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 very magical box this time, let’s start on the top left and go clockwise:
Bookmark set (I rarely ever care for character faces bookmarks, so these are usually a miss).
Washi tape, which is super adorable and cute and I’ve used some for decorating little pages or envelopes or similar.
Mug inspired by The Priory of the Orange Tree, as usual a win for me, very sturdy and my daily favourites.
A book tin for “The Book of Eyes”, also winners in general because they are useful tins to save stuff in.
The monthly leaflet for the theme
The book, which has a two types of view, with the cover showing Guardians of the Dawn “Zhara” but underneath it is “The Maiden who was Loved by Death”.
Overall a cute box, could’ve done without the bookmarks, but not a bad content and I am still to read the book, woops. But it is on my list and was before the box came out, just bad at actually reading through my TBR.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
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.
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.
This is the sequel to Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Fairies, which is a cosy fairy fantasy book and I found it to be a wonderfully autumn/winter read that I devoured. Map of the Otherlands was also a devour alongside some tea and cake type of book.
Emily is feeling more secure in her position at the university after publishing her encyclopaedia and her adventures in the previous book, and well, there is also the fact that she has some feelings for Wendell Bambleby who isn’t entirely human and more part of the Fair Folk.
What’s even more interesting is the fact that he has proposed they get married and well, she is unsure how to navigate that, does she want to marry him? There are a lot of implications and ramifications she doesn’t even want to think about. I don’t blame her, it is a big bold choice, even when you choose a human, so I assume one of the Fair Folk is an even more difficult and big decision.
And there is also the fact she’s trying to map the fairie realms, but this plan of researching goes a bit sideways when Bambleby is almost assassinated by his mother’s underlings. This spurs a new adventure to the Austrian Alps, in search for a door that may help Bambleby figure a way to free himself from whatever it is his family is planning which so far does not bode well. It is never good news if your mother is trying to kill you, you know?
Once again we navigate a lot of chaos and interesting situations as our pair navigate new company in their adventures and even more interesting stakes.
I enjoyed this one, which still had the same feeling as the previous one, and as a sequel it stands good. It does not have as much punch as I felt the first book had, but it was still cosy and delightful. A good pastry of a read with a good feeling left behind and more curiosity about what is to come. It reminds me in a way, but more cosy of Lady Trent’s Memoirs (A Natural History of Dragons). It is also a lighter approach and it feels less dense (I love the other series but this one is a lot easier to read for tired minds and a lot smoother to go through).
So I can recommend this if you like fairy tales, you like stories about the Fair Folk, and similar books to Lady Trent’s Memoirs. Or if you simply want a cosy read with a nice feeling afterwards.
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 fiction too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.
A lovely little box, and let’s start from the top left corner going clockwise:
Fire is Catching towel. I have found the towels to never dry well enough for me (I like fluffy towels and for my hair t-shirt or high absorbing ones) which is the disappointing part, otherwise I would absolutely love this towel.
Aromatic Magic tea cups. I love a good stemless cup in this style, these are delicate and gorgeous.
Guess the character card game, which is a cool idea, but I am very bad at faces and matching my idea of how a character looks with the overall view, however the art collection here was stunning.
The featured book, which is The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem, another absolutely amazing read that I enjoyed and have actually read.
A guild of knowledge embroidered pouch which I use to store cards in.
This wasn’t a bad box, but if you compare it to the Night and Day one, it’s definitely lacking. The stemless cups were a win (I tend to use mine as “wine glasses” but also as cups for tea) but the game fell flat for me as did the towel. I would’ve liked more an “art” collection book of characters or something similar to properly browse the artwork, or maybe we need a where’s the character type of book with lots of characters form different books doing their own thing in a fantasy world…
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.
Another one of those boxes that are just epic on the theme and being so matching with the items for it. Starting on the bottom left corner with the leaflet:
Night and Day leaflet of contents
Underneath it all an Astral Balance (sun and moon) cushion cover, which is proudly presented to this day on my couch. Perfect fit for my vibes.
