but we barely really understand how Elspeth is doing given that she is now trapped inside Nightmare and her own body.

In exchange we get a lot of the back story for most characters. We get to understand Elspeth’s family better, the founding of the Kingdom and where the king comes from, and we also learn how the cards came to be and the cost they incurred in being made. I loved learning about it, but again, as we learn more fo the past and how it came to be, I wish we had some more depth into some of the characters we encounter frequently through it.

As the story is tying a lot of pieces together to drive to the end, it felt at times a bit rushed or trying to expose more than it should. And so it was a little bit less effective at the story telling and chokehold on me than the first. I still was captivated and wanted to get to the end, but I noticed those things more than I wished I had.

Regardless, I still recommend it, it was a lot of fun, the worldbuild was spot on and very magical, it was dark but also like a fairy tale, and the lore was superb.

Book Review

Moon Reads: One Dark Window

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One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

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.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I realised that I had reviewed this on storygraph and raved about it on Instagram stories and to some friends, but had not actually put this up on the blog. And since The Knight and the Moth is publishing this month, why not make it a Rachel Gillig series of posts.

I had received this book free from the publisher when it first came out and at the time I was a little burnt out on similar stories so set it aside and forgot. And as I was clearing and packing books, this lovely one came up and I started reading.

I could not put it down. I read until stupid o’clock in the morning just to finish it. And as soon as I finished it was already ordering the next one. I could not wait (the wait was agony, I needed to know!). Honestly, the book had wrapped its beautifully crafted story around me, and I could (did) not want to leave.

So, I’ve raved about loving it but what is it about?

We follow Elspeth, a survivor of a mysterious “plague” that left her with some odd powers, particularly a monster she calls Nightmare that lives in her head (rent free). However, Nightmare can sometimes be very helpful (if he wants to) by protecting her, and keeping her (their) secrets.

But the kingdom of Blunder is a dangerous place for a survivor that shouldn’t have survived. And when she has an encounter with a highway man, suddenly her life seems to move from predictable to chaotic. And so an adventure to save the kingdom from a cruel king, and discover why magic is forbidden or limited to the twelve Providence Cards. The stakes rise as the time goes and as they try to survive, including her own Nightmare.

The overall world-building is crafted in a n intriguing way, it makes you feel like a fairy tale world. You feel the magic of it, the way the citizens live, how the cards influence life in such deep ways, and you discover the world Elspeth had been avoiding due to technically being a survivor that shouldn’t have survived.

It touches on faith, family, on magic, obviously it has a ormance story and some interesting swoony characters to tie everything nicely. There is a lot of sass and funny scenes too, and a lot of stakes, but it all ties in nicely to a point where you just want to find out what comes in the next book.

I enjoyed it a lot, and can recommend it for a gripping romantasy.

Subscription Boxes

Moon Hauls: Magic vs Science Illumicrate

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Subscription box: Illumicrate

Theme/Month: Magic vs Science, April 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.

I have no idea what March was and no pictures or any evidence of the box, so hi, welcome to April and this beautiful box, which was just very pretty overall! Let’s go from the top left and clockwise:

  • Pencil case, I love these as they are always so pretty and useful. The only thing that would make them better is if they were the ones that can fit two levels and have a little tray in between.
  • Eco friendly makeup cleaning pads. These are pretty and I haven’t used them for two reasons, one is that I don’t wear a lot of makeup, and the other is that every time I have used this type of pad, they end up not taking the makeup well off my face and they end up slightly modly or yucky even after a wash, or leaving them to dry, just bad experiences and I don’t want to ruin them so they exist happily in my makeup drawer waiting to be used.
  • Our regular leaflet letting us know what is inside and the photo challenge.
  • The featured book which is To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang, still on my list to be read.
  • Gardening gloves, this went as a gift to someone who actually gardens, but they were very pretty and very well liked by the person who received them.
  • A jigsaw, I love these so much! This time the science fiction bookcase which I have yet to do.

Overall as I had already said, a very nice box with very pretty items and for the most part all in use except the makeup pads but that’s me not the box itself. I did like this one quite a lot.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Hex Vets The River Guardian

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Hex Vets The River Guardian by Sam Davies and Lisa Moore

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

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.

When the first Hex Vet came out I was in love with them, cute and short, and just nice. You can read my reviews here and here. They were a delight to be read.

And then there was no more, it just stopped, so I assumed it was another one of those series that are left incomplete. So when the third volume was suddenly suggested because apparently there is going to be a series for it, I was happy to see it come up and immediately ordered it.

I immediately felt the difference in approach. As much as it is the same comic for starters now it is Hex Vets rather than Hex Vet and has a new author/illustrator, and the story is less twee, it is more trying to hit the spots for drama, and a TV series, rather than the focus being on comic medium.

This is a very weird thing to say of a book, but you can tell when the direction it had is suddenly not the same. This one was made for Tv, the previous two were just fun and made to be books. It makes a difference, you lose a lot of the beauty when you try to force a comic of a story that you are now plotting as an animation, and the other way around.

So that was the main loss of stars, the change in focus and the plot showing this change. It lost its star. The story is still cute and we’re still having some chaos in trying to be good vets to magical creatures, and it was cute to see the main reason for the disruption to the river health and why the creatures suddenly didn’t go too well. That was interesting, I just wish this had been still like the previous two.

I will still give it a chance if new volumes are released and hope that this was simply a transition volume, because the first two were really fun and cute.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Goddess of the River

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Goddess of the River by Baishnavi Patel

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

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.

I own this and the Illumicrate version, but the copy I read was this one because it is easier to carry it around in a bag and if it gets damaged it is fine.

Goddess of the River reads like a wonderful saga, it is both a legend, a myth and a very personal story. And it was beautiful in so many ways, not just the plot but the prose.

Ganga is the goddess of the river, she loves her little godlings and to have her waters move around, to grow life. But then, she is cursed to become mortal when trying to save her godlings, until she fulfills her curse.

Being human feels foreign to her and yet she manages to wed the King and become a queen, while trying to break the curse and stop being in human form. And her timing is a tragedy, because she ends up leaving her infant son to her King as she is able to become a goddess again.

And none of them know that her son also carries in some ways her curse and therefore when he makes an oath that he will never claim the throne, he sets in motion a terrible and tragic war for his family.

And so, the book covers the story of them both, as they keep meeting again and again and as Ganga watches over her son and what is happening, but we also see the story from his side, from a human view, and how much there are consequences to the choices made and the responsibilities one takes.

It is an epic read, not just in it being incredible but it reads as an epic. It is a story to be told, to keep going, that goes through generations. It was never boring and it kept me wanting to know more (and at times, shake the prince, Ganga’s son because damn, why?!).

You end up being invested in all of them and wanting them to somehow avoid war, to do better, to make it out, to live. And so you feel a little like Ganga, like a goddess with a tie to the human world in a more personal way and yet removed, powerful and powerless.

Highly recommended, particularly if you enjoyed The Burning Kingdoms saga by Tasha Suri.