Equinox bowls (the black and white one), mine had a defect were the coating wasn’t applied properly and it was coming off (it happens) and thankfully the team sent a replacement so I could use them safely for food (they’re my breakfast bowls now).
Dawn and Dusk coasters, also happily living in between my coaster collection next to my spot on the couch.
The featured book which is The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz, I have actually read this one for once in a while!
Celestial Harmony shoe charms, which I am not sure about using, mostly because I don’t really add charms to my shoe laces but I do like these.
Overall probably one of my favourite boxes and some of the items are still being used actively (except for the shoe charms) which I think is a big win on the ratio of use versus not. And to me that absolutely wins a lot because I love boxes that have items that will be part of my everyday life rather than pretty decorations or dust catchers.
The Wolf’s Secret by Myriam Dahmn and Nicolas Digard. Illustrated by Júlia Sardá
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.
There’s a cosy vibe going on and this book is full of that stay at home curled up with a good book feeling that I crave during the colder months.
Our story follows Wolf, who is a feared scary hunter, but he has a secret. There is a girl who lives in the forest that sings and makes him very curious.
But will his curiosity and his loneliness (no one tells you that being scary means it is hard to make friends) get the best of him and will he ever go beyond watching this girl and listening to her?
The artwork was absolutely breathtaking, in that beautiful way that is just so expressive and makes you feel everything. I kept wanting to keep that feeling. And the prose, the words, it is a masterpiece in sweetness, in ease of story-telling.
The story overall talks about trust, differences, obstacles, loneliness and friendship and it is one of my favourite books. I kept thinking of it even after finishing reading it, over and over.
I can recommend it for a beautiful short fairy and folk tale that will whisk you away and bring you back feeling like a little magic happened.
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 fiction too. It usually contains a new release, a pin and several bookish goodies.
I love the ones that come with a book basket bag, they make me think that everything is just coming out of it and exploding with creativity, but let’s talk contents, starting from the bag and going clockwise:
Hope is Magic book organiser, with a quote from Laini Taylor, and a wonderful colour scheme. These organisers are a dream, I use them for tidying craft things or for moving items upstairs and downstairs. I just love them so much.
The featured book, Witch King by Martha Wells. I have no clue why I haven’t read it yet since it is one I really want to read and that is still on my least!
What Lies Beneath leaflet.
Shell Whale metal bookmarks. I like the metal bookmarks even if they are dainty and I am always worried I’ll break them.
Hiding just there is a Moth phone grip, which is very delicate and awesome.
And finally a planter (this was awesome I thought it was such a cool idea to include)
As I said above, this box was already winning with the contents, but overall the theme, the book and the contents won very well and I was happy with it.
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
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.
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.
This is like the sister book for Long Live Evil, in that we are having our heroine decide to become the villain and embrace the evilness to win. And it made me laugh a lot too.
But that’s as close as they get. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying follows Davi, who is basically relieving the same “life” over and over where she gets told she is the chosen one and the hero when she wakes up in this world, so she tries to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. But she’s so done with that. She just hasn’t managed to win yet and instead she has found so many ways to die, some come quick, some take much longer. But at least she gets to keep her memories of what she has done and how events transpired.
So, why not instead beat the whomever keeps becoming the Dark Lord, and od it herself, so this time she actually wins?
Honestly, this was really fun because Davi plays it lose and fast at first, he just wants to start winning and so dying a few times while “testing” things out and what works or doesn’t on her path to become the Dark Lord is fine, until things slowly start working out or maybe not always, but then the she would have to keep retrying and dying over and over to get to the newest point she has got.
Like being in a game with no respawn points once you go past certain check points, she keeps respawning always at the same point.
I enjoyed this way too much and it was such a good take at how things make you look evil, or rather how there are many faces to evil. The whole story including the way to become Dark Lord was full of surprises and lots of checkpoints to marvel at the chaos Davi is having and creating. But it is also incredibly fun and I look forward to the next one.
Chaotic evil groundhog day to become a villain, yes, sign me up for it!
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.
What makes a bad demon? Apparently Meesh is one, as she is better at seeing the good in everyone than the bad and doesn’t act like other demons. Therefore the other demons bully her because she dreams of being more like a fairy princess than the expectations of a demon.
But, as a big disaster strikes, Meesh ends up journeying to other worlds to try to find help. And why not start where she thinks she could get help, the fairy realm?
The artwork and the story were very cute and perfect for a middle grade graphic novel, the colour palette was also beautifully used to show the different worlds and the elements of what was happening so you could get an idea before you fully understood what was going in, which was done in a subtle interesting way and I liked that.
The story focuses on being brave, on being true to yourself and in some ways, challenging the expectations set on you from society and others and that what sometimes we are told is the way we ought to be, doesn’t make who we are less, and sometimes we have to do things for the better.
It is a very cute lovely story and I am looking forward to reading the second book.
And yes, I am trying to keep a relatively spooky/scary vibe or as close as can be for the posts of the month. Let’s see how well we can do.
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 think this was one of those boxes super on point for the theme with all the items looking very cohesive between them, but let’s see each in detail, starting from the leaflet and going clockwise:
Contents leaflet
Celestial Kingdom book light, which is more or less a “book” that opens into a lamp which is pretty cool!
The featured book which was Song Of Silver, Flame Like Light by Amelie Wen Zhao, which gorgeous design and printed edges.
Phoenix book jacket. I like these book jackets since they’re almost like a slip on cover and can be used for notebooks too and make them look nicer, very pretty design (my only downside is that it is a lot of white and can get dirty easily)
A zipper charm for Pendragon, which initially I was like “a zipper charm” but then remembered some annoying zippers that are always a pain to grab and pull, and decided this was a very useful little thing, and so far it has been.
Lighten the darkness water bottle with a sleeve. I like the glass bottles and it is very pretty, and I love a nice sleeve for it, but I am also always slightly scared of breaking it (the sleeve helps a little).
I admit that more than a year later and I have yet to read the book, woops, but the contents have bene used and enjoyed so it was overall a good box.
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 tend to be very cautious with hyped books. Still, the concept of Long Live Evil sounded interesting, an “isekai” type of book where the main character is transported to another world, in this case to her favourite book series, for which she hasn’t read the first book. She comes in as the main villain of the story.
The easiest way to describe this is that it is an anti-trope trope book. It will grab as many tropes as possible and turn them on their head, with my favourite being the main spoiler and therefore one I cannot say. But all I can say is that it was such a wonderful twist and I cannot wait to read the next book!
The characters are amusing, starting with Rae who is tired of living a life of being sick and walked over. Well, she might as well make the most of being the evil villain in this story to her benefit because then she can make the most out of the dreamy king who will be the emperor. We also have her cast of minions, Key who is as evil as evil can be and in for the money and the promises made to him from Rae. But then there is also Emer the maid who does not care to be evil but somehow ends up being made to, Cobra (who has his interesting secrets and chaos to bring in). And finally Lia, who is the heroine, the perfect pearl who can do no wrong.
It kept me laughing a lot, but at the same time it holds a lot of moments of heavy thoughts, starting with the fact that Rae has cancer and this is partly why she ends up in the world of her favourite series. There is also a lot of chaos particularly because she is toying with the book, she doesn’t think there are any consequences since it’s “not real” and this approach makes for questionable decisions on her part that may bite her back later on, but at the same time, she is trying to save herself, and find a better life as she feels like there is little hope for herself and hates seeing her life the way it is.
Overall, the chaos is good and a refreshing change from many other books recently published. It turns things around and yes, it may not be for everyone, but if you like chaotic funny books that deal with heavy topics in a relatively “light handed” way (none of it felt badly done but rather more of the type of humour of someone who has seen hell and can only laugh now about it).
One final thought is that it made an interesting point on what exactly defines a strong female character, by the many female characters in it and how each shows their reasons and work.
I highly recommend you read this book because it is worth the journey!